HOME PAGE OF THE OGLETHORPE COUNTY BEE CLUB
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Monday 20 May, The Oglethorpe County Farm Bureau
7:00 pm: Business Meeting and Program. Speaker will be David Arnal who will speak about how he maintains his bee hives naturally and how he has organized his goumet honey business.
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Welcome to the Oglethorpe County Bee Club. Names have meaning and carry with them expectations. Our unimaginative name was deliberately choosen. Trying to manage honey bees necessarily makes one humble if you are not already there, and we think our name accurately describes us as an informal group of neighbors. Many of us are members of the Georgia Beekeepers Association and the Eastern Piedmont Beekeepers Association hosted by the University of Georgia Bee Lab at the Horticulture Farm outside somewhat distant Watkinsville, but our focus is more local. It is first to make us beekeepers and then beekeepers of our county neighbors.
We are here to especially help beginning beekeepers. Beekeeping is a unique mixture of tradition, experiment, and outright guesswork in managing social insects with minds of their own. One must first rely on others for bees, for advice and help in handling them, and for processing of the honey. The vagaries of weather and of insect behavior can be daunting. There are substantial costs in equipment and time. Frustration can take its toll before personally enjoying the pleasures and rewards of beekeeping. And the rewards are many, whether measured in number of hours simply enjoying watching the bees or in the number of gallons of honey or pounds of wax or pollen.
We hope to help others as we continue to be helped by our beekeeping friends. We think it not too unrealistic a goal to provide a local one-stop source for starter colonies and the knowledge of how to make them thrive. These pages detail our history and what we are doing and what we are learning. We hope you will find them of interest and will consider joining our club. We will be pleased to meet you.
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Speaker for the 20 May 2013 Meeting
David Arnal will speak about how he maintains his bee hives naturally. David employs unique methods to manage his hives and to control Varroa mites. David also started a gourmet bottled honey business in the mid-1990s which was copied by the Savannah Bee Company.
The following is from his biography: David Arnal is a naturalist at heart. When he was quite young he became an avid birdwatcher, being able to name all of the songbirds in his yard by the age of 6. As a schoolboy ishing, hunting and hiking occupied his days. His beekeeping endeavors began in 1988 at Clemson University where he had the opportunity to tend five established beehives. Before long his entire kitchen was overrun with 2 liter soft drink bottles full of honey. Since that time David's fascination with the honey bee and her secrets have been not only an agricultural pursuit but also a significant intellectual study; today this pursuit has become the basis of his avocation.
While at Clemson University David studied Architecture where he graduated cum laude and was the undergraduate visual arts award winner. After Clemson he worked for the US Forest Service co-designing a master plan for the Snake River Canyon in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Graduate studies led David to Harvard University in 1990 where his design background proved invaluable in receiving a Masters degree in Landscape Architecture with an emphasis in Landscape Ecology. His studies included detailed studies of bison herd management in Yellowstone National Park, a cost-benefit analyses for oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and designing an ecotourism resort for the Wampanoag Indian Reservation on Martha's Vineyard. Upon graduation from Harvard, David moved to Belize Central America, where he worked as a designer for the Belize Zoo and for the new National Museum of Belize.
In 1994 David began working with environmentally conscious real estate developers, ncluding the renowned developer of Hilton Head Island, Charles Fraser. Projects over this decade long period included architectural planning efforts on the Town of Celebration for the Walt Disney Company, designing the seaside villages of WaterColor and Camp Creek on the Florida Panhandle for the St. Joe Company, and planning the sale of environmentally sensitive Deer Island to the State of Mississippi for preservation from development. Simultaneously David launched his gourmet bottled honey business on Hilton Head Island in the mid-1990's.
Although it began as a part-time business, David's gourmet honey business prospered. It was copied by the Savannah Bee Company, who has successfully nationalized the gourmet
honey business. Today David's beehive products business is once again based on Hilton Head sland, SC after being headquartered in Atlanta, GA and formally known as the Bee Factory, LLC. David's background as a designer coupled with his understanding of the beekeeping and honey businesses have helped him launch a new value added business model. This model is structured around the development of value added gourmet food products that have honey or other beehive products as one of their main ingredients. These products are extensively market ested to verify taste, texture, palatability and acceptance by the end user. Farmer's markets, ocus groups and in-store tasting demonstrations are used to gain this customer feedback and to efine the product. Next the supply chain, production team and distribution network are
identified and organized around a comprehensive business plan that emphasizes quality control. Third, retailers are identified and these products are launched into the marketplace with the appropriate promotional efforts, emphasizing the natural and healthful benefits of honey and the honey bee. Finally, a dedicated sales team is built around each product line to maintain strong elationships with not only our retailers but also with the customer whose loyalty is the foundation for our success. And these set of facts form the basis of our mission to provide our customers "Better living from the Bee Hive...Naturally".
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Speaker for the 15 April 2013 Meeting
On Monday 15 April 2013 our speaker was Paul Vonk. He has designed a computer-based hive montoring system, described at hivetool.org. Paul received a BS in Electrical Engineering from Washington University in St. Louis and a Masters in Business Administration from Vanderbilt University. Paul has worked designing industrial process control systems, repairing Department of Defense aircraft data acquisition systems, and as a system administrator and programmer for internet service providers. Paul works full time for Bob Binnie at the Blue Ridge Honey Company pursuing his love of nature and his passion for electronics. Paul's topics for the night were "From Waggle to Wi-Fi: An Early 21st Century Observation Hive", "Where'd the Bees Go?", "Two Threats to Beekeeping", plus others.
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New Thirty Minute Workshop Series starting 18 February 2013
On Monday 18 February 2013 we will start a series of short workhops at 6:30 pm just before the traditional Business and Program Meeting starting at 7:00 pm at the Oglethorpe County Farm Bureau. We intend to provide a short introduction to various aspects of beekeeping to those not yet versed in the practice (and that includes most of our members!).
Our first workshop will be an Introduction to Beekeeping. Please stop by and get an honest introduction and also stay for the Program and Business Meeting that will follow at 7:00 pm.
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Speaker for the 18 February 2013 Meeting
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Speaker for the 18 February 2013 Meeting
Deborah Sasser of Sasserfrass Hill Bee Farms in Augusta Georgia was our speaker at the 18 February 2013 Monthly Meeting. On 21 June 2010 Deborah and her mentor, Mr. Charles, gave a very interesting presentation about general beekeeping practices, bee venom therapy, and hive products. She kindly accepted an invitation to return and brought us up to date about her experience and business.
Deborah talked about how she manages colonies, showed us fantastic images and videos of bees, and entertained questions from the Club. She will also have lotion bars, honey and other hive products for sale.
While being a television producer and photographer, Deborah was introduced to beekeeping several years ago by Mr. Charles, a master beekeeper who has kept bees for over thirty-five years. Deborah then took the beekeepers certification class through the Aiken Beekeepers Association in South Carolina and started keeping bees in 2008. They take care of about 70 hives and provide bee removal and bee venom therapy services. The Farms sell honey, lotion bars and lip balm. You may contact Deborah through the website or at (706) 855 5240.
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Renewal and New Memberships for 2013
Please consider becoming a member or renewing your membership for 2013. Print the membership form and bring it to a Monthly Meeting or to a Workshop. Dues are only $12 a year.
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20 August 2012 Monthly Meeting
The guest speaker was Bill Owens of Owens Apiary and Georgia Bee Removal. Having learned about honeybees from his dad, Owens converted his single hive hobby into a successful business. In addition to honey production, Owens' business Georgia Bee Removal removes unwelcome honeybee colonies from homes and businesses around the state. Owens has served as Chairman of the Eastern Piedmont Beekeepers Association, President of the Georgia Beekeepers Association, and Vice President of the Eastern Apicultural Society. He is presently Webmaster for the Georgia Beekeepers Association. In 2006 Bill became the first beekeeper in Georgia to earn the highest beekeeping certification: Master Craftsman Beekeeper, a title which he alone still holds.
Bill last visited the Club on 21 March 2011 when he told us of the discovery of Africanized bees in Georgia and the Best Practices that beekeepers should follow to ensure that they do not collect, maintain, or distribute Africanized bees.
Bill talked about his bee removal business. This has been his primary business for the last 12 years.
He provided this service free of charge until he met Cindy Bee who was charging clients for similar services. Three years ago he bought out Cindy who was moving to Maine.
His four Principles are Customer Satisfaction, Quality Work, Fair Price, Guaranteed Work. He elaborated that he was always willing to listen to the client, was honest, sympathetic, willing to educate the client, find out where the bees are entering, and explained what he was doing. He noted that you must have insurance, insurance, and more insurance to survive litigation.
Bill outlined how he did his extractions. For tools, a 7-gallon Bee-vac with spare motor (build your own if you are going professional), fexible knife, drill, saws, pry-bar, hive tool, nails and screws, plastic bags/boxes, veil and gloves, hammer, ladders, lights and flash light, insulation, caulking, camera, coat hangers, smoker (needed once or twice a year), queen cage, #33 rubber bands, and drop cords, among others.
There are three ways to locate the bees: higher temperatures, colony noise, and as a last resort, driving a coat hanger through the walls. He makes no blind cuts. After removal of the colony, he fills in voids with fiberglass attic insulation to prevent other swarms from colonizing the same spot.
He rarely recovers enough wax or honey to bother processing them. He most often gets the bees out and gives them away or uses them himself for honey production. He also sells bees and queens and is interested in getting long-lived queens from strong colonies. He has 50-100 hives, which he manages without much sympathy for the bees. If they do well, fine.
He noted that Africanized bees are coming, and to be prepared for it.
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21 November 2011 Monthly Meeting
Our guest speaker was Linda Tillman who talked about Low-Tech Beekeeping. The following is taken from her blog:
Linda now has hives at her home and maintains hives at two community gardens. To keep records of her beekeeping experiences, Linda started an Internet blog in April 2006 when she installed her first nucs (www.beekeeperlinda.com). She writes about her beekeeping learning experiences, her mistakes and her successes. On her blog she demonstrates her passion for natural beekeeping, using no poisons and foundationless frames, among other natural beekeeping practices. She has made and posted videos on basic beekeeping skills such as inspecting a hive, harvesting honey without an extractor, using a simple solar wax melter, and other topics. She posts frequently on her blog which is visited by people from all over the world, gets about 750 visits a day in busy season, and has almost 1000 subscribers.
When she is not enjoying her sideline interest in beekeeping, Linda has a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University and is in private practice in midtown Atlanta. She also teaches in Emory's Department of Rehabilitative Medicine where she trains doctoral students in physical therapy to communicate well with their patients.
Linda uses only 8-frame medium boxes. This is for interchangeability, lower weight and more honey. The only downside is that one must start with package bees rather than nucs because nucs always use deep boxes.
She does not use foundation except for a narrow strip so that only 1/2 to 3/4 inch is exposed. In this respect the setup is very much like a top-bar hive. She had extensive comments about the wax tubes that are used to cement the strip into the foundation and has a video on how to use them properly. Linda also recommends replacing comb every year. Linda also demonstrated a very inexpensive solar wax melter and how to melt and purify wax.
There were plenty of other tips, including the use of Sonny-Mel beetle traps and robber/migratory screens. Of interest was her use of bee drapes to limit the exposure of frames when one is examining a colony. Use flour sack towels over those frames not being worked. They have a very tight weave that prevents entanglement of the bees and greatly reduces stress on the colony.
A delightful and very informative evening. Check out her blog and videos for more details.
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Photos by Glenn Galau © 2011
More Photos
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17 October 2011 Monthly Meeting
Our speaker for the evening was Bob Binnie of the Blue Ridge Honey Company of Lakemont GA. In addition to managing a thousand colonies in northeast and southern Georgia and western North Carolina, Bob has been President of the Georgia State Beekeepers Association, a member of its Board of Directors, President of the Northeast GA. Mountain Beekeepers Association, and in 2003 he was awarded the Georgia State Beekeeper of the Year by the Georgia State Beekeepers Association.
We were delighted that he returned for another visit, the first being in 2009 when the Club was just organizing. In recognition of all the many things he has done for the Club, and frankly for also being a heck of a nice guy, he was recently awarded an Honorary Membership in the Club and after his talk Carol Williamson presented him with a framed certificate in recognition of this honor. We were pleased that his wife Suzette joined us for the evening.
It was a very informal presentation, which he opened by reading a passage from Fifty Years among the Bees by C.C. Miller (reissued in paperback by Dover Publications). Bob noted that beekeeping is 50% science and 50% art. To be successful, one must have an inventive mind to meet its challenges. The bees always keep you thinking.
Bob said the beekeeper's year starts in August when there is active management to ensure survival of the colony and its making the highest number of bees early in the year for maximum honey production. A lot more was said and discussion was extensive.
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Photo by Glenn Galau © 2011
More Photos
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19 September 2011 Monthly Meeting
Our speaker for the evening was Dan Harris of Booger Hill Bee Company of Danielsville and Marietta. From the company webpage comes the following biography: "A decade ago I returned to school at the University of Georgia to work on a degree in horticulture. In the process, I took an elective 'Bee Biology and Management' and was bitten by the bug ... figuratively and literally. In addition to the apiary and bee outyards [of the company], I also organized a comprehensive annual training program that gives the aspiring beekeeper the fundamentals needed to establish and maintain a colony of honey bees."
Dan talked about Varroa mite; how to check for them and how to treat for them.
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The Club's Entry in the State Honey Show at the Georgia Beekeepers Association Fall Meeting
The Georgia Beekeepers Association held its fall meeting on September 10-12, 2011 at the Henry County Extension Office in McDonough, GA.
The high point of the event for our members at the meeting was The Club's entry in the State Honey Show's category of 'Local Club Display'. Contributors to the display included Betty Ward, Carol Williamson, Don Williamson, Wanda O'Callaghan, Patrick Phelps, Gregg Hudson, Duncan Gannon, and Gray. Although the Display may look somewhat small, rest assured a lot of work went into its design and construction and we thank our members for representing our Club in such a fantastic style. Shown below are (top) Wanda and Betty and (bottom) Gray and Carol. Gray is holding the tangible fruits of The Club's efforts, an Award of Merit. One more recognition of our Club and its impact on local beekeeping. Thanks to all who were involved!
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15 August 2011 Monthly Meeting
Our speaker for the evening was Wanda O'Callaghan. Wanda is a charter member of the Oglethorpe County Bee Club and has hosted many workshops with her hives in which we learned the basics of beekeeping. She is also the first of our members to become a Certified Master Beekeeper.
Wanda spoke about her recent extended visit to Honeypie Hives and Herbals in a presentation entitled "Can Beekeeping be a Business?" This summer Wanda spent 2 weeks with her niece's family in Prince Edward County, Ontario, Canada. The family has over 70 honeybee hives. Wanda explained how this family of four has become self-supporting with their business of beekeeping over the last ten years.
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18 July 2011 Monthly Meeting
Damon Wallace was our guest speaker. He is a native of Georgia, and a graduate of the University of Georgia as an Agricultural Engineer, living in Opelika, Alabama for the past 20 years. He has been active in beekeeping for the past 9 years. His beekeeping leadership roles include the Founding Vice President of his local beekeeping association, President of that club, Board of Directors Member of the Alabama Beekeeping Association, current Vice President of the Alabama Beekeepers Association, Master Beekeeper - University of Georgia / Young Harris College Bee Institute, and is a Certified Welsh Honey Judge. Damon loves to talk any honey bee topic to anyone or any group for as long as the folks hang around. He produces extracted honey, comb honey, candles and beeswax based cosmetics for distribution at special agriculture related events, as well from the homeplace back door.
He showed us how to make a skin cream from beeswax, olive oil, water, borax, Vitamin E and Tea Tree Oil. It was indeed an entertaining and informative evening.
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Photos by Glenn Galau © 2011
More Photos
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20 June 2011 Monthly Meeting
Our guest speaker was J. Keith Fielder. Keith was one of our first guest speakers back on 15 February 2010. Keith Fielder is County Coordinator and Agent, Putnam County Cooperative Extension. He has held several offices in the Georgia Beekeepeer's Association; presently he is the Middle District Director of the Association.
The program concentrated on the biology of the honeybee, which must be understood in order to avoid many problems beekeepers have.
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Photo by Glenn Galau © 2011
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16 May 2011 Monthly Meeting
Our speaker was Robert Brewer, Jr. He is the County Coordinator of the Towns County Extension Office in Hiawassee, and has been a beekeeper since 1991. Robert was a co-founder of the annual Young Harris-UGA Beekeeping Institute and coordinates the Georgia Master Beekeeper Program. He is also a Certified International Honey Judge. He was recently awarded the 2010 Georgia Beekeeper of the Year by the Georgia Beekeepers Association. Please see his bio for more information.
Robert gave a detailed explanation of honey shows, how they are judged and how to prepare entries. There are a wide variety of categories from honey, to chunk and cut comb, frames, wax, to candles and more, each with their own set of rules for submission and judging.
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18 April 2011 Monthly Meeting
Our guest speaker was John Newman, a long-time member of the Eastern Piedmont Beekeepers Association who often gives talks and demonstrations to local schools and organizations. John has been keeping bees for over 23 years and usually breaks even in doing it! His bees have been chemical free for ten years. He related how he manages hives for maximum honey production and showed us his demonstration hive. The hive was fascinating in its construction and was the hit of the evening.
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21 March 2011 Monthly Meeting
Bill Owens of Owens Apiary and Georgia Bee Removal, and presently the webmaster of the Georgia Beekeepers Association, talked about Africanized Honey Bees in Georgia. The first Africanized colony was discovered in Albany in October 2010. Subsequent surveys and interviews by the State Agriculture Department found two additional colonies. Bill said it was just a matter of time before much of Georgia will have Africanized bees. He emphasized that there is a huge difference in the behavior of Africanized and Nonafricanized colonies, one which is easily recognized. Bill suggested several changes in how beekeepers handle swarms and colonies that will help protect beekeepers, family and neighbors and will also slow the northern advance of Africanized bees.
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Please contact Glenn Galau at glenn@ocbeeclub.org for requests directed to local beekeepers.
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