Category Archives: honey bee research

I can’t believe it has been so long since my last post. One of the things taking up my time (other than a small baby) is helping plan our annual beekeeping class. We’ve greatly expanded the number of classes beyond our traditional Beekeeping 101 course, and I hope that it will continue to grow and become a great annual event for Central Texas Beekeepers. Here’s the scoop:

Date: Jan. 17th 2015
What: Austin 4th Annual Beekeeping Seminar
Who: Sponsored by The Austin Area Beekeepers Association
Where: Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
4801 La Crosse Ave, Austin, TX 78739
Cost: $40 Pre-registration (https://aabaseminar.eventbrite.com)

Why: The mission of this daylong seminar is to educate people of all experience levels in sustainable bee husbandry and to provide funding for The Texas A&M Honey Bee Lab.

Description:
This is a daylong seminar offering 3 different educational presentations running concurrently in each time slot throughout the day. This will provide many beginning or advanced subjects to choose from. Morning sessions will include two separate and thorough presentations on Beginning Beekeep-ing and Advanced Beekeeping Management.
Afternoon sessions will include many different presentations including:

• Honey Bee Foraging
• Varroa Management
• Brood Disease Control
• Swarm Capture Techniques
• Taking Advantage of the Texas Beekeeping Tax Exemption
• Colony Examination and Frame Reading for Beginners
• Learn Honey Extraction Techniques and Alternative Hive Products
• Beneficial Bee Flowers
• Queen Finding and Requeening Techniques
• The Latest in the Texas Bee Lab Research
• Colony Supersedure and Management
• Keeping Bees in an Africanized Zone
• Nutrition Management
• Spring Management

Presenters: 

• Professor Juliana Rangel- Posada Entomology Texas A&M
• Mark Dykes- Chief Texas Apiary Inspector
• Karl Acuri- Austin Area Beekeepers Assoc. (Co-organizer) and natural beekeeper.
• Dennis Herbert- Author of original bee tax exemption bill.
• Fred Hall- Williamson Co. Extension Specialist and 2nd generation beekeeper
• Lily Rosenman- Austin Area Beekeepers Assoc. (Co-organizer) and natural beekeeper
• Becky Bender-TX Master Naturalist
• Brandon Fehrenkamp- Natural Beekeeper Activist and owner of Austin Bees (formerly Eastside Honey Co.)
• Lance Wilson- Certified Master Beekeeper GMBP

This organization is non-profit and all proceeds of this event will be used to promote sustainable beekeeping practices and provide support to our much appreciated Texas A&M Honey Bee Lab. This should be a lot of fun, everyone please come out and see us.