The North Carolina State Beekeepers Association
North Carolina State Beekeepers Association
The latest revision for the Golden Achievement Program rules and forms are now published and available for download at https://www.ncbeekeepers.org/chapters/gap,
The Golden Achievement Program (GAP) is intended to be high recognition of the efforts of a chapter and its members to advancing the practice, science and community of beekeeping through the year. Sharing the accomplishments of our chapters is the key to strengthening our NCSBA organization.
The replacement of the field laboratory at the NCSU Lake Wheeler research facility has been a major priority for the North Carolina State Beekeepers for several years.
Rep. Chuck McGrady has introduced House Bill 334 which will provide funding for a new NCSU Field Honey Bee Laboratory.
You may read the text of the bill along with other official information at https://www.ncleg.gov/BillLookup/2019/h334.
Dr. David Tarpy has done outstanding work during the past decade as the leading apicultural scientist at NCSU, despite the limitation of inadequate facilities at the field lab. The uninsulated building is a post WWII residence which does not meet current building code standards. The roof sags and often leaks. Work space is inefficiently designed and not sufficient for the tasks at hand.
You can help advance this important effort by doing two things.
With annual honey bee losses averaging 40 percent over the past few years –they were 50 percent last year– it is time to address this need. Vital research is needed to identify solutions to these excessive honey bee losses. NCSU has a great research program under the leadership of Dr. Tarpy and his staff. It can be better with a better facility.
We ask for your support.
Paul Newbold, President NCSBA
The 2019 Summer Meeting of the NCSBA will be held in Hickory, NC, on August 8-10, 2019.
A new garden design tool being developed at NCSU will be a valuable resource for beekeepers, gardeners and wildlife advocates. With students at NC State, Assistant Professor of Applied Ecology Dr. Elsa Youngsteadt is developing an online tool for designing and visualizing pollinator gardens.
Dr. Youngsteadt’s research and outreach deal with the ecology and health of pollinators in urban environments. She says, “I have noticed that a barrier for homeowners who want to create pollinator habitat is their discomfort with the garden design process, particularly when faced with lists of pollinator-friendly plants that may not be traditional ornamentals.”
To overcome this barrier, Youngsteadt is working with NCSU’s computer science students to develop an online garden-design tool, driven by a database of recommended pollinator plants for North Carolina. The app will allow users to design a garden, see how it would look, check for recommended design features, and make adjustments prior to real-world installation.
Beyond its pollinator-friendly plant palette and the ability to show the garden in side view AND layout view, the application will also generate reminders if a planned garden doesn’t meet recommendations such as having variety in flower colors and shapes in each season.
This fall, the software project made the cut for development in the Senior Design Center capstone course at NC State. Youngsteadt says,the basic application will be free. Users will need to create an account. “To support maintenance costs, we might add premium features in the future, but the core functionality will be available to everyone.”
To find out more about the design app, visit Dr. Youngsteadt’s website, http://youngsteadtlab.org/index.php/extension/pollinator-garden-planner/. To help with future usability testing of her garden design application or to invite her to talk with your chapter about her urban pollinator research, email Youngsteadt at ekyoungs@ncsu.edu.
The following hotels have agreed to give special rates for those attending the NCSBA/SCBA Joint Spring Meeting [Read more…] about 2019 Spring Meeting Hotels
Two workshops are available this spring from the Born & Bred Queen Rearing Program. [Read more…] about 2019 Born & Bred Workshops Announced
Registration is now open for the Joint NCSBA/SCBA Spring Meeting in Monroe, NC, March 1-2, 2019.
Advanced registration saves you $10, reduces the time you spend standing in line, and reduces the number of headaches suffered by those running the conference. Your bees know to get things done without lallygagging about; follow their example!
The NCSBA spring meeting will be held March 1 and 2 (Friday and Saturday) at the Union County Cooperative Extension Center located near Monroe, NC. [Read more…] about Updates on 2019 Spring Meeting
In Focus, a news show produced by Spectrum News, broadcast two segments at the end of November of interest to beekeepers. [Read more…] about McGrady Discusses Honey Bees on Local News
Two free, identical workshops will be held in North Carolina for Veterinarians.
[Read more…] about Honey Bee Health Workshop for Veterinarians in Monroe, Laurinburg
The deadline is fast approaching to file a “Notice Of Loss”. Please refer to the link below to see how to file for assistance.
Please refer to the Farm Service Agency’s Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm-Raised Fish Program Fact Sheet for more information. The website is www.fsa.usda.gov/Assets/USDA-FSA-Public/usdafiles/FactSheets/2018/elap_fact_sheet_april2018.pdf
Please contact your local Farm Service Agency for assistance.
The Emergency Assistance for Livestock, Honeybees and Farm Raised Fish Program (ELAP) admistered through the USDA is able to help with honey bee losses due to Hurricane Florence. [Read more…] about Hurricane Florence Assistance
SALISBURY – The Piedmont Research Station in Salisbury will host Pollinator Field Day Sept. 8 from 1 to 5 p.m. [Read more…] about Pollinator Field Day to be held Sept. 8 at the Piedmont Research Station in Salisbury
Barely over a month until the Summer Conference in Flat Rock, NC. Are you ready? Are you excited? NCSBA is working hard to provide you with an enjoyable and informative conference.
A tentative schedule is now available.
Plan away!
Congratulations to Sharry and Doug Mikell on their latest success. These NC Certified Honey Producers will now be selling their products at the famed Biltmore Estate, among other venues. [Read more…] about North Carolina Certified Honey Producer Chosen as Vendor at the Biltmore Estate, Blue Ridge Parkway
Representative Chuck McGrady, co-chair of the House Appropriations Committee, heard from the NCSBA leadership about the sorry conditions at the NCSU honey bee lab and the urgent need for legislative support for NCSU’s apiculture program and decided to take a firsthand look. [Read more…] about Key Member of NC General Assembly Tours the NCSU Honey Bee Lab
Excited about the Summer Meeting yet? NCSBA has an intriguing lineup of speakers. Read a bit more about some of amazing apiarists presenting in July.
Phil Craft served as the Kentucky State Apiarist from 1999 through 2011. Phil continues to communicate with beekeepers through his “Ask Phil” question/answer column which appears in Bee Culture magazine, and through his webpage, Philcrafthivecraft.com. He is also the U.S. technical adviser for Veto-pharma, the maker of Apivar, Varroa Easy Check, and other products. A native of the mountains of Eastern Kentucky, he now lives out in the sticks in the Bluegrass region of Kentucky near Lexington with his family, a very old dog, and some bee hives.
Dr. Thomas D. Seeley is the Horace White Professor in Biology at Cornell University. He is based in the Department of Neurobiology and Behavior, where he teaches courses on animal behavior and does research on the behavior and social life of honey bees. His scientific work has primarily focused on understanding the phenomenon of swarm intelligence (SI): the solving of cognitive problems by a group of individuals who pool their knowledge and process it through social interactions. His work is summarized in three books: Honeybee Ecology (1985), The Wisdom of the Hive (1995), and Honeybee Democracy (2010).
David Tarpy is a Professor of Entomology and the Extension Apiculturist at North Carolina State University since 2003. His research interests focus on the biology and behavior of honey bee queens in order to better improve the overall health of queens and their colonies. His work has provided some of the best empirical evidence that multiple mating by queens confers multiple and significant benefits to colonies through increased genetic diversity of their nestmates. More recently, his lab group has focused on the reproductive potential of commercially produced queens, testing their genetic diversity and mating success in an effort to improve queen quality.
