Welcome

The Nevada County Beekeepers Association is a diverse group of professionals and hobbiest, men and women, young and old, with a keen interest in promoting the well being of honey bees and their habitat while enjoying their amazing benefits. The NCBA strives to promote education on beekeeping and agriculture by providing the latest news and techniques in these fields.

The club members meet once a month on the first Monday at 7pm and visitors are always welcome. All meetings are held in the Veterans Memorial Building at 255 South Auburn Street, Grass Valley, CA. Entrance is off the back parking lot, in Grass Valley at 7pm. The August meeting is always moved to the County Fair Grounds with a fair booth clean up following by a barbeque social.

Any questions about bees?
Always wanted to get bees?
Questions about honey production?
Have some information to share?
Wondering about pollination in your garden or orchard?
Have some bees or equipment to sell?
Want to meet some great folks?

Join our lively question and answer session starting promptly at 7pm followed by refreshements, brief business discussion, raffle and a great program.

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President's Message - July

We had such a tremendous response to our call for volunteers to staff the NCBA booth at the Nevada County Fair that all the times were filled by the end of the last meeting. I’d like to thank all those who volunteered but would also like to ask that any members attending the fair to stop by the booth and spend a little time helping out or give those staffing a break to use the restroom or get something to eat.

It would be beneficial to the club to have as many people as possible familiar with opening/closing the booth and just what to do while there. You don’t have to make a big commitment just a few minutes of your time while you’re at the fair.

I’m traveling right now and won’t return until after the next meeting so I will leave you in the capable hands of our vice president Amy Hustead.

Jerry Van Heeringen

Bee Bits - July

After our long drought, it appears that we are approaching “normal.” We are seeing the best honey flow in years—still not fantastic, but it’s more like beekeeping used to be before California dried up. My sons had nearly forgotten what it was like to see beautiful supers of white combs.

We’ve been taking mite washes these past two weeks on around 1500 hives. If you don’t know your mite counts, better be prepared for surprises. I’d strongly recommend that you all sample your hives for mites at this time, and either treat with a single MAQS, if indicated (more than 6 mites in a half cup of bees), if they are still making honey; treat with two 50-g rounds of Apiguard if the honey has been harvested. We’ve still got a lot of summer left, and varroa will continue to build up.

Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com