Completed 2020 Association Meetings:

Wednesday, March 11

Swarms, Bait Boxes, and Cut Outs

Capturing a swarm is a task every beekeeper should know and understand. Also helpful is the art of capturing bees via bait boxes and/or cut outs of existing hives to acquire more locally acclimated bees. This presentation is an overview of such techniques and methodologies. We’ll discuss tools and important safety measures for these tasks.

Charles DeBarber is a hobbyist beekeeper and manages Maryland’s largest community garden beeyard at Filbert Street Garden in Baltimore City. He is one of the regional experts in swarm captures and hive cut outs. Charles just completed a revitalization of a 100-year-old AI Root 24 frame radial honey extractor that was featured in Bee Culture.

6:30 PM
Kent County Public Library
Chestertown, MD
We meet in the little yellow building in the library back parking lot.  All are welcome.

There will be refreshments and networking for a few minutes before the presentation.

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Saturday, March 7, 2020

The Early Spring Management workshop is almost here! 

If you are planning to attend on Saturday and are not on our list, it would be helpful if you e-mail themarylaura58@gmail.com or call (301-345-8171) to let us know that you are coming so we can put you on the list. If you haven’t signed up yet, we will accept walk-ins on the day of the workshop. The cost is $35 and checks should be made payable to UESBA.  If you are registering the same day, or have not paid yet, please arrive a little early to take care of that.

The workshop starts at 10:00 AM.  Parking will be at the entrance to the farm, and we will shuttle attendees to to hives, so please arrive no later than 9:45 AM.  If you arrive after the shuttles have stopped at 10:00 AM, you will need to call (301) 345-8171 to be picked up.

Location:
13314 Starkey Farm Lane
Kennedyville, MD
There is a large Starkey Farms sign at the entrance.  Parking will be at the entrance, and we will shuttle to the hives.

If you are coming from Chestertown, it is on the left hand side on 213 between Kennedyville and Galena.

If you are coming from Galena, it is on the right a short distance from Galena.

Please dress warmly and bring at least a veil, if possible.

Note: Following the session at the hives, the class will continue at the Kent County Public Library on High Street in Chestertown.  In addition to street parking, there is a parking lot at the rear of the building.  You are welcome to bring a lunch, snacks or drinks for yourself for the classroom time.  Coffee and juice will be provided.

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Completed 2019 Association Meetings:

June 12 Meeting:

UofM Bee Squad

Join us this week to hear about the exciting new University of Maryland Bee Squad program.  Mark Dykes will tell us about this program that has been created to provide education for beekeepers in Maryland.  One of the goals of this program is to address the educational needs of beekeepers who have passed the beginning beekeeping stage and are looking for education at higher levels.  The program has also been created to help translate current research into practical applications in Maryland apiaries.  Mark will also talk about opportunities to become a citizen scientist and contribute to ongoing bee research.

The University of Maryland Bee Squad has already begun to provide some educational sessions which have been held in College Park, but Mark has family ties to the Eastern Shore, and has promised that there will be great opportunities closer our local beekeepers.

Mark Dykes is the extension and Bee Squad coordinator for the vanEngelsdorp Bee Lab. Previous to his position at the University of Maryland, Mark was the Chief Inspector for the Texas Apiary Inspection Service (TAIS). During his tenure at TAIS Mark helped to create the Texas Master Beekeeper Program and the Texas State Honey Bee Diagnostic Lab. Mark was also a supervisor with the Florida Department of Agriculture's Apiary Inspection Service and the apiary manager for Dr. Jamie Ellis' honey bee lab at the University of Florida.  Mark has a degree in natural resource conservation from the University of Florida and is a veteran of the U.S. Coast Guard. 

We hope you will join us to hear about the great educational programs the University of Maryland Bee Squad is planning for Maryland beekeepers.

All are welcome.  Refreshments and networking prior to the presentation.  The meeting is held in the little yellow building in the back parking lot of the library.

June 12
6:30 PM
Chestertown Library
Yellow Building in the back parking lot 

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June 22 (Sunday) Meeting:

Hive Inspection

Cybil Preston , Chief Apiary Inspector

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Cybil will be conducting an inspection class in an apiary to

teach what to look for in your hive. After the class she will bee available to inspect other

hives the rest of the day. Based on her schedule, we hope to have an early pot luck

dinner. Folks can meet Cybil and ask her questions.

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September 11 Meeting:

Association Honey Show

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Job opening for Part time Regional Apiary Inspector for Queen Anne's and Caroline Counties.

Click here for the job application  Apiary Inspector  deadline 5/8/2019

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April 30 Webinar on reading pesticide labels:

Adapting Dry Farming Techniques to Vegetable Gardens

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April 28 Meeting (Sunday): 10:30AM

Field Inspection for Master Bee Keepers

David Smith, Master Bee Keeper

On Sunday we will meet at 10:30AM at the Starkey Farm off 213 North just south of Galena; the farm is on the left with a big sign at the entrance and about 2 miles south of Galena.

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April 10 Meeting:

BEST BEEKEEPING PRACTICES AND THE EAS MASTER BEEKEEPING EXAM

Please join us for the Upper Eastern Shore Beekeeping Association April Meeting:  Best Beekeeping Practices and the EAS Master Beekeeper Exam.

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Capt. David Smith will talk to us about the EAS Master Beekeeper exam, and the real life, you will learn good information to put into practice with your own hives.  David is an EAS Master Beekeeper.  He has been very active in the program, and has judged the exams.  He has extensive beekeeping experience, and we have been lucky to have him here as a resource.  He will soon be moving north to “retire.”  Please join us while we still have time to learn from him.  At the meeting, we will pick an evening this month for a real life demonstration at a member’s hive (weather permitting).  If you are interested in having your hive be the demonstration hive, please let us know at the meeting, or message me.

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March 13 Meeting:

All You Don’t Want to Know About Viruses

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There are 26 known honey bee viruses, with frightening symptoms and consequences for the the bees they infect. Mike Embrey will speak to the Upper Eastern Shore Beekeeping Association on viruses in general and on the specific ones that you may find in your own hives.  

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Join us in the little yellow building behind the library for an evening of education and networking.  

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All are welcome! :)

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About Mike:

Mike Embrey was an apiculturalist for the University of Maryland for 30 years and is a winner of the George Imrie Excellence in Beekeeping Education award from the Maryland State Beekeepers Association. 

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February 13 Meeting:

This month we welcome back Jennifer King as our speaker.  Whether you are planning on entering our club honey show in September, or just want to have lots more honey for your biscuits, Jen will give us good information to increase your honey yields.

Jennifer King will be presenting “Spring Management to Maximize Honey Yields”. Jennifer is a beekeeper, past President & Vice President of Mountain State Beekeepers Association. She is also the owner of Eversweet Apiaries, a beekeeping supply company & free bee education center located in Kearneysville WV.

Please join us in the little yellow building on the back parking.  Refreshments and networking precede the presentation.

Kent County Public Library 

February 13, 2019

6:30 PM

January 9 Meeting:

For most of us, keeping good records is something we know we should do, but don’t always manage to do it.  Making the right decision for managing the health and productivity of your bees is helped by tracking the health of your hive and the actions you took at the last and all previous inspections.  Jan Day will share methods of keeping track, provide brief reviews of some online tools/apps that some folks find helpful, and share sample inspection sheets for attendees to try.

Jan Poston Day is a sixth year beekeeper on Capitol Hill in DC and is active in the DC Beekeepers Alliance and BUMBA beekeeping clubs.  Jan recently launched a honey and beeswax candle company called Second Story Honey.

Join us tomorrow (1/9) at 6:30 PM in the little yellow building behind the main library to kick off your new year of beekeeping with an organized plan for monitoring your hives.

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Completed 2018 Association Meetings:

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October 10 Meeting:

Have you ever wondered the quality of your honey? 

Please bring a bottle of honey for Dave to evaluate. 
Master Beekeeper, Captain David Smith will present on judging honey. He will use a polariscope to check your honey’s clarity and use a refractometer to measure your honey’s moisture.  

See you at 6:30 at the Yellow Building of the Chestertown Library

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Nov 14   No mtg in Dec.

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Sept 12 Bill Hingst "Making Mead". He will be presenting and demonstrating his award winning mead methods and techniques.

July 11 at 6:30 pm at the Yellow Building of the Chestertown Library.

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June 13 speaker is Captain David Smith, Master Beekeeper.  "Bee knowledge quiz, diploid drones didiscussion, and general QnA". Note: this meeting canceled...

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Apr 11 speaker is Kimberly Mehalick "Action Plan for Your Bee Yard" 

In beekeeping, as in everything else that matters, you can't achieve a goal that has not yet been thought out, and you need both a strategy and a resource plan to get there. The beekeeping calendar in the MidAtlantic is one of the toughest in North America: Kim will help us plan the work and work the plan to the benefit of our bees and our beekeeping skills.  This discussion should give you guidelines on planning your bee activities for the year, so you can determine the resources you will need to reach your personal goals

Kim Mehalick is the First Vice President of the Maryland State Beekeepers Association.  She is the owner, and primary soap maker for Clean Bee Soapworks which has been sellling soaps, lotions and honey products since 2013.  She, her husband Mike and her son James have been keeping bees for seven seasons in Laurel MD.  They are active members of BUMBA (Bowie Upper Marlboro Beekeeping Association), Montgomery County Beekeepers, DC beekeeper association and the Eastern Apiculture Society.

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May 9 speaker is Anna Wysocki "Swarm removal system"

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Ms. Wysoki will be discussing swarms and demonstrating her system of swarm removal using her customized devise and an infrared camera phone.

Mar 14  speaker is Dr. Judy (Yanping) Chen  "Nosema infection and treatment"

Dr. Chen is a Research Entomologist at the USDA ARS Bee Research Laboratory. She and her team have some recent results about Nosema infection and treatment in honey bees. A list of her projects and publications can be found here.

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Feb 14 speaker is David Clark "On Your First Hive Inspection"David is a retired naturalist. He was the 2014 MD Beekeeper of the Year, has taught at the University of DC, supplied bees to the Smithsonian Institute, and is the VP of MD State Bee Association