​​Date:  Tue, June 13, 2023  |  Time: 7 pm  |  Location: Auditorium at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Online on Zoom

Description: Learn to distinguish between healthy and sick brood and to recognize signs of European Foulbrood, American Foulbrood, chalkbrood, and varroa parasitic mite brood syndrome.

Speaker: Ana Heck is Michigan State University's apiculture extension educator. She learned beekeeping in Nicaragua while working with a nonprofit organization that led rural development projects. She later worked with the University of Minnesota Bee Squad and Michigan State University's Department of Entomology before joining Extension. Her role engages beekeepers, growers, pesticide applicators, and home gardeners to improve the health of pollinators. Ana holds a master’s degree in public policy and a graduate minor in entomology from the University of Minnesota.​

​Date:  Tue, May 9, 2023  |  Time: 7 pm  |  Location: Auditorium at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Online on Zoom

Description: Dorothey Morgan will discuss the reasons we mark our queens and which traits we want passed on to their offspring.  She will also discuss re-queening and catching swarms in our own apiary.

Speaker: Dorothey Morgan is president and founder of the Kentucky Queen Bee Breeders' Association, a board member of the Heartland Honey Bee Breeders Co-op, and the instrumental inseminator and founding member of ‘Chasing Feral Honey Bees’, where, selecting for the mite biting trait, she inseminates 100 queens yearly.  She’s been a resident of Kentucky since 2001, having retired as Master Firefighter and EMT from the Anchorage, Alaska Fire Department that year. She has inseminated queens for the Purdue Bee Lab and the Heartland Honey Bee Breeders Co-op, who market their queens. With her group, ‘Chasing Feral Honey Bees’, she and her team collect feral swarms in the mountains of Eastern Kentucky and Central Ohio.  She was chosen Kentucky’s Beekeeper of the Year in 2018.

William Hesbach will discuss less toxic and more natural alternatives for successful Varroa control.  Bill will explain how manipulations using splits and based on knowledge of the mites life cycle can achieve successful Varroa control.

Bradley Galdstone will discuss what Urban Bee LLC does in Southeastern Michigan, what biodynamic beekeeping means, and areas of opportunities to grow as a vocation/avocation 

Speaker: Bradley Gladstone is a Biodynamic beekeeper who also works as an accountant.  Bradley graduated Northwood University in 2012 with a Bachelor of Science, concentration in
accounting, and received CPA certification in 2013. He has been a gardener since 2012 and a
beekeeper since 2015.  He started Urban Bee LLC in 2017,and currently has up to 11 clients across Southeastern Michigan.

​Date:  Tue, Feb 14, 2022  |  Time: 7 pm  |  Location: Auditorium at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens & Online on Zoom

This seminar takes a step-by-step approach to hive inspections. Including what to expect when a veterinarian visits your apiary, appropriate bio-security measures to take when visiting another apiary, working through a 6-point hive evaluation, case examples highlighting common diseases that we find as veterinarians during hive visits, and a review of various treatment options. ​

Speaker: Dr. Melissa Holahan began working with bees in 2016 when she & her sister joined the SEMBA beginner beekeeper school. Melissa enjoyed working with the other beekeepers so much that she completed the intermediate beekeeping school in 2018 and has been assisting with the beekeeping courses whenever possible since then. In addition to her day job as a veterinary critical care specialist, she owns and manages Chubb E. Acres Farm, LLC a small livestock farm (with a focus on ADGA Nigerian Dwarf goats) and honey bee operation in Northville, Michigan. She studied animal science at Michigan State University and received her degree in veterinary medicine from Michigan State University. After graduation Melissa completed an a 1-year internship at University of Pennsylvania and a 3-year critical care residency at Michigan State University. She remains active in multiple beekeeping organizations, teaches honey bee education through SEMBA beekeeping school and speaks about her experiences as both a veterinarian & beekeeper. She is passionate about practicing sustainable beekeeping, supporting local beekeepers and sharing honey bee education with others. ​

What varroa mites are, how they got here, and why they are a problem.

Dr. Mendel will teach us about their lifecycle, their mechanisms for spreading amongst bee colonies, and techniques for managing them at different times of the seasons. We will also get an update about the University of Minnesota Bee Lab and its breeding program, as it relates to mites.