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The Escarosa Beekeepers Association Monthly Meetings are held at 7:00 pm on the 2nd Wednesday of every month at the
8634 North Palafox Street (Hwy 95a), Pensacola, Florida.
We are located on the NE corner of Ensley and Palafox Street south of Barnes Feed Store. 
 
 

ESCAROSA BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION WORKSHOP

ASSEMBLY OF HIVES BODIES, TOPS, BOTTOMS, FRAMES AND FOUNDATION

Saturday, 21 January 2012 from 8am until 3pm

Shelby Johnson’s Home Workshop (heated with adequate space)

6310 W. Fairfield Drive

                  Look for large Johnson Construction Sign on North Side of the Road

LUNCH

Chicken, Pulled Pork, Sliced Beef Brisket, Bar-B-Q Beans and  Slaw

Sweet, Un-sweet Iced Tea and Coffee

Bring refreshment that you desire otherwise.

Bring a dessert with honey in the recipe.

Prize for the dessert voted the best. There will also be a diabetic dessert category.

RAFFLE

100 Tickets to be sold at $1.00 ea. Raffle at 2:50pm

Unassembled Brood Box, Top, Bottom, Frames and Foundation

Funds to help support our Club

REGISTRATION

Preregistration deadline January 14, 2012  $10.00

Registration upon arrival                                $15.00

Space for 40 persons, first come, first served

Make check payable to Escarosa Beekeepers Assn. and send to:

Sylvia Bullard,

9801 Lyman Drive, Pensacola, FL 32534

Call 478-7690 for clarification if needed

PROGRAM

Check in:  0800

Welcome:  0900

Workshop throughout the day with Lunch break at 12am until 1pm


New Beekeepers- Learn to assemble your frames and boxes correctly to last for years
 
Experienced Beekeepers- Come refurbish your current equipment
 
Weather permitting, we'll open a few beehives and see how the bees are doing 


Bring a friend. Come and join us. See you there.

 
 
Florida State Beekeepers Association has a new website design. It is very well done. Please check it out.

 

 
 
 
 
 

 
     
Welcome to the Escarosa Beekeepers Association
 
 
 Many thanks to our EBA member Joe Majan for his professional photography at all our events. Great images!

Thank you Joe!


 
Becca Fritschle has created an Escarosa honeybee blog site for our group and others to share questions and comments.
Please use this site for questions, comments and information sharing. 
 
She's done a great job. Thanks Becca.
 
The Escarosa Beekeepers Association is established to help area beekeepers. Our members reside in Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton Counties in Florida as well as surrounding counties in Alabama. Our monthly meetings are held in Pensacola, FL. We are comprised of individuals and families, young and old, who share an interest in beekeeping, pollination, honey production, and other products of the beehive.
 
 

What Should the Northwest Florida Beekeeper be Doing in October?
 
1. Inspect for congestion, queenright, diseases, V.mites, beetles, honey and pollen stores.
2. Set up equipment for: feeding sugar solutions (heavy syrup), dry pollen feeding station.
3. Develop new products from your hives and sell, sell, sell.
4. Buy equipment for next year at this year’s prices.  
   

Honey Bee Waggle Dance

 
  
  
 
  
   

 
 
 Just Added!
    Dr. Jamie Ellis discusses the Small Hive beetle, history,symptoms,  and treatments.
                                 Click here to view instantly... (18min 12sec)
 
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New! Varroa mite video. Click here to view instantly... (25min 22sec)

 
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New! Trachael Mite video. Click here to view instantly... (19min 11sec)

 
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New! Nosema video. Click here to view instantly... (15min 15sec)
 
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New! American & European Foulbrood. Click here to view instantly... (15min 32sec)

 
For more info from University of Florida Extension 
including the Beginning and Master Beekeepers Program
go to
 
 
  

  
Watch These Videos
 
 
 
 
 
 
Dr. Keith Delaplane Video, University of Georgia
 
 
  

 
 
Here is a fun and interactive Honey bee site. Give it a try.
 
 
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Related Links
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

We would like to thank Nancy and Joe Taverniti for their wonderful and generous hospitality in hosting the Escarosa Beekeepers Association Annual BeeFest and Open Hive Demonstration last May. It was quite a success. We had a great deal of fun, food and entertainment. Looking forward to doing it again next year.

Escarosa Beekeepers Association BeeFest 2011

 
 
 
 
Logo 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
On August 20, 2011, the Escarosa Beekeepers’ Association set up shop in lovely and historic downtown Pensacola, in celebration of National Honeybee Day. For six hours, our little group of beekeepers entertained the crowds with honey samplings, bean bag tossings, a virtual hive and an observation hive! From the faces of the adults and children alike, the honeybees were a resounding success.

Two of the most often asked questions of the day were: (1) how are the bees and (2) how can I start raising honeybees? What a great place and a wonderful group of people to answer both of these inquiries! Folks who put together caring with action are the best way to get our beloved honeybees back on the wing.

All in all, the association saw hundreds of people, passed out literature, fielded questions and shared recipes for delicious honey goodies. Despite the 100+ temperatures, a good time was had by all! Next year, we hope to expand our efforts with more attention to the littlest beekeepers and the addition of a bake sale. Several of our beekeepers donated honey to be sold at the event, with all proceeds going to benefit the club.

 

National Honey Bee Day 2011

 

Saturday, August 20, 2011 at the Palafox Market in downtown Pensacola

We will continue to participate in events such as this to
promote the value of honey bees and beekeeping.
 
 
 
AFFILIATED ASSOCIATIONS
 
 
 
 
 
Beekeeping Legend Laurence Cutts Inducted into
2012 Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame 
 
 
Laurence Paul Cutts’ father was a beekeeper, so it came as a natural progression that he would follow in his father’s footsteps. At the age of sixteen, Laurence began raising queens to sell. This grew into a business in which he produced and sold honey, and provided bees for pollination for various crops in Florida, Alabama and Georgia. He worked in this business until 1985 when he accepted a position with the state of Florida overseeing the state’s apiary inspections.

During his employment with the state, the varroa mite and small hive beetle were creating major problems for the beekeepers throughout this state. Laurence was instrumental in bringing the need for research to reduce bee hive losses to the forefront. Throughout his tenure with the state, he was always accessible to both commercial and independent beekeepers with an unlimited advice and direction. A commercial beekeeper with over 8,000 hives once remarked that without Laurence he would have lost everything.

He recently invented and is presently in the process of marketing a new beetle trap through various bee supply companies in the United States. This trap promises to be a better deterrent for the small hive beetle.

Laurence was known as a leader in the state’s beekeeping industry and, as such, was a much sought after speaker and teacher. Due to his leadership, determination and experience, Florida remains a leader in agricultural production. Without honey bees pollinating Florida crops, this state would be unable to produce the quantity and quality of various agricultural products it does today.
 
 
Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame  
 
 
The Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame, a nonprofit organization devoted to preserving the history of Florida agriculture, was created in 1980. Men and women who have made outstanding contributions to Florida agriculture are inducted annually during a ceremony held each February at the Florida State Fair in Tampa. The Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame has a permanent exhibit located on the fairgrounds. For information, write: Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame, 4508 Oak Fair Blvd., Suite 290, Tampa, Florida 33610. For ticket information, call the Hillsborough County Farm Bureau at (813) 685-9121.
 
 
 

BEEKEEPING IN THE PANHANDLE

Classes will be offered by interactive video to local county extension offices.

Escambia County Extension $50 per person/ $25 per additional person.
3740 Stefani Road $25/additional person Cantonment, FL 32533
Fee will cover course materials. Contact this Extension office to register and to pay for the course.

All classes will be held on Monday evenings, 6-8 Central, 7-9 Eastern

November 21     Introduction to Bees                   

     Types of honey bees

                         Caste system

                         Life stages in the hive

                         Communication within the hive

November 28     Intro to Beekeeping and Beekeeping Equipment

                         Overview of the standard hive

                          Tools used in and around the hive

                          Where to buy bees and getting started

December 5        Bee Management

                          Handling bees

                          Seasonal management

                          Marking queens

                          Requeening  

December 12      Pests and Diseases

                          Small Hive Beetles

                          Varroa Mites

                          Wax moths

                           Nosema

                           Foulbroods

January 9           Honey Plants and Pollination Ecology

                          Honey plants of NW Florida

January 16         Products of the Hive

                          Honey

                          Wax

                          Pollen collection

                          Propolis

 January 23        Splitting Hives, increasing hive numbers, and pollination

                          How to split hives using nucs

                          Pollination as a business  

January 30         Other topics in beekeeping

                          Africanized Bees

 
 

 
 
Beekeepers are now officially FARMERS

and protected under HB 7215 Passed (signed by Governor 6-23-11) providing penalties for the theft of bee colonies of registered beekeepers; redefining the term "farmer" to include a person who grows or produces honey; redefining the term "farm theft" to include the unlawful taking possession of equipment and associated materials used to grow or produce certain farm products. VIEW BILL

 
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  What's in Bloom?
 

Wild Mustard
Synapis arvensis
Mustard family (Brassicaceae)

 

 

This plant typically grows in full sun and a mesic fertile soil that consists of loam or clay-loam, but it will tolerate conditions that vary from this because of its adaptable, weedy nature. During a hot dry spell in summer, the leaves often wilt and the size of the plant becomes stunted. The seeds of this species can remain viable in the soil for up to 60 years and germinate unexpectedly.

Primarily small bees and flies visit the flowers for nectar or pollen. Occasionally, small White butterflies, Pieris rapae (Cabbage White) and Pieris protodice (Checkered White), will visit the flowers for nectar. Similarly, the caterpillars of the Cabbage White and the Checkered White may feed on the foliage. The caterpillars of Evergestis pallidata (Purple-Backed Cabbage Worm Moth) feed on the foliage of both wild and cultivated mustards. In the Midwest, the oily seeds of Mustards are not popular with birds – apparently, they are more important as a food source for birds in California and the Pacific Coast. Occasionally, Mourning Dove may eat the seeds. Rabbits eat the leaves of Mustards occasionally, if the foliage is not too peppery.

Wild Mustard is adventive from Eurasia and has existed in the United States since the 18th century. Habitats include grainfields, areas along railroads, vacant lots, gardens, and miscellaneous waste areas. Disturbed areas are strongly preferred. This species doesn't invade high quality natural areas to any significant extent.

 
 
 

Local Beekeeping Profiles
 
 
Doc and Morgan Bullard have been featured in the June/July 2011 publication of
Pensacola Magazine. Go to the link below and check out pages 38-43. Its a great article.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Becca and James Fritschle have been featured in the July 2011 Pensacola Home and Garden Magazine under the article "Bring in a Second Crop with Fall Planting". The Fritschle's are new to the Escarosa Beekeepers Association. It is wonderful to see them flourishing in their hobbies and enjoying all our area has to offer.
Check-out the Fritschle's blog at www.littlegreenbees.com and also at http://brighthaven.wordpress.com/category/bees/
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Our former club President Bill Bonifay had an excellent year of honey production. Amazing how much sweet honey can be produced from a hive of bees.
 
 
 
 
 
Congratulations Mr. Bonifay. Sweet Success!
 
 
 
 
 

   
Choosing a Nest Site
 
this excerpt taken from page 72 of
 
  
"Honey bees select a new colony site as the last stage of swarming, or colony reproduction. Colonies generally swarm in late spring, when the old colony has an excess of workers and has become overcrowded. At that time a majority of the workers leave the nest with a queen and form a cluster, usually under an overhanging limb or in a snarl of branches. The swarm then faces a critical problem; it must quickly find a new nest site before the workers run out of honey carried in their honey stomachs or the swarm population will begin to dwindle as workers die. The swarm also has to choose a site in which the new colony can survive and grow for many years."
 
Read more about honey bee swarms from our BEEINFO page.
 

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