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BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION OF NORTHERN VIRGINIA

President Denise Taylor Tom Greiner 1st Vice President David Taylor 2nd Vice President Secretary Christopher Reed Treasurer Bennie Liles Newsletter editor Alan Fiala http://www.beekeepersnova.org Website In This Issue Next Meeting program BANV Budget Proposed Presidents Corner Class Announcements 4-H Report Minutes of the Jan. 2008 meeting General Announcements 1 1 2 2 2 3 3

February March 2008 Next Membership Meeting is Tuesday, March 25, 2008 7:30 p.m. Cafeteria, Falls Church High School 7521 Jaguar Trail Falls Church, VA 22042

Whats Jim Been Smokin? The next membership meeting is Tuesday, March 25, in the cafeteria at Falls Church High School at 7:30. The originally scheduled speaker, Bob Wellemeyer, had to cancel. Instead, Jim Haskell will present Bellows Bee Smokers, Their Inventors, and Other Stuff. Meeting Agenda Call to order, Tom Greiner presiding Verification of quorum Approval of Agenda Approval of Minutes for January 22, 2008 Officers Reports Presentation of proposed budget FY 2008 New business, announcements Adjourn to presentation by Jim Haskell Proposed Budget for FY 2008 Income Dues 72 members Arlington Co. Fair Year end & other Total Expenses Arlington Co. Fair Picnic shelter rent Picnic supplies Newsletter/website 4H Club Speakers Total 535.00 90.00 150.00 200.00 200.00 200.00 1375.00 720.00 655.00 1375.00

Future meetings of BANV The meeting room is frequently changed without notice please check at the door for announcements. May 27, 2008 Falls Church HS Keith Tignor, State Apiarist Sept. 23, 2008 Falls Church HS Jeff Pettis, Beltsville Bee Lab Nov. 25, 2008 Falls Church HS Bob Wellemeyer, Apiary Inspector Other Meetings of Interest April 10-11, 2008 Leesburg, VA VSBA Spring Meeting April 26, 2008 Workshop Queen Rearing Ellanor C. Lawrence Park Advanced classes see the club web site (URL above). To subscribe, just send a message to BANV-subscribe@yahoogroups.com and say that you are a member of BANV.
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BANV Newsletter, March 2008

The Presidents Corner Hi, my name is Denise Taylor and I am your new president of BANV for the next 2 years. Since being elected, I have given a lot of thought about where BANV should go, and I thought I would share some of those thoughts here. In my utopian beeworld, I would have healthy hives that produced 200 pounds of honey (this is utopia) per year. There would be plenty of beekeepers around me with different strains of honeybees for my queens to mate with. I would never have to requeen- when the queen starts failing my very intelligent bees would supersede her with a fabulous new queen. Diseases? What diseases? Unfortunately we do not live in Utopia, and in the real world our bees face many problems. As beekeepers, it is important for us to stay informed and up to date. Attending your BANV meetings, state meetings and EAS are all good places to learn whats going on in beekeeping, plus it is a great way to meet fellow beekeepers. In the near future I will be contacting beekeepers from the last 3-4 years of classes to see what is going on with them. I would also like to try to make BANV more self sufficient; meaning raising our own queens, selling our own nucs etc. I know this will probably take several years, but now would be a good time to start. We, meaning BANV can focus on one thing at a time. If you ever have any questions, feel free to email me at ddtaylor1@cox.net. Also if you have any ideas or suggestions on how to make BANV better, I would love to hear them. I look forward to meeting those of you that I dont know, so until the next newsletter. Queen Rearing Class April 26 If you have made a reservation, bring to the meeting a check for $30, payable to BANV. This is the registration fee, and it includes coffee and doughnuts and lunch. If you are not attending, send it to BANV c/o Tom Greiner, 2431 N. Ohio St., Arlington, VA 22207-1220 to arrive BEFORE April 10. The class is full and there is a waiting list. Unpaid reservations will be dropped and the seats filled from the waiting list ON April 10.
BANV Newsletter, March 2008 2

2 B A Bee 4-H Club Report Brenda Kiessling, Leader We now have 18 registered 4-H club members. We held our roundtable discussion Feb. 2, 2008, inviting Molly and Carly Houlihan who are the teenagers who live in Philadelphia and run Hives for Lives and who donate all their proceeds to the American Cancer Society. {You can google Hives for Lives and learn about them.} There was active participation among these 20 teenagers.Each got to tell his worst experience in beekeeping (quite entertaining). They also gave examples illustrating how they fit beekeeping into the rest of their lives. And teenage lives these days are complicated! When asked what do you like most about what you do with beekeeping?, some of the answers centered around: Doing it for the academic pleasure of learning how the bees survive and their way of life. The feeling of doing something good for someone else (donating money to the American Cancer Society or producing honey that people enjoy) and even feeling that that satisfaction will be important in a career choice. Enjoying doing beekeeping with family or friends; the pleasure of a group activity. On Saturday 1 March 2008, 14 club members, their families and friends (35 in all) took a field trip to the Insect Zoo at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum. They saw the new live butterfly exhibit and tarantula feeding. Then, Dr. Nate Erwin, curator of the Insect Zoo, gave an hour of his time, showing the outside (public) and behindthe-scenes views of the observation hive. He answered questions; was stumped by one or two and it was interesting and educational for the club to hear that even an expert is stumped sometimes. Club members will be encouraged to attend the VSBA state meeting in Leesburg (April 11,12). Meanwhile, the club hive is prospering at Hidden Pond Nature Center and plans for the club pollination garden there are progressing.

Minutes of the January 22, 2008 Meeting of BANV The business meeting started at 7:30 p.m. following the potluck dinner. Tom Merz requested a motion to accept the minutes of the last meeting. A motion was made and the minutes were approved by a vote of the members present. Bennie Liles gave the treasurers report that revealed BANV has $3787.88 in the bank. Dane Hannum announced the expected delivery dates for package bees and the expected costs of bees this year. Packages with unmarked queens are expected to cost $60 each. Packages with marked queens are expected to cost $61.50 each. Extra queens are expected to cost $13.50 and extra marked queens will cost $15 each. Dane and Larry Kelley plan to bring the first load of bees from Wilbanks Apiaries in Georgia at the end of March with their arrival in Northern Virginia expected on March 29, 2008. They plan to arrive in Northern Virginia with the second load of bees on April 13, 2008. The higher prices this year are due in part to the drought Georgia experienced in 2007. As usual, prices may change a little if gasoline or other expenses rise significantly. Delivery dates may change if the weather is atypical. Any empty, clean cages from package bees purchased through Dane in previous years should be returned to Dane soon for reuse. Pat Haskell said she might have sixty students in the class Practical Beekeeping for Beginners that begins the second week of February. She also announced that she would like BANV to consider the purchase a microscope for monitoring the levels of diseases and parasites in BANV members colonies. Larry Kelley reported on recent incidences of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). He said it is already a big problem in Florida this year. CCD usually affects the large migratory beekeeping operations and not beekeepers with a couple of hives in their back yard. Investigators are finding may hives suffering from CCD have contaminated wax from improper use of miticides. Many of the CCD hives also have high levels of nosema ceranae. Both nosema ceranae and the more familiar nosema apis can be treated with fumagillin.
BANV Newsletter, March 2008 3

The election of officers for the next two years was held at the end of the business meeting resulting in the election of Denise Taylor as President, Tom Greiner as First Vice President, David Taylor as Second Vice President, Christopher Reed as Secretary and Bennie Liles as Treasurer. Respectfully Submitted, Christopher Reed, Secretary VSBA Spring Meeting VSBA will meet in Leesburg on Friday, April 11 Saturday, April 12. Featured speakers include Nancy Ostiguy, Penn State, Phil Kraft, state apiarist of Kentucky, and Michael Palmer, state apiarist of Vermont. Details are on the state website, http://www.virginiabeekeepers.org Reduced registration fee and lunch on site will be available if you preregister by March 20. Yes, its just 3 weeks after the BANV meeting. Find an old extractor a home Have you outgrown and replaced your small extractor or do you have an extra extractor that you would be willing to donate to the club? We would like to offer them so our newer members could share/check out extractors to harvest their honey. If you do, please email Denise at ddtaylor1@cox.net Club Apparel Alan Fiala paid to have the club logo digitized for embroidery at the Queensboro shirt company. If you are interested in having shirts, caps, bags, jackets, etc. embroidered with the club logo in a variety of colors, you may order on your own from http://www.queensboro.com/banva. He will have some shirts and caps of his own to show at the meeting. Neither he nor the club gets any credit or money for this. Minimum order is 4 pieces.

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