Bluegrass Beekeepers Association

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Systematic treatment for Varroa
Jack Kuhn, Kuhndog Ridge Farm – 8-year sideline beekeeper.
The Varroa mite is currently considered the number one threat to the health of your hives. Appropriate and timely treatment is paramount to the survival of your bees. After we cover the brief life cycle of this parasite, we will discuss the importance of treatment timing, practical application of various treatment options available to the bee keeper, including “chemical” and “natural” treatments, and why multiple sampling and treatment is often warranted. If you have a 30-50 percent annual hive loss, this information will dramatically reduce your losses. The speaker has averaged 10 percent hive loss the last three years since employing systematic varroa treatment.

First year hive management
Jack Kuhn, Kuhndog Ridge Farm – 8-year sideline beekeeper
You’ve just invested $600 in a new hive, package of bees, vail and smoker – now what do you do?! Sit them out back and let them fend for themselves? NOOO! This class will walk you through the seasons and outline actions you will want to take to properly manage your bee hive(s) over the next 12 months. We will cover the importance of increasing the bee population in the hive, ensure honey and pollen stores are available; treat for varroa mite, combat the hive beetle, watch for the insidious wax moth, prepare the hive for winter, overwinter the hive, and prepare for the following spring honey flow. Focus is on building a strong hive, survive the winter, and be ready to produce excess honey the following spring. Lots to do, lots to do, if you want to bee successful.

Trapping feral honeybees with Swarm traps
Dwight Wells, President of West Central Ohio Beekeepers Assoc, Founder of Heartland Honeybee Breeders Cooperative
Learn how to build a swarm trap, set it out and use the proper ingredients for attracting swarms. Feral swarms are showing mite resistance and mite tolerance. Come hear about the latest data collected.

Nutrition
Dwight Wells, President of West Central Ohio Beekeepers Assoc, Founder of Heartland Honeybee Breeders Cooperative
An overview of the importance of honeybee nutrition from spring to fall.   

Kentucky Queen Bee Breeders’ Association working with Purdue to Bring Sustainable Queens to Kentucky.   
Dorothey Morgan, President of Kentucky Queen Bee Breeders’ Association
This class is about mite chewing bees, diseases that mites carry, and how bees are compared to ourselves.

Introduction to Instrumental Insemination of Honey Bee Queens
Dorothey Morgan, President of Kentucky Queen Bee Breeders’ Association
This talk is about the beginning cost of insemination equipment and shows insemination being done, as well as drone semen being harvested.

Hive Diagnostics
Katherine White
Looking, listening…and sniffing from the outside of the hive to know what’s happening on the inside of the hive.

Nucs- The Spare Tire of the Beeyard
Wes Henry, President Capital City Beekeepers Association, owner/ Beekeeper of “Summer’s Bird Honey”
Need a queen, a frame or two of brood, a honey/ pollen frame, a pulled frame for a damaged one; need to boost a weak hive in the fall, or whatever? Like a spare tire for your truck or car, every apiary should have at least one managed nuc to keep ya going with little interruption for such things- Save money, time, know what ya got, and do some learning too. This class will help you recognize and use the benefits of keeping a nuc. 

Marketing Honey
Rick Sutton
Class includes labeling, marketing and preparing honey for sale. We will look at some of the current issues with 90% of the honey being sold in stores that is labeled “local” that is not Kentucky honey, including Ky Proud.

Rescuing Bees from Trees and Other Hard to Reach Places
Randy Rosbrook, President of Madison County Beekeepers Association
Sometimes bees get into places that are inconvenient for cohabitation with humans. We’ll learn how to safely remove bees from diverse and extreme locations.

Technology’s Positive Impact on the Hive
Randy Rosbrook, President of Madison County Beekeepers Association
Beekeepers have been on the leading edge of technology for the last 100 years. Being innovators themselves, beeks have sometimes erred to the reckless side but their trials have paved the way for solid advances in the apiary.

Hives for People with Disabilities
Carl Jackson
We will look at hive configurations of the past, current hive designs and hives for the physically challenged.

Youth Education
MacKenzie Jones, Murray State University
We will look at how to teach in a school or informal setting to youth about bees, I will provide lesson plans and ideas I have created and used in the past.

What I wish I had known…
John Antenucci, Beekeeper and Mentor, Lazy Dog Honey, Frankfort, Ky
We all learn as we progress through our beekeeping experience.  This session offers insights and practical suggestions that will provide shortcuts to your learning experience.  Topics will range broadly from equipment selection and modification to colony management practices that have proven effective.

Beeyard Management by the Holiday Calendar
John Antenucci, Beekeeper and Mentor, Lazy Dog Honey, Frankfort, Ky
Discipline comes in many forms; a simple one is the holiday calendar.  In this session both new and experienced Beekeepers are introduced to an annual calendar of holidays and the beekeeping practices and activities that can be associated with them. For example; Most people celebrate Thanksgiving with a meal, why shouldn’t your bees?

Negative Effects of Chemicals on the Hive 
Kent Williams, Eastern Apiculture Society Master Beekeeper, Wingo, Ky
It’s not your grandpa’s environment anymore.  The introduction of a wide range of organic and inorganic chemicals into our daily lives, household products and agricultural and horticultural pursuits are impacting all pollinators.  Which are causing the most impact on honeybees and are there strategies for controlling their impact?

Small Hive Beetle Biology
Kent Williams, Eastern Apiculture Society Master Beekeeper, Wingo, Ky
Small Hive Beetles are both a threat to and the consequence of stressed hives and weakened colonies.  This session will describe the source and nature of the threat, its consequences and strategies for controlling these persistent pests.

Research Results: Potential for Positive Impacts on the Hive
Tom Webster, Associate Professor, Kentucky State University Apiculture-Beekeeping Program
A review of achievements and promising research and its potential for improving your success as a beekeeper, today and in the near future.  This session will report on a cross section of research e.g. Varroa, environmental factors influencing queen performance, nutrition et al that is or expected to have a positive influence in beekeeping.

Honeybee friendly plants and trees
Janet Osborn, Lazy Dog Honey and 20+ years of landscaping in the Blue Grass, Frankfort, Ky
The curse of habitat loss and monoculture:  you can do your part to offset it.  This session introduces a wide range of vegetative types that can provide honeybees and other pollinators a wide variety of nectar and pollen sources.  Whether your intent is to provide an island in an otherwise nectar desert or miles of fence line or acres of flowers, here is a structured look at what can work in the Bluegrass region.

Kentucky Pollinator Protection App
Dr. Tammy Horn Potter, Kentucky State Apiarist
The KY Department of Agriculture has created an electronic app that applicators can use to communicate with beekeepers during spraying season.  The app is free, protects anonymity, and only takes 5 minutes to use.  Dr. Horn Potter will discuss the process that beekeepers can register their apiaries and also the results from pollen samples from the 2016 USDA Honey Bee Health Survey showing agricultural chemicals.

Reactions To Bee Stings and Desensitization Protocols
Vincent Austin, Ph.D, microbiologist and beekeeper, Garrard County, KY
Stung by a bee, now what? Local, systemic, and anaphylactic reactions.  How to become desensitized to bee (and other insect) venom. Keeping safe while raising bees. 

Spring Buildup to Honey Production
Kevin Hale, Hale’s Honey, Menifee County, Ky
Colony management, feeding protocols and record keeping are the prerequisites to high volume (in excess of 100 #/colony) in Hale’s operation. This session will provide insight on how to manage for honey production and to utilize the less productive hives to support the high producers.