First Meeting of 2023

The Brown County Beekeepers Association will meet February 14 at Western Brown High School’s Community Room located on the western side of the school across from the tennis courts. At 6 p.m. members will be available to answer questions and share information on beekeeping. The educational program will begin at 7:00 p.m. followed by our business meeting.

The educational program will be, ” A Winter Inspection/Spring Preparation of Your Hive”, presented by Kevin Jones, owner and operator of HappBee Acres bee supplies of Batavia , Ohio. This program will cover evaluating your hive right now and how you can prepare it for the upcoming spring weather.
Each year the club awards several ” Youth Hive Scholarships” . These scholarships provide equipment and mentoring to educate youth in the art of beekeeping and to promote a better understanding of honeybees to our environment. To be eligible for these scholarships you must be between the ages of 12 and 18; a resident of Brown County or an adjoining county; enrolled in grades 7 through 12, and have permission from parent or guardian to maintain a beehive. Scholarship applications will be available at this meeting or may be downloaded from this website.

Intro to Beekeeping

Every year at this time, we make resolutions.  Will one of yours this year be to pursue a new hobby or interest? How about beekeeping? The Brown County Beekeepers Association on January 10, 2023, will host the program, ” An Introduction to Beekeeping”. This program will be at 7:00 pm in the Community Room of Western Brown High School in Mt. Orab, Ohio. The Community Room is located on the western side of the school, across from the tennis courts.

This program will cover what is required to get started in beekeeping. There will be a wide variety of handout material on beekeeping as well as gardening for pollinators. Several door prizes will be available to those attending.

 

Introduction to Beekeeping Classes

Honey bees, which are an essential part of our ecosystem, need your help. In recent years, a
number of causes have contributed to the large loss of honey bees. Some of the causes listed are:
Parasitic mites; viruses; pesticides; poor genetics and the loss of habitat. All of these factors have contributed to the decline of both feral bees as well as those maintained in bee hives.
Each of us can help the loss of honey bees in our own way. Gardeners can plant a wide variety of plants, shrubs and trees that are beneficial to all pollinators. The everyday citizen can help the
honey bee by supporting your local bee community, the Brown County Beekeepers Association.
How about becoming a beekeeper?

OSBA Beekeeper of the Year Gary Keuffer will be holding “Introduction to Beekeeping” Classes on the following Dates :

November 5th, 2022, at 10:00 AM, the Felicity Branch of the Clermont County Library.

November 19th, 2022, at 10:00 AM, the Sardinia Branch of the Brown County Library.

Congratulations Honey Contest Winners!

We appreciate all those who submitted entries into the BCBA Open honey Show at the 2022 Brown County Fair.

This year’s BEST of SHOW for the second year in a row went to Bob Schafer– Way to go!!!

In the Light Honey Category: 1st  -Bob Schafer

2nd  – Linda Rhonemus

3rd – Tracy McHenry

Amber Honey Category:  1st – Brian Faught

2nd – James Lucas

3rd – Kelly Morse

Dark Honey Category :  1st – Tom House

2nd – Linda Rhonemus

3rd – Tracy McHenry

Chunk Honey:  1st – Tracy McHenry

Comb Honey:  1st – Tracy McHenry

2nd – Chris Dresel

 

 

 

 

Next Meeting August 9th

The Brown County Beekeepers Association will meet on August 9th at the Brown County Educational Service Center located at 9231-B Hamer Rd., Georgetown, Ohio. At 6:00 PM, club members will be available to answer questions and share information on beekeeping. The educational program will begin at 7:00 PM, followed by our business meeting.

The educational program will feature Jim Coss, owner and operator of The Honey and Bee Connection located in Morehead, Kentucky. Have a question or concern about beekeeping? In our
“Ask Jim Program”, he will be happy to answer your questions and give you his perspective on beekeeping. Additionally, Jim is always willing to share his ” tips and tricks” of beekeeping, which often helps us save time and money in maintaining our bees.
If you are in need of any bee supplies or equipment, Jim is prepared to bring them to the August 9th meeting, saving you the cost shipping and handling or driving to Morehead to purchase them.
To place an order, Jim can be reached at: 606-784-3108.

Meeting June 14th

The Brown County Beekeepers Association will meet on June 14th, at the Brown County Educational

Service Center located at 9231-B Hamer Rd., Georgetown, Ohio. At 6:00 PM, club members will be available to answer questions and share information on beekeeping. The educational program will begin at 7:00 PM, followed by our business meeting.
The educational program will be presented by Billy Miller. His program will be, ” Sustainable Beekeeping by Raising Your Own Queens”. Billy is a practitioner of sustainable natural beekeeping and currently is a volunteer at the Strafford Ecological Center,  which is an organic farm near
Delaware, Ohio.

Meeting at Western Brown HS 5/10

The Brown County Beekeepers will meet May 10th at the Western Brown High School’s Community Room. At 6:00 p.m. club members will be available to answer questions and share information on beekeeping. The educational program will begin at 7:00 p.m. followed by our business meeting.

Our educational program will feature Tom Davidson, owner and operator of Golden Queen Honey.
His presentation on the “Chemical Control of Varroa Mites,” will cover the nine different chemicals that are currently available for beekeepers to use to control Varroa Mites. The pros and cons of each chemical will be covered as well as its proper application.

Next Meeting April 12th

The Brown County Beekeepers Association will meet April 12 at the Western Brown High School’s
Community Room.

At 6:00 p.m. club members will be available to answer questions and share information on beekeeping. The educational program will begin at 7:00 p.m. followed by our business meeting.

The educational program will be presented by George Anderson, owner and operator of GM Bee Farm located in Newtonsville, Ohio. With honey bee swarm season just around the corner,
George will cover, ” Creating Nucs and Bee Hive Splits”, two methods to prevent your bees from swarming.

Next Meeting WEDNESDAY 3/9

The Brown County Beekeepers Association will meet Wednesday March 9 at the Western Brown High School’s Community Room. Our March meeting will be on Wednesday the 9th due to a scheduling conflict with the room we normally use.

At 6:00 p.m. club members will be available to answer questions and share information on beekeeping. The educational program will begin at 7:00 p.m. followed by our business meeting.

The educational program will feature Dwight Wells discussing, ” Feral Bee Swarm Trapping; Their Care and Management”. The program will cover the equipment required and the best practices for trapping feral bee swarms.

Dwight acquired his first bee hive at the age of fourteen as part of a 4-H project. He is currently a board member on a wide variety of bee organizations in the midwestern area, and most recently
helped to establish, the ” Ohio Queen Bee Improvement Project”. This project is seeking local feral bees that have developed mite biting behavior, which has allowed the bees to kill varroa mites,
which in recent years have been very detrimental to honey bees. Currently, beekeepers must use a wide range of products to keep the varroa mite infestation in check. Come and learn how you can help in developing a new generation of honey bees!

February Meeting Tues. 2/8 March meeting WED 3/9

February Topic- ” Winter Feeding Bees”. With the mild winter so far, I’m sure a lot of hives have been out and about consuming lots of energy and eating more honey than normal. There could be a lot of winter starvation this year. OSBA Beekeeper of the Year Gary Keuffer will discuss the when, why and how of winter feeding.

March speaker will be Dwight Wells
Dwight’s passion is promoting sustainable beekeeping. This creates low over-wintering losses, mentoring, and educating beekeepers. Dwight currently works on several projects focusing on on feral honey bees with both Penn State University and Purdue University. The focus on the studies involve chasing feral swarms with swarm traps, then evaluating the chewing behavior of the feral colonies. In 2019, Dwight started a project to distribute 48-hour queen cells, mature queen cells, or unmated queens within the Heartland Honey Bee Breeder Cooperative (HHBBC) region.