April 2023
Coweta Beekeepers Association Monthly Newsletter
Hello, my fellow beekeepers!
I hope your 2023 beekeeping year has been off to a great start! 😊 Please join us at the April meeting as we discuss All About Honey Shows with our GBA Director, Brutz English. We are hoping that by having this discussion earlier in the year, our members can have plenty of time to plan, create, and show off all the different beekeeping products come October for our annual CBA Honey Show.
We also have our annual Members’ Picnic in May, and we will try something new. This year, so we can really enjoy some social time with everyone, we are having it on Saturday, May 6th, 2023, from 12:30 pm – 3:30 pm. It will be at Carl Miller Park/Newnan Utilities, 74 Sewell Road, Newnan, GA 30263. We will be at Pavilion 1, and there are lots of activities for the children at this park, including a Kids Castle Playground and a Splash Pad! 😊 The Pavilion seats 150 people so we should be good on seating but if you’d like to bring some chairs, we’ll leave that up to you. Picnic is open to Active CBA Members Only.
The club will grill up some hamburgers and hot dogs and provide beverages. For our members, please see the first letter of your last name for what dish we would like for you to bring.
Food
| Club Provides |
Members Provide |
| Grilled Hamburgers & Hot Dogs |
Last Name A-H please bring a Salad |
| Paper Products: Plates, silverware, napkins, cups |
Last Name I-P please bring a Side |
| Beverages: Tea, Lemonade, Water, Ice |
Last name Q-Z please bring a Dessert |
Prizes
We will have some fun games for those who want to participate. Each family will get one raffle ticket for the opportunity to win a complete hive box, like last year. You do not have to participate in a game to have the opportunity to win.
Some park rules are listed below, and here is a park map.
Thank you,
Heather Shinn, President
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Our next monthly meeting
Date: Monday, April 10, 2023
Location: 255 Pine Road, Newnan, Georgia
Please park in back
Time: 6:30 PM before the meeting mentoring
Speaker: Steven Page
Title: First-year colony goals, getting them to draw comb, feeding
Time: 7:00 PM meeting start
Speaker: Brutz English
Title: All About Honey Shows
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Confessions of a New-Bee (keeper)
By Jennifer Mugerditchian
Welcome to April NewBees! My notebook tells me this time last year I was headed to the Bee Lab at UGA to pick up my very first nucs. I was nervous, excited, and terrified but thrilled to be bringing a lifelong goal to reality. Looking back, I feel I could have done things better. It was pretty hot that day, and I kept them closed in the nuc for a bit too long as I put the finishing touches on my bee yard. Ensure you’re ready to limit the stress and settle them ASAP. I also didn’t have a reliable water source and depended on a small pond a few hundred yards away. To fix the water situation, I installed an inexpensive bird bath and placed a bunch of rocks in it for the bees to perch on. I purchased mine from At Home locally, but there are lots of options at most big box stores or Amazon. The fun bonus of the birdbath, I took some great close-up photos of the girls at work.
My hack for this month is for beeswax. I had been looking to purchase a second crockpot exclusively for melting beeswax to coat frames. Instead, I used two slow cooker liners on my existing crockpot, and it worked very well. When I was done coating frames, I let it cool with the small foam roller still in the wax. After it hardened, I removed the whole thing (bags & roller) and closed it off with a twist tie. No need for a second crockpot taking up space!
Do you want to ‘bee’ in the know? Keep an eye on the following Facebook pages.
Georgia Beekeepers Association https://www.facebook.com/georgiabeeclub :
Coweta Beekeepers Association https://www.facebook.com/groups/cowetabeekeeper/
West Georgia Beekeepers Association https://www.facebook.com/westgabeekeeperassociation/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/georgiabeekeepers/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/georgiabeekeeper/
See you next month!
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Upcoming events
September 21-23, 2023
 Eastern Apicultural Society of North America, Inc. (EAS)
Combined Short Course and Main Conference
July 31 - August 4, 2023
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Is it time to stop feeding? Yes and No
By Steven Page
April 5, 2023
New Colony? Keep feeding.
Is your colony new this year? Did you start your nuc or package in the past few weeks? Then you need to keep feeding during the main nectar flow and continue to feed until the comb is drawn out on all the frames of the deep and a shallow or medium super above is full of honey. Typically, they need to be fed until September or October. They must store 30 pounds of honey by the end of October to survive the winter. Expect to feed gallons and gallons of syrup. During the main nectar flow, the rate of consumption will diminish. After the nectar flow ends in May, consumption will increase. After June 1, there are no more nectar flows thru the end of the growing season in November. There is NOT a fall nectar flow here, or at least it is unreliable, do not depend on it. The only way your colony will be ready for winter is by you feeding it. Do not neglect your bees.
A colony started last year or before. Stop feeding, maybe.
If your colony overwintered and they have plenty of honey stores, there is no need to feed them. They need to be fed if they are very low on honey stores. Some strong colonies have two supers of honey already. If you feed during the main honey flow, there is NO honey in the hive because it is contaminated with cane sugar. Feeding a colony in January thru March when they do not need to be fed can help them swarm. If your colony is very strong right now, do not feed, and there should be a super on the hive that they are not using yet. Watch that super, and add two supers when they are working in it. A strong colony can make a super of honey in five days. It will be in multiple supers. In May, add one super when they are working in the top super. Stay ahead of your bees.
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Makin’ Syrup
By Steven Page, April 4, 2023
Measure by volume or measure by weight? What kind of sugar? To heat or not to heat. Ratios 1:1, 2:1, 1.25:1. Essential oils.
Hot water enables the sugar to dissolve quicker than cold water, and cold water requires a longer time of mixing or stirring to get the sugar to dissolve. ALWAYS remove the heat before adding the sugar. If the heat is still on after adding the sugar and some sugar caramelizes, it will make the bees sick.
The only sugar to use is granulated sugar, which you put in iced tea and coffee. Powdered sugar has starch and will make the bees sick, and Brown or natural sugar has molasses which will make them sick.
The ratio does not have to be exact. Using a dry measuring cup, a cup of sugar weighs 7 ounces, and a cup of water weighs 8 ounces; that’s close enough to a 1:1 ratio. I use dry weight and a 1:1 ratio. One gallon of water weighs 8 pounds. Heat a gallon of water, remove the heat, and add 8 pounds of granulated sugar; stir until dissolved. Yield is about 1.6 gallons or enough servings for 10,000 bees. (just kidding)
You’ll read about many different ratios; the two most common are 1:1 and 2:1. Bob Binnie found 2:1 (2 pounds of sugar to 1 pound of water) resulted in some of the syrup crystalizing in the comb. I use 1:1 all year; every time I make syrup, I make 1:1 by dry weight. Making a batch of 1:1 syrup with 25 pounds of water (3 gallons, 1 pint) and 25 pounds of sugar results in 50 pounds of syrup or 5 gallons.
Adding essential oils can stimulate consumption and reduce mold growth. The two common products on the market are Honey-B-Healthy and Pro Health. I use Pro Health, but at much less than the recommended amount; I add one fluid ounce per 5 gallons. Always add essential oils after the syrup has cooled or risk vaporizing some essential oils. I use essential oils to prevent mold growth in the feeder pails. During the dearth (June 1 to November), essential oils can stimulate robbing.
Think in gallons, not quarts. A strong colony will consume a quart of syrup in a few hours. A Boardman feeder in the entrance is inadequate, and a hive top feeder holding a gallon of syrup minimum is much better. I use the inverted pails from www.betterbee.com. When I start feeding my mature colonies in August to get them to raise brood and store honey (stored for their consumption during the winter), they can consume two gallons in five days. I have already fed a swarm I caught a few weeks ago six gallons of syrup.
A turkey fryer burner and pot is an easy way to make five-gallon batches of syrup.
Pro Health info
- Pro Health is a feeding supplement composed of lemongrass and spearmint (essential oils concentrate)
- Pro Health helps promote strong and healthy hives when used as a feeding supplement during late winter, early spring and during dearths of nectar
- Pro Health has a natural calming effect when sprayed on the bees
- Pro Health is antibacterial, antifungal and antimicrobial which aids in the overall health of the bees
- Pro Health added to your feeding mix will help build up packages, nucs and swarms
- Pro Health prevents syrup fermentation
- Encourages bees to draw out new foundation faster when used as a spray.
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Help, my bees are not doing anything right now.
By Steven Page
April 5, 2023
You're observant.
A mature colony will pause their nectar collecting efforts in late March or early April for about three weeks. There is plenty of nectar available, but they are not collecting it. We are in the storage lull. After the lull, they will be in collect nectar and make honey mode. Walt Wright speculated that the colony was raising a brood cycle of house bees to process the nectar into honey.
In a few weeks or less, they will be making honey.
New comb or white wax indicates they are in the honey-making mode. If they are working in the top super, add two supers. The colony will draw out comb in the middle frames of a super first, then the middle frames on the super above. Rearrange the honey supers with the fullest frames on the outside and foundation frames in the middle.
I have not seen black locust blossoming yet.
Walt Wright's article about the lull.
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Support our Local Beekeeping Supply Stores?
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Full line of Beekeeping equipment & supplies including,
Mann Lake, Glory Bee, Dadant, Custom orders, and local builders
Store located at 4046 Sharpsburg McCullum Road (Hwy 154), Suite 213. Newnan, GA. 30265.
Hours are Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday & Saturday 11 am - 5 pm.
We are closed Wednesday and Sunday except by appointment.
We accept Cash, Charge/Debit, Check, and PayPal.
- Mated Queens $40 unmarked, (marking is $5 extra.)
- 5 frame nucs will be $195, call Dora for further details
- 3 Lb Package of bees with 2023 newly mated, unmarked queen $140, (queen marking $5 extra), (packages payable in advance). Pickup date starts March 22
Follow us on Facebook - Sweet Kingdom Bees Supplies and Products from the Hive
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