The North Carolina State Beekeepers Association

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Special Events

NCSBA 2023 Honey Show Workshop

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The North Carolina State Beekeeping Association is sponsoring a honey show training class to be held at Beez Needz in Sophia. The purpose of this class is to help participants to prepare entries for a honey show. This is not training to be a judge. Those courses will be offered at separate times and locations.

This is a value-added class for NCSBA members and is being underwritten by the NCSBA and Beez Needz. The class cost is to help defray the expenses for bringing in the class instructors and judges.

Participants will learn how to prepare honey, beeswax, food items, arts and crafts and more for a judged honey show. Participants are encouraged to bring one item to be judged. You will receive a comment card to help you improve your entry for the next show. The rules for the class show are available here.

Class: Honey Show Preparation Training
Who: Current NCSBA members
Where: Beez Needz, 362 Edgar Road, Sophia, NC 27350
When: Saturday, October 14, 2023
Time: Entries for class show will be received from 8-9 AM. The class will run from 9-12. Judging will take place during the class. Lunch will be approximately noon. Results of the class show will be following lunch: about 1:00 PM. The class is expected to conclude around 2 PM.
Cost: $10 If paying with cash or check. $11 if paying with card.

Learn More and Register


Morning snacks and lunch provided. If you have a special dietary need, please inform Beez Needz when you register.
For more information please contact the show secretary: Mark Case at markcase@aol.com  or text at 336-963-4756. Include your name and your question when you contact Mark.

NCSBA Spring 2021 Web Series

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Dear Members of NCSBA,
I hope this message finds you in good health and we hope for the continued well being of yourself, family/loved ones, & friends. The Covid-19 era has hit us all hard & we are all looking forward to when we can all gather in fellowship with other beekeepers once again.  We understand that many may be discouraged or frustrated that we weren’t able to host our usual summer conference and also have had to likewise cancel our regularly scheduled Spring conference this year in New Bern.  We want you to know we share your frustrations but that we have put the wellbeing of all our members health concerns first.  Much of our membership is an older/most at risk demographic and we could not in good faith or legally hold a large group conference like we normally do.  Even though we haven’t been having conferences your executive committee& board of directors have been meeting to find ways to move our group forward for you our members.  It is in this spirit that we have decided to give back to our membership, for the good of the hive! We will be hosting a weekly web-series beginning in mid-March, hosting notable speakers from the honeybee world to present to our NCSBA membership at the steep price of on-the-house.  We hope that you will join us and take advantage of the great speakers we have lined up for you.  You will find below the dates, speakers, topics, and short bio on the speakers. We are hopeful that by summer there may be a possibility of an in-person conference but it is too early to say for certainty.  Be on the look out for more information on how to access the presentations from 1st VP Frederick Proni and message from the President Doug Vinson regarding any other details for NCSBA, conferences, & NCSBA programs for 2021.

Sincerely, Burton Beasley

2nd VP of NCSBA

Upcoming Webinars

(Access information will be provided closer to the event date)

March 18th, 2021: 7pm-9pm ET
Sam Comfort: Anarchy Apiaries
Topic: The Good, the Bad, and the Bugly: recent efforts to simplify a complex bee world

Sam ComfortAfter winning 6 hives in a poker game, Sam Comfort worked for several years in commercial beekeeping across America.  He started Anarchy Apiaries in 2005 to explore permaculture ideas of low input natural cycles.  He breeds queen from hardy survivors, experiments with splitting techniques, and messes around with hive designs.  So the mission is to 1) make more beehives than there are televisions, and 2) have a good time, all the time (with bees).  Anarchy Apiaries runs around 1000 hives that split seasonally into around 2000 mating nucs with no treatments, minimal feeding, and do-it-yourself hive boxes in New York and Florida and spots in between.  Through teaching independent, biological beekeeping, he hopes to make it more affordable, approachable, and enjoyable; thus, bring the means of production back to the beekeeper.

@anarchyapiaries
www.anarchyapiaries.org

March 25th, 2021: 5:30-7:15pm ET
Dr. Margaret J. Couvillon, Assistant Prof. of Pollinator Biology & Ecology
Department of Entomology, Virginia Tech
Topic: Dancing bees bio-indicate landscape profitability for pollinators

Dr. Margaret J. CouvillonDr. Margaret J. Couvillon is a broadly trained bee researcher with a particular interest in the foraging and recruitment behaviors of the honey bee. I earned my undergraduate degree from Loyola University in New Orleans (B.S. in Biology, minor in Chemistry) and then spent a year as an AmeriCorps *NCCC volunteer. I completed a M.S. in Neurobiology at Duke University before moving overseas for my Ph.D. with Professor Francis Ratnieks at the University of Sheffield, where I investigated mechanisms of nestmate recognition in honey bees and stingless bees. As a postdoctoral researcher with Professor Anna Dornhaus at the University of Arizona, I investigated proximate and ultimate explanations for worker size variation in the bumble bee Bombus impatiens. For a second postdoc, I rejoined the lab of Francis Ratnieks, now at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. There I worked to develop the honey bee, in particular its waggle dance communication, as a bioindicator for the “health” of the British landscape.

April 1st, 2021 7:00-9:00pm ET
Mike Palmer: French Hill Apiairies
Topic: A Year at French Hill Apiaries – An overview of the management that goes into a commercial apiary

Mike PalmerMike Palmer bought his first two packages of bees from FW Jones Company of Quebec in 1974. They cost $10.50 delivered. Neither colony made it through the first winter, but he kept trying and built up to 200 hives by 1981.

In 1982, Mike got a job managing the bees owned by Chazy Orchards in Chazy, New York and did so until 1986. Then he convinced Chazy to sell their bees to him, so at that time, he had more than 600 colonies.

Mike began raising his own queens in 1998 and has been doing so ever since. Today, Mike raises about 1200 queens and manages over 1000 colonies, with some 600-700 production colonies, and hundreds of nucleus colonies.

He has lectured on his methods of beekeeping all over the world

**April 8th, 2021: We are currently working on the possibility of hosting a 4th speaker**

NCSU Arboretum to ‘reveal’ Air Bee & Bee at Moonlight in the Garden

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Final assembly of Air Bee & Bee at JC Raulston Arboretum – Courtesy Mark Weathington

RALEIGH, NORTH CAROLINA – For seven nights in November, the magical lighting exhibition Moonlight in the Garden returns to JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University. New to this year’s exhibition is the illumination and reveal of Air Bee & Bee, a five-star urban habitat for pollinators completed in August.

[Read more…] about NCSU Arboretum to ‘reveal’ Air Bee & Bee at Moonlight in the Garden

BEES Academy Report

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NCSBA members enjoyed learning and spending time with Dr. David R. Tarpy  August 23th and 24th at the Caldwell County NC Cooperative Extension office as he debuted his new intermediate beekeeping lecture series, The BEES Academy. The class was a great success thanks to the extra efforts of Seth Nagy, Tina Lovejoy, Diana Ford, Ron and Elizabeth Cifu, Lewis Cauble, and the NCSU Volunteers. If you are interested in joining in this educational experience, spots are still available for the sessions at Brunswick and Chatham County. Please visit https://www.ncsuapiculture.net/bees-academy-home for more information and to register!

North Carolina State Fair, October 17 thru 27, 2019

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Each year the NCSBA sponsors a Honey Booth at the state fair. This is a major fund raiser for the association and is one of the ways we are able to keep your dues as they are.

We depend on the membership to staff the booth on a daily basic. Their job is mainly to keep and inventory on display, sell honey, and honey straws. Simple enough, you would think, but last year we had to close down one day due to no volunteers. We’re starting early this year. Would your chapter like to commit to working the booth for a shingle day, covering all shifts for that day? This would be done on a first come, first served. Call or email me and I will block that day from the volunteer sign up that will be posted before the summer meeting. At the summer meeting I will be calling on member to sigh up for individual shifts for each day.

Extra points for the GAP program will be awarded to chapters that cover a day at the fair or for individuals that work work during the week at the fair.

Normal coverage is 3 people from 9 am to 9pm, with 1 addition from 12noon till 5 pm. The 9 am to 9 p can be divided into 4 or 6 hour work periods. Such as 9 to 1, 1 to 5 and 5 till 9. Or 9 am to 3 pm and 3pm to 9pm. This would be at the discretion of the chapter. Again, call or email to have your chapter cover any open day. A list will be maintained on the web of open days still available.

Before the Summer Conference the schedule will be posted for volunteers to sign up on line on a first come basic. We need you continued support to make this a success. Extra volunteers will be needed on Thursday the 17th, for setting up the booth and stocking inventory for the week.

Paul Newbold, President, NCSBA, beefarmer1349@gmail.com

Volunteer Availability

  • Thursday the 17th, Wake County Beekeepers
  • Friday the 18th, Coastal Plains Beekeepers
  • Saturday the 19th, Beekeepers of Chowan County
  • Sunday the 20th, open 9am to 9pm, 1 additional person not till 8pm
  • Monday the 21th, Beekeepers of the Neuse
  • Tuesday the 22nd, Tar River Beekeepers
  • Wednesday the 23rd, 5 County Beekeepers
  • Thursday the 24th, Person/Graville County Beekeepers
  • Friday the 25th, Orange County Beekeepers
  • Saturday the 26th, open 9am till 9pm, 1 additional person noon to 8pm
  • Sunday the 27th, open 9am till 9pm, 1 additional person noon till closing

June is Cooperative Extension Appreciation Month

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The following will appear in the summer 2019 edition of the Bee Buzz

The North Carolina State Beekeepers Association has officially declared

THE MONTH OF JUNE as COOPERATIVE EXTENSION APPRECIATION MONTH

The Smith-Lever Act of U.S. Congress established the Cooperative Extension Service in 1914, and the NC Agricultural Extension Service was founded soon thereafter operating in partnership with the state’s land grant colleges (modern day NCSU in Raleigh and NC A & T Univ. in Greensboro).

Two short years later, in 1916, N.C. State Extension and the U.S. Department of Agriculture reached an agreement and a beekeeping specialist was employed for the state of North Carolina.

On year later, in 1917, with the help from then Extension Beekeeping Specialist George Rea, the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association was formed, fulfilling an interest to do so that had been pervasive for over a decade.  Two of the papers presented by Extension employees at that meeting were: “Beekeeping in Work of a County Agent” and “First Impressions in Beekeeping Extension”.

By 1918 educational courses on beekeeping had begun at what was then known as “The State College” (modern day NCSU).  Following WWI beekeeping courses were offered to veterans as a means to help them get re-established on the home front.   In 1982, Dr. John Ambrose, then “Extension Apiculturist” started a Master Beekeeper Program.  Although budget restructuring forced NCSU to turn the MBP over to the NCSBA in recent years, Dr. Tarpy and his staff continue to support this integral program of our Association.

Because of Extension we continue to benefit from traditional presentations; webinars; the quarterly Wolfpack Waggle; information of advances from the Queen and Disease Clinic; opportunities to participate in research projects of students and staff; and receive news from the NCSU Apiary.  We can even opt to take beekeeping courses online through the Beekeeper Education and Engagement System (BEES) so that members and public can access the courses from home.

Details of how to protect our hives before and following Hurricane Florence were emailed, posted on social media, and disseminated to county agents statewide so that all beekeepers could benefit from the research-based knowledge and experience of the collective state agencies.

Many of our chapters hold their monthly meetings at Extension facilities which frequently offer not only the space, but technical or event support and much more.  Quite a few of our Chapters have apiaries at Extension facilities. We can call upon our Extension agents when we have questions about pesticides being used near our hives.  We can network with local farming concerns through Extension. 

From dealing with (then) new diseases of Foulbrood and Chalkbrood to current challenges concerning breeding viability and new pests, Extension has shared with us along the way.

It is clear to see that our two organizations have continued to grow side-by-side for over a century.

We share common missions.

The N.C. Cooperative Extension Service is our link to the many State agencies that provide us with ways to make our beekeeping better. For these reasons, the NCSBA has officially declared

THE MONTH OF JUNE as COOPERATIVE EXTENSION APPRECIATION MONTH

We hope that you will join in the Association’s efforts to show our appreciation.

Here are a couple of things you might consider doing:

Annually, the NCSBA recognizes one “Cooperative Extension Worker of the Year” with an award. The award is designed to reward and acknowledge efforts by the Extension workers on behalf of beekeeping, beekeepers, and the bee and honey industry in general. If you have someone you would like to nominate for this award, please see the NCSBA website for an application.

The Golden Achievement Program (GAP) of the NCSBA has added a category (E-4) and Chapters can gain points for participating in the NC State Cooperative Extension Appreciation Month.

McGrady introduces House Bill 334 in support of NCSU Field Honey Bee Laboratory

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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.

  • First, call your local General Assembly Representative and Senator to tell them of the urgency of this need and your support.
  • Second, Wednesday, March 20 is Ag Day at the North Carolina General Assembly.  If you can do so, we ask that you come to the General Assembly to participate in this event and meet your Representative and Senator and make the case for this bill face to face.

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

MBP Fall Regional TESTING – reminder notice

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Fall Master Beekeeper testing for all levels will start this Saturday.

Please forward this email to your membership – thanks.

If you are intending on testing at one of the two locations PLEASE BRING YOUR NCSBA MEMBERHIP CARD WITH YOU
we MUST have a CURRENT NCSBA membership number. ( thanks)

FALL REGIONAL TESTING
FOR THE NCSBA’s MASTER BEEKEEPER PROGRAM:

EAST:
OCTOBER 7 2017
9 am till Noon
Craven County Cooperative Extension
300 Industrial Drive
New Bern, NC 28562

This facility is located just off the Clarks Exit of Highway 70
It is approximately 8 miles west of the city limits of New Bern.

All tests start at 9 am
NO TEST issued after 10 am
There will be: written testing for Certified, Journeyman & Master Levels
There will be practical exams for Journeyman and Master Levels only.
Certified Practical Exams will not be issued at this time/location.

WEST:
OCTOBER 21, 2017
9 am till NOON
N.C. Cooperative Extension Office at Wilkes County
416 Executive Drive
Wilkesboro, NC 28697

The web site, wilkes.ces.ncsu.edu has along side the title, “Wilkes County Center” a google icon for direction assistance.
We have been advised that the location is GPS challenged so
to help you locate the facility – note that it is located off SR 421 at exit 285, north 500 feet to Executive Drive on the left.

All tests start at 9 am
NO TEST issued after 10 am
There will be: written testing for Certified, Journeyman & Master Levels
There will be practical exams for Journeyman and Master Levels only.
Certified Practical Exams will not be issued at this time/location.

—
Master Beekeeper Committee

sent to Chapters October 2nd 2017

NCSBA HONEY SALES at NC STATE FAIR

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The NCSBA will be selling North Carolina Honey at the 2017 NC State Fair.
We need volunteers to help set up and work the booth selling honey during the Fair.
Set Up: Tuesday October 10th and possibly on Wednesday if need be.
Setting up includes: unloading cases of honey, stocking the booth, storage organization and taking inventory.
Fair Booth Dates: October 12th-22nd. See sign up for dates and shift times.
Admittance: Limited number of free admission tickets will be available for all those under the age of 65. Those who are 65+ years young receive free admittance into the fair and will not need a ticket.
Complimentary admission tickets are first come, first serve. The tickets can be picked up at: Big Oak Bee Farm, 2633 Branch Road, Raleigh, NC 27610 any time of day starting Tuesday, Oct 10th. The tickets will be in a bee hive (empty of course) located at the entrance of the Underhill’s driveway.
Parking: Volunteers will be responsible to pay for parking.
Prices for honey this year are:
Bears = $6.00
Pounds = $12.00
Pints = $16.00
Quarts = $30.00
Honey Straws = 5/$1.00 or $0.25 each
(prices are subject to change without notice)
Thank you for your time, help and supporting the NCSBA! See you at the State Fair!
Announcement posted: September 26 2017

Volunteer for the NC State Fair Honey Sales Booth

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This is being sent to NCSBA Chapter contacts for Kim Underhill, Chair of the NC State Fair Honey Sales Committee. Please share it with your members. Note that Adolphus Leonard (NCDA&CS apiary inspector) previously sent out another invitation asking for volunteers to work at the fair’s bee educational booth. The honey sales booth is different from the educational booth. Sign up for both!

A SignUpGenius is now available for those who would like to volunteer to work at the honey sales booth. More information and available slots are available at:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0c49adab2ca0f49-ncsba1

Thanks for your support.

sent to Chapters September 10th 2017