VOL 23 #_5_

MAY Report

Hard to believe it is May already and the weather has been so good to us and our bees.  Flowers are blooming everywhere, hives are bursting at the seams and need more boxes put on.  If you by chance haven’t started supering, you may lose some bees to swarming. Oh I am about to forget to tell that we had 72 present for our April meeting Mr Paul Jackson , Texas Apiary Inspector  had the answer for lots and lots of questions.  Thanks Paul for coming to see us.

And of course we had our annual elections.  You can read the results in the Presidents column. My THANKS to all who serve.

It has been suggested  we have a Beginners Q and A before each meeting. Eight or 9 people indicated they would enjoy an need this type help.  This proposal will be presented to the board and I am sure it will be approve and get started in June.  I have just finished this years beginners class and am sure some of those beginners would like  to attend.   We have a couple of volunteers to kick this project off.  So if you need help, in a small meeting type atmosphere this may be what you are looking for. I would like to suggest you write down your questions, because we may want to bring some of this up in the main meeting.

Our bees still need all the help we can give them and several things are happening that you can get interested in to help.

Some ideas will be presented at this meeting.  We will be looking for you.  We have to answer such as do we continue with our annual presents at the local Fair? How do we expand our Scholarship program?  Are you on the list to pickup swarms or remove bees from structures?  Are you getting a Fair price for your honey?  Do you need help in splitting hives? I am sure there many more question that need our attention.  Which means we need you to help.

I also need help, may I should say, HELP, as you see one column is empty.  You are invited to participate, just one article or a monthly article, we would like to hear from you.  Also this is about the 293rd letter I have put out, so your input is welcome.

If you have spoken to any group lately I need to know about.  You need credit for it and we like to hear about it.  Vi and I help Caldwell Zoo in their Earthday presentation on Saturday April 19, over 3000 were in attendance. Thanks to Keith Mills for inviting us.

If any of you attended Dr. Larry Conners conference on Queen rearing we would like to hear about it.

Remember !!  If your bees need more room for storing honey you must super, super and super

Don’t forget Directors meeting at 6:00

MAY IS

OUR RAFFLE/

AUCTION

MEETING

 Well folks, I do hope we have been good stewards and been preparing the past months and have been ready for this, cause the honey flow is officially on. Many pretty floral displays are being seen all over East Texas. All supers need to be installed at least by now to take advantage of the very busy bees bringing in all that nectar. The are needing a nice storage place to make that delicious honey for us to harvest. This is really something for me to look forward to as there was no honey to be had last year. So Lord willing it will be a decent harvest this year. Now as we have said before that there is only so much time we have every month to meet and talk about all the business of an apiary. This is just not enough to be an informed beekeeper. You have to have more input as in one of the several monthly publications or even online if you have access to such services. We do our colonies a disservice and will surely hurt production if we do not keep informed of all the need and problems the bees may be having. Please be diligent to obtain and check some of these sources of information.

 I would like to thank all in the ETBA for allowing me to be the Pres. one more year. Thank you Andrew for being Vice President and Mr. Don Johnson for being treasurer and Mr. Jay Ethridge for being secretary. Now Don and Jay have volunteered and given of themselves for almost ten years now and they are to be highly commended for there works sake, so THANK YOU. Do you remember that ol church song "Count Your Many Blessings" ? It says ...name them one by one.... see what God hath done. Well to take time to sit by a hive and to look inside and see em working, then check out all the beautiful flowers that are everywhere and we should be humbled that you are allowed to be partakers of such beauties and treasures. So enjoy the great weather and get out there and do what Eddie Collins said: "have fun with your bees" Joe Moench P. S. Be ready for swarm call if you do em. 

YOUR THOUGHTS, HOPES, AND YOUR WRITINGS COULD BE HERE