Ann Arbor Backyard Beekeepers (A2B2)
  • Club
    • Who We Are
    • Join/Renew
    • Donate
  • Blogs
    • A2B2 Blog
    • Flow Hive Team
    • A, Bee, C's
  • Class Registration
  • Education
    • About Bee School
      • Beginner Schedule
      • Intermediate Schedule
    • Educational Outreach
    • Resources and Info Links
  • Vendors
  • Members Only
  • Club
    • Who We Are
    • Join/Renew
    • Donate
  • Blogs
    • A2B2 Blog
    • Flow Hive Team
    • A, Bee, C's
  • Class Registration
  • Education
    • About Bee School
      • Beginner Schedule
      • Intermediate Schedule
    • Educational Outreach
    • Resources and Info Links
  • Vendors
  • Members Only

BEEKEEPERS' BLOG

Club Events and Info for Bee-Friendly People

May's Monthly Meeting: The Three Things You Need to Get Right to be a Successful Beekeeper

4/15/2022

 
Date: Tuesday, May 10  |  Time: 7 pm  |  Location: Online on Zoom

Topic: ​The Three Things You Need to Get Right to be a Successful Beekeeper

Stressing the importance of managing varroa, managing queen events, and feeding.
The main presentation starts at 7 pm, but feel free to sign in starting at 6:30 pm for a beginners Q&A session. See our Facebook page or join via the Zoom link above.

​NOTE: Please post questions/comments in the Zoom chat. Facebook is not monitored during our educational meetings.
Picture
Speaker: ​Mr. Lewis Cauble has kept bees since 2007 and worked as an Apiary Inspector with the NC Dept of Agriculture since July of 2015. He lives in Rutherfordton, North Carolina, where he manages between 25 and 35 colonies for fun. He covers 21 counties in Western NC, inspecting colonies for disease and working with the many county beekeeping associations to help beekeepers understand best management practices.  His passion is varroa monitoring and management. 

​Please join us - our monthly meetings are always free and open to the public!​

April's Monthly Meeting: Increasing Honey Yield

3/10/2022

 
Date: Tuesday, April 12  |  Time: 7 pm  |  Location: Online on Zoom

Topic: Increasing Honey Yield

What is necessary to have the highest average production from your colonies and the inputs/management to help achieve this.
The main presentation starts at 7 pm, but feel free to sign in starting at 6:30 pm for a beginners Q&A session. See our Facebook page or join via the Zoom link above.

​NOTE: Please post questions/comments in the Zoom chat. Facebook is not monitored during our educational meetings.
Picture
Speaker: Kent Williams.  
Mr. Kent Williams has been keeping bees for more than 30 years.  His farm has between 800-1200 hives at the height of the season; produces nucs for sale as well as renting colonies for pollination of almonds (California) and melons (Kentucky); produces honey in south MS and West KY and wholesale bottled, bucketed and drum honey in West KY; and produces queens for their use, selling the overflow.
From Kent: We have a beekeepers school on our farm each year, three days, all hands-on in live colonies. Topics range from very basic to advanced. The school is free with a very good meal served each day. Everyone is welcome, no registration, just show up. We also have groups come to the farm throughout the summer to practice specific management, just call to make sure we're home. 

​Please join us - our monthly meetings are always free and open to the public!​

March's Monthly Meeting: Managing Your Apiary for Overwintering Success

2/16/2022

 
Date: Tuesday, March 8  |  Time: 7 pm  |  Location: Online on Zoom

Topic: ​Managing Your Apiary for Overwintering Success

The main presentation starts at 7 pm, but feel free to sign in starting at 6:30 pm for a beginners Q&A session. See our Facebook page or join via the Zoom link above.

​NOTE: Please post questions/comments in the Zoom chat. Facebook is not monitored during our educational meetings.
Picture
Speaker: ​Dr. Christina M. Wahl, Associate Professor (retired) Wells College, and Courtesy Assistant Professor (retired), Department of Biomedical Sciences, Cornell University.

A fourth-generation beekeeper from upstate New York who grew up working in her family’s commercial beekeeping business, the Thousand Islands Apiaries, Professor Wahl is a physiologist and developmental biologist with technical expertise in microscopic surgery, microscopic anatomy, and histology.  She has 30 years of research experience, much of it supported by the National Institutes of Health.  She has taught at Cornell University, in Ithaca, NY, and at Wells College, in Aurora, NY. 

Dr. Wahl has been a volunteer instructor for the NY Bee Wellness program, and has both taught and mentored beginning beekeepers in the Finger Lakes region.  She has designed and co-taught workshops on queen rearing.  She developed the educational exhibit on honeybees and pollinators at the New York State Fair. She is the editor of the book “Morphometrics” published by InTech.  She has authored several book chapters and many original peer-reviewed research papers and has been a member of several professional science organizations.  Professor Wahl also collaborated with Senior Extension Associate Emma K. Walters (Mullen) at Cornell University on a study entitled “Number and distribution of multiple foundress mites Varroa destructor in northern New York drone brood combs during spring and fall.”   She is actively engaged in efforts to better understand and prevent health problems of the honeybee. 

​Please join us - our monthly meetings are always free and open to the public!​

February's Monthly Meeting: Sustainable Beekeeping

2/3/2022

 
Date: Tuesday, February 8  |  Time: 7 pm  |  Location: Online on Zoom

Topic: Sustainable Beekeeping

​Managing your apiary for survival and resilience
Picture
The main presentation starts at 7 pm, but feel free to sign in starting at 6:30 pm for a beginners Q&A session. See our Facebook page or join via the Zoom link above.

​NOTE: Please post questions/comments in the Zoom chat. Facebook is not monitored during our educational meetings.

Speaker: Ed  Szymanski, along with his wife Marian, are homesteaders who take care of bees, chickens, and a lot of fruits, vegetables, and flowers on an acre-plus lot with no lawn in Franklin, Massachusetts. Ed and Marian speak to bee clubs and garden clubs about planting for honey bees and pollinators. Ed also runs an intermediate-level bee school program that last year drew 300 students.

Ed has been President of Norfolk County Beekeepers Association and is involved with both Massachusetts and Rhode Island state associations. He has made a hobby and a small business of photographing bees and pollinators at work. Ed's article "Top 10 Pollinator Plants for the Northeast" was be published in the Autumn issue of 2 Million Blossoms, a quarterly national magazine devoted to pollinators.

Please join us - our monthly meetings are always free and open to the public!​

So You Want to Be a Beekeeper?  Informational Meeting

1/6/2022

 
Picture
​So, you want to be a beekeeper? 
Are you intrigued by honeybees?
Have ever been curious about beekeeping? 
Have you ever wondered what it takes to be a beekeeper? 
And have you ever thought about becoming a beekeeper yourself?
 A2B2 is still accepting registrants for the Bee School and it is not too late to enroll.  

Dave Pearce, lead instructor for the Ann Arbor Backyard Beekeepers bee school, will lead you through all the steps one should take in preparation to keep bees. In this fun and informative presentation, Dave will provide you with all you need to know about how much time, space, and money it takes to get up and running as a beekeeper. You might just be surprised at how easy it is to begin your very own adventure in beekeeping in your own backyard!  He will also provide you with information on how to join the Ann Arbor Backyard Beekeeper’s Beekeeping School (which begins in February).

Dave has a fun and engaging presentation style and an easy approach to learning. His method of teaching, along with funny stories from his own beekeeping adventures, will keep you entertained as you gain the knowledge required to take your first steps in becoming a beekeeper.

Even if you’re just curious, you don’t want to miss this!  We look forward to seeing you then.

Go to the Education tab and sign up

January's Monthly Meeting: What If?

1/6/2022

 
Date: Tuesday, January 11  |  Time: 7 pm  |  Location: Online on Zoom

Topic: What If?

How to identify situations when working with colonies and strategies to address them
The main presentation starts at 7 pm, but feel free to sign in starting at 6:30 pm for a beginners Q&A session. See our Facebook page or join via the Zoom link above.

​NOTE: Please post questions/comments in the Zoom chat. Facebook is not monitored during our educational meetings.
Picture
​Speaker: Dr. Clarence Collison, Emeritus Professor of Entomology and Head of the Entomology and Plant Pathology at Mississippi State University. 

Clarence grew up on a dairy farm in southern Michigan where he became interested in entomology through 4-H. He first became interested in beekeeping when he took an apiculture class, as a junior at Michigan State University.  His Bachelor of Science (Entomology, 1968), Master of Science (Entomology, 1973) and Ph.D. (Entomology, 1976) degrees were from Michigan State University.  Both his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees specialized in Apiculture; studying nectar secretion and factors affecting bee behavior and pollination of pickling cucumbers. 

Dr. Collison has taught apiculture at Michigan State University and The Pennsylvania State University.  His areas of research emphasis have been concerned with the effects of insecticidal sprays on honey bee foraging, factors that regulate drone production in honey bee colonies, pollination of birdsfoot trefoil and the distribution of varroa mites within the colony.  Over 600 refereed manuscripts, popular articles and Extension bulletins have been published, and hundreds of presentations have been made at professional meetings, extension workshops and to various commodity organizations.  He writes the monthly column “A Closer Look” and prior to that "Do You Know?" for Bee Culture, conducts numerous workshops around the country and frequently judges honey shows.  He has written two books: What Do You Know? was published in 2003 and A Closer Look-Basic Honey Bee Biology in 2017.  He and his wife Sally live in Estill Springs, TN, and have three sons; Craig, Keith, and Eric and nine grandchildren.

Please join us - our monthly meetings are always free and open to the public!​

December's Monthly Meeting: Open Forum Q&A

12/3/2021

 
Date: Tuesday, December 14  |  Time: 6:30 pm  |  Location: Online on Zoom

Topic: Open Forum Q&A

A2B2 President Mike Nardelli and Mentorship Coordinator Jen Haeger will answer participant questions on all things beekeeping.
Picture
See our Facebook page or join via the Zoom link above.

​NOTE: Please post questions/comments in the Zoom chat. Facebook is not monitored during our educational meetings.

​​Please join us - our monthly meetings are always free and open to the public!​

November's Monthly Meeting: Irish Honeybee Conservation with Wild Colonies

11/9/2021

 
Date: Tuesday, November 9  |  Time: 7 pm  |  Location: Online on Zoom

Topic: ​Irish Honeybee Conservation with Wild Colonies

Michiel from Boomtree Bees will share his experience with honeybee conservation in Ireland. 
Picture
The main presentation starts at 7 pm, but feel free to sign in beginning at 6:30 pm for an open Q&A session. See our Facebook page or join via the Zoom link above.

​NOTE: Please post questions/comments in the Zoom chat. Facebook is not monitored during our educational meetings.

Speaker: Michiel Verspuij from Boomtree Bees 
"Growing up in my hometown Wellseind, a little place along the river Maas in the Netherlands, I was always out in nature. From a young age I was fascinated with the environment around me, particularly trees. I was intrigued by how adaptable they are, their different shapes and structure and how useful they are to both wildlife and humans. This led me to go on to study Forestry and Landscape Management in Velp, Gelderland, NL. After completing my studies I came to Ireland in 2001 where I started a forestry contracting business in Galway. Throughout these years I became increasingly aware that things needed to change. Hedgerows were disappearing and biodiversity on farms was diminishing because of the intensification of farming practices. At this point I changed career and went into organic farming. Here it became clear that bees were vital for pollination of crops. With that in mind I started a beekeeping course and got a hive of bees. It soon became apparent to me that conventional beekeeping is more focused on honey production and is less concerned with what the bees require to live a healthy, natural life. I began to research and found that there were more wholesome ways of beekeeping which in turn led me to explore how bees live in the wild. Given the increasing loss of wild habitats I looked at ways to mimic their natural nesting sites in cavities in trees."

Please join us - our monthly meetings are always free and open to the public!

<<Previous
Forward>>

    Archives

    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    December 2019
    October 2019
    August 2019
    March 2018
    December 2017
    June 2017
    July 2016
    April 2016
    May 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015

    Categories

    All
    Beekeeping Calendar
    Bee School
    Education
    Events
    Holiday Gala
    Monthly Meeting

A2B2 Logo
Ann Arbor Backyard Beekeepers Club (A2B2) is dedicated to beekeeping education, mentoring, networking, and advocacy within the Ann Arbor area. We provide an informational and social venue for beekeepers of all levels to cooperate and share experiences. We are a non-profit organization that is open to all individuals interested in honeybees and beekeeping.  Donations qualify for federal tax deductions.
© COPYRIGHT 2021.  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
Website design by Ypsi Rose Designs

Support Us by Donating
Become a Club Member
  • Club
    • Who We Are
    • Join/Renew
    • Donate
  • Blogs
    • A2B2 Blog
    • Flow Hive Team
    • A, Bee, C's
  • Class Registration
  • Education
    • About Bee School
      • Beginner Schedule
      • Intermediate Schedule
    • Educational Outreach
    • Resources and Info Links
  • Vendors
  • Members Only