Category: Information

In place of our regular monthly meeting the current members of the club are invited to the New and Improved Regional Honey Bee Jamboree. Details have been emailed to all current (paid up) members. If you haven’t received the details, check your spam folder or contact your club president.

Trees To Plant For Bees

When it comes to perennial nectar sources, it’s hard to beat trees. In this session you’ll learn about the primary nectar-bearing trees of the Southeast and methods for encouraging their growth and health.

Harvesting Honey to Win Awards.

Cory Momany will present a hands-on demonstration of his honey harvesting approach. The approach is designed to produce a high-quality product that can win awards in taste or Welsh honey competitions, where quality and presentation is more important. He will discuss alternative methods of honey collection, equipment, costs, and benefits/liabilities, and labeling ideas. Cory is a Certified beekeeper working on his Journeyman certificate and an officer in the Oglethorpe County Bee Club (secretary) as well as the Eastern Piedmont Beekeepers Association (Vice president).

Meeting is Monday, June 3rd at 7PM. Free and open to the public! Directions

The Secret Life of Drones– Drones are the Rodney Dangerfields of the bee world, they get no respect! Come learn why the male bees are worth their keep, and how they positively impact their colonies.

Julia Mahood is a Master Beekeeper and graphic artist from Atlanta. She is the president of the Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association, coordinates the Georgia Prison beekeeping programs for GBA, and was named Georgia Beekeeper of the Year in 2018. Julia has been teaching beekeeping at Lee Arrendale Women’s prison for three years and is passionate about the therapeutic and reformative values of beekeeping.

David McDaniel has been a beekeeper for 24 years and started out with 4 bee hives. Today runs 150-200 colonies in the peak season and raises his own queens using many different methods and teaches others the art of grafting cells. Additionally he talks to many bee clubs, schools and private organizations and covers several topics about bees. In April David will be covering a variety of methods for working spring splits and swarm management.

David will talk about Swarm Management and Making Spring Splits. Directions

Dr Bartlett is a past instructor at the Young Harris Beekeeping Institute. He is from Morley, West Yorkshire, England and has been studying and researching honey bees in the U.S. for years. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Emory University.

We are very pleased to have an update on the research work taking place at the University of Georgia Bee Lab from Dr Delaplane. More details to follow.

Dr. Keith S. Delaplane, MBE
Professor, Walter B. Hill Fellow & Honey Bee Program Director

Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE), 2014

Full bio HERE

Things You Should Know Before Processing And Storing Honey

This subject is of interest to beekeepers and honey lovers alike! It is about the chemistry of honey, its health benefits, and what happens with time, temperature, filtration, and more.

Bob Binnie, along with his wife,  Suzette, owns and operates Blue Ridge Honey Co. in Lakemont, Georgia and is currently operating approx. 2000 colonies of bees along with a sizable honey packing operation.  Beginning his commercial beekeeping career in Oregon in 1981, Bob moved to Georgia in 1991 and has been president of several beekeeping associations including the Georgia Beekeepers Association. Voted Beekeeper of the Year in 2003, Bob is a frequent speaker at both local and national beekeeping organizations.

Linda Tillman is a Master Beekeeper and the President of the Georgia Beekeepers Association. She started keeping bees in 2006 and hasn’t ever turned back. She is a retired clinical psychologist, a grandmother and a bread baker. In her beekeeping, she doesn’t use any treatment but manages

her bees to keep them productive and alive. She loves sharing about her beekeeping every time she gets a chance.

Here Presentation:
Simplifying your beekeeping will lead to a longer beekeeping career, calmer bees and a more relaxed interaction between you and the bees. Linda will talk about all the simple tricks she has learned and employs over her years as a beekeeper. She has a small apiary – a couple of hives in her backyard, a couple of hives at a community garden, a couple of hives in Rabun county on a farm in the mountains, and two hives on top of an Atlanta public school. Linda has a blog that is read by beekeepers all over the world. Come and hear Linda speak on simple tips and tricks.

Please see Directions to open, free parking. The lot is just 2 turns off the Loop Rd.

Meala Ghàidhealach! Last summer Dan Long had the opportunity to meet with beekeepers from Scotland to inspect a couple of apiaries there and to learn the similarities and differences of beekeeping in their beautiful country.

 This program details the climate, timing, nectar and nature of the art and science as well as the differences in equipment used. Several interesting techniques will be discussed as well as examples of some equipment used over there. He’ll also bring samples of Scottish honey to taste!

Dan is a Georgia Master Beekeeper and operates a mail order nursery in addition to managing a number of honey bee hives.