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MINUTES
Tampa Bay Beekeepers Association
October 11, 2007
www.tampabaybeekeepers.com
The Tampa Bay Beekeepers Association monthly meeting came to order on Thursday, October 11, 2007, 7:30 pm at the Hillsborough County Extension Office old meeting hall. Vice-President Charlie Hammond presided. There were 8 guests including Stephanie Tarwater from Tennessee and several students and teachers from the Montessori school. Approximate number of attendees: 47. Alice Miller and Mary provided the refreshments. Door prizes provided by Bert Kelly.
Guest Speaker: Amanda Ellis from the Division of Plant Industry provided an interesting research update. She is a Graduate Student at UF working on her dissertation. Her research project update included Varroa IPM (Integrated Pest Management) Threshold, Powdered Sugar Effect, Small-cell foundation, and wax month control. Research is geared towards an economic threshold. The threshold is how many mites a bee colony can live with. Colonies in study were mixed with brood and marked queens. Colony strength was assessed and varroa mites were counted using various sampling methods (common and some innovative methods). Number of bees and brood were actually counted for each hive. The mites on bee brood were also meticulously counted. Continuous treatment of Apiguard seems to indicate a downward trend in number of mites, and an inclining trend of brood for this type of treatment. The powdered sugar mite treatment study has not shown a significant drop in mites. The small-cell foundation study started with zero mites in populations on fresh foundation and bee packages were dusted and treated with Apiguard. Colony strength and varroa numbers were tracked over time. The regular cell size of comb is 5.37mm vs small cell size of 4.89 mm. Regular cells had an average 14.98 mites where small cell comb was 14.72 mites average in colonies. For the wax moth study, BT (Bacillus thuringiensis) bacteria for wax moth control. Used Bt on sheets of foundation midrib. Wax moths were raised (easily) for eggs. These eggs were placed on treated and untreated comb. At two weeks, there was significant comb damage on the untreated comb. Number of surviving larvae was significantly reduced in the Bt-treated comb. Some questions that came out of this study included possible dosage-change (need more?), and if the Bt breaks down over time. Amanda thanked her crew and many others who helped her with her studies. She will continue these studies and return with an update at a future TBBA meeting.
Club Business Meeting
September Minutes were accepted. Treasurers report: $5,802.89 balance in club account. Jane presented expense report for Fiscal Year 06-07. Dues are being collected this month. TBBA ad for FSB publication – club voted to renew. Florida Farm Bureau membership is due $51.00. Club voted to pay this renewal. This membership is for liability insurance and FL Farm Bureau are political lobbyists for all agriculture including beekeepers. Donation to friends of Tampa Bay Park - $500 is suggested donation and members agreed. $10.61 check was deposited from CD interest. Thank you certificate was received from American Beekeeping for 20 years of membership.
Club Apiary Report: Brazilian Pepper is in bloom and runs to end of October. Honey pull and re-queening rescheduled to November. We will need to add Julie Nichols’ hive to club apiary.
Officer elections: Renee Hartmann – new secretary, Charlie Hammond new President. Robert Messineo – new Vice-President. Jane Hall will remain as Treasurer. David Kennedy will remain as Librarian. Gary Ranker will be the State Rep. Officer names will be emailed to elmore_herman@yahoo.com.
Christmas party December. Marie Blanchet suggested catering or pot luck. Need to know # of people. Renee Hartmann, new secretary, will send out email to announce. A sign-up sheet will be passed at the November meeting for folks to choose which dish to bring.
Announcements:
Mike Godwin, who was recently in an accident, is back home, getting around by walker and getting better each day.
Jim Alderman’s surgery went well and is getting physical therapy.
Old Business:
Marked queens will be provided by John Keating in November.
State association meeting is November 1-3 in Winter Haven. Fish-fry free for pre-registration or $8.00 at the door. Boy Scouts will be hosting. Bee Movie and workshops will be featured.
New Business:
Membership dues are being collected at this meeting and the November meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 9:30.
NEXT MEETING:
Thursday, November 8th, 2007, 7:30 p.m. at Hillsborough Extension office meeting hall. Noel and Marie Blanchet will bring the refreshments.
Guest speaker will be Dr. Jaime Ellis. Also video presentation by Todd Jameson on AHB.
Submitted by A. Hammond
Thank you for a great year. I enjoyed my time as TBBA Secretary. Annemarie Hammond
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