Marion - The Beekeeping Calendar

Damian - Working alongside small hive beetle and prevention

Sunday May 12th, 2024 Our swarming prevention field day has been postponed due to poor weather. Alin has generously offered to run a spring management field day instead. Please bring your own protective equipment, a chair, water and lunch. Location is in Brampton at Dixie Orchards.

Marion - Beekeeping Calendar

Sheila - Beekeeping for Weaklings

I would like to introduce a friend of mine who is a successful beekeeper in Slovenia.

NIKA PENGAL is a Slovenian beekeeper who started this adventure back in 2012. She expanded her horizon by studying apitherapy and is helping peoples health with her gained knowledge. Nika wrote a beekeeping book (The Secrets Of Miss Honeybee) that is available on Amazon.com. Nika was featured on the show The Amazing Race season 35 as contestants participated with a beekeeping challenge.

She has created her own brand, Miss Honeybee (Gospodična Medična, which can be followed on her IG profile). The brand includes beekeeping and consultations about bees and the use of beehive products in regard to improving health.

Nika will be sharing about the beekeeping practice that is common in Slovenia and talk about her apitherapy. She will be presenting live from Slovenia. To accommodate the time difference, we have chosen her to present on a Saturday at 1pm EST.

We look forward to Nika's presentation and highly recommend anyone who is interested in participating to email: info@urbantorontobeekeepers.org or visit our website: https://www.urbantorontobeekeepers.org to receive a zoom link.

NIKA PENGAL Links:

https://www.instagram.com/gospodicnamedicna

https://www.amazon.ca/Secrets-Miss-Honeybee.../dp/9610712770

INVITATION TO UTBA MEETING
Time: April 2, 2024
6:30PM – 8:30PM

All of our meetings are Hybrid!  They are held on the first Tuesday of each month
In person at the Stop at Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie Street, Toronto, ON
Zoom invitations are sent out in the week before the meeting by email.


Topics
  The Beekeeping Calendar with Marion Whittam:
1. Tips to diagnose a hive loss if you have one.
2. A reminder about the importance of monitoring varroa mite levels regularly throughout the season and treat as necessary
3. Brief summary of the following hive diseases with references to OMAFRA website and the Ontario Beekeeper's Association document Diseases and Pests of the Hove
Varroa Mites
American Foul Brood
European Foulbrood
Chalkbrood
Nozema

  Measuring honey bee colony mite and disease resistance - Kaira Wagoner, PhD
Kaira Wagoner, PhD, is the co-inventor of the UBeeO TM  Assay, a pheromone-based tool
for measuring honey bee colony mite and disease resistance. UBeeO TM tests a colony’s
ability to detect and remove unhealthy brood from the hive, a heritable trait known as
hygienic behavior. Research indicates that colonies with higher UBeeO TM scores have
fewer mites, higher survival, and lower virus, Nosema, and chalkbrood loads. In 2023,
Dr. Wagoner was recognized in Copenhagen, Denmark as a finalist for the BII & AAAS
Science Prize for Innovation for her work with UBeeO TM . Dr. Wagoner currently serves
as CEO of Optera, a honey bee health company based in Greensboro, North Carolina,
which manufactures UBeeO TM . She also works with pollinators in her role as a Research
Scientist at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG). Dr. Wagoner’s
doctoral research at UNCG focused on honey bee chemical communication and
hygienic behavior, which led to the development of UBeeO TM . When not in the lab or
apiary, Dr. Wagoner enjoys traveling, playing games, and spending time in the great
outdoors with her husband and three nature-loving boys.

INVITATION TO UTBA MEETING

March 5, 2024
6:30PM – 8:30PM

All of our meetings are Hybrid!  They are held on the first Tuesday of each month
In person at the Stop at Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie Street, Toronto, ON
Zoom invitations are sent out in the week before the meeting by email.

Welcome to UTBA March 2024 monthly meeting
Topics:
 

The Beekeeping Calendar with Marion Whittam:

    1. Spring management with focus on preventing starvation with supplemental feeding as required
    2. Colony Health The importance of Varroa mite monitoring, acceptable spring mite levels and techniques to monitor the mites
    3. The  ORHBS program
    4. What you need to know when buying a NUC
    5. How to move hives safely
    6. OBA meeting April 5-6 more details to follow
 

Dealing with a Laying Worker Colony - Jeff Young

 Jeff is a UTBA member - hobby beekeeper - and will share his experience
 in identifying the laying worker issue, the approach he took, the requeening process, outcome and learnings.
 

Zoom Details:

INVITATION TO UTBA MEETING
Time: December 4, 2023
6:30PM – 8:30PM


All of our meetings are Hybrid!  They are held on the first Tuesday of each month
In person at the Stop at Wychwood Barns, 601 Christie Street, Toronto, ON
Zoom invitations are sent out in the week before the meeting by email.


The Beekeeping Calendar
  with Marion Whittam


Apiary of the Month
  Winter Shed Update - Alin, Northumberland Bees
 
 
Main Speaker: Kelly Rogers - Organic MIte Treatments at Chatsworth Honey 2000-2020
  Kelly began her beekeeping education at the University of Guelph and the Honey Bee Research Centre. Next stop was 4 years in Peace River, Alberta, learning the trade in a commercial operation. She and her beekeeping partner returned to Ontario to beekeep, taking over an existing operation in Chatsworth.  Chatsworth Honey managed 700 colonies for apple pollination, queen & nuc production, and honey production.  Kelly was a member of the Ontario Resistant Honey Bee Selection (ORHBS) program since its beginning in the 1990s and chair of the Ontario Bee Breeders Association for many years. Although retired from the business, she continues to dabble in queen and nuc production.
Members receive their zoom invitation by email the day before the event

Honey Festival

Saturday September 23trd, from 9 am to 1 pm

327 Bering avenue, Etobicoke

One week after the extraction event, the UTBA will host a honey festival as a chance for us to get together and share our summer adventures with our bees. This event will be open to the public to come and sample but only UTBA members can bring samples (1-2 jars). During the event, tables will be set up for our members in the greenhouse.  

We are looking into the possibility of having our members also be able to sell their honey at this event and/or trade with other members. Please indicate your interest in sales/trade using the form linked below.

Preregistration is STRONGLY REQUIRED, as it will allow us to gauge numbers and  interest in honey sales: https://forms.gle/tmvB7tZcQtVQop7Y6

Honey Extraction

Sunday September 17th, from 9 am to 5 pm

327 Bering Avenue, Etobicoke.

Guests are welcome to watch, extraction is limited to UTBA members only.

Bring your frames and let's learn to extract together! This is intended for small scale extraction (max 20 frames). Please register ASAP using the form below, as space and time are limited. We have Michelle Wolfson’s fantastic extraction trailer (medium frames only) and an additional 3-frame motor driven extractor (can accommodate deep frames). 

During the event there will be an extraction demonstration, including removing frames from a hive on site, uncapping, spinning, and clean up! The event will be hosted in a large greenhouse on site,  which will allow us to be contained while we extract to prevent robbing. THIS DOES NOT MEAN TENACIOUS STINGING INSECTS WON’T FIND US - bring protective gear if you are worried. 

Further information and REQUIRED registration can be found here: https://forms.gle/o6RQnDhNsCDgEDNo9