Beekeeping for beginners
By Dick Johnson
For Hudson-Catskill Newspapers
Despite our January snow storms, now is the time for beekeeping beginners to learn about beekeeping and to attend the annual beginners course provided by the Catskill Mtn Beekeepers Club. Please note that the scheduled date for this presentation has just been changed. The beginners program will be held at 1:00 - 4:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 29 at the Agroforestry Resource Center on Route 23 in Acra. (The snow date is Jan 30). Reservations are needed for this popular program — call 518-622-9820.
The first step in January is to learn all you can about this rewarding and fascinating project. Read all you can and surf the net and take advantage of support provided by the bee club. February is the time to order supplies and to build hive equipment. Live bees are ready to ship in April and May but this year there will be a shortage of bee packages and so it is important to place orders promptly. The bee club will help to list suppliers who can furnish supplies and bees. Attend the club meetings held on the second Tuesday of each month. The next meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday February 8 at the Agroforestry Resource Center.
March is the time that all of the equipment needs to be painted and planning done for installing the hives in a suitable location. The bees will arrive the next month and the club will try to assign a nearby, experienced beekeeper to help each beginner and to act as a “mentor”. April is when the bee packages will need to be picked up and promptly installed in the hive boxes that have been prepared for them. New packages of bees need to be fed with sugar syrup to give them a good start until the dandelions are in bloom. The weather in “river towns” like Catskill is a few weeks earlier than the mountain top towns like Windham where spring is often delayed.
May is when spring flowers and fruit trees are in full bloom and a healthy colony of bees will need to collect nectar and pollen to feed the hundreds of baby bees (called brood). For those hives that survived the winter, May is the time that they may grow so fast that they need more space. The good news is that the beekeeper can “split” these overpopulated hives and increase their colonies. The bad news is that without careful attention the bees may just take off in a swarm and the remaining, weakened colony will not produce a honey crop to harvest. August is the time to harvest the golden treasure of delicious honey. It is also the time to examine the hive for parasites and disease and take proper action to care for the bees to help them to survive the winter. Beginning beekeepers and others interested in beekeeping can learn more about this rewarding hobby by visiting the web at http://www.catskillbees.org/.
The first step in January is to learn all you can about this rewarding and fascinating project. Read all you can and surf the net and take advantage of support provided by the bee club. February is the time to order supplies and to build hive equipment. Live bees are ready to ship in April and May but this year there will be a shortage of bee packages and so it is important to place orders promptly. The bee club will help to list suppliers who can furnish supplies and bees. Attend the club meetings held on the second Tuesday of each month. The next meeting will be held at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday February 8 at the Agroforestry Resource Center.
March is the time that all of the equipment needs to be painted and planning done for installing the hives in a suitable location. The bees will arrive the next month and the club will try to assign a nearby, experienced beekeeper to help each beginner and to act as a “mentor”. April is when the bee packages will need to be picked up and promptly installed in the hive boxes that have been prepared for them. New packages of bees need to be fed with sugar syrup to give them a good start until the dandelions are in bloom. The weather in “river towns” like Catskill is a few weeks earlier than the mountain top towns like Windham where spring is often delayed.
May is when spring flowers and fruit trees are in full bloom and a healthy colony of bees will need to collect nectar and pollen to feed the hundreds of baby bees (called brood). For those hives that survived the winter, May is the time that they may grow so fast that they need more space. The good news is that the beekeeper can “split” these overpopulated hives and increase their colonies. The bad news is that without careful attention the bees may just take off in a swarm and the remaining, weakened colony will not produce a honey crop to harvest. August is the time to harvest the golden treasure of delicious honey. It is also the time to examine the hive for parasites and disease and take proper action to care for the bees to help them to survive the winter. Beginning beekeepers and others interested in beekeeping can learn more about this rewarding hobby by visiting the web at http://www.catskillbees.org/.
No comments:
Post a Comment