Minutes for March 14, 2017
The Richmond Beekeepers Association
Minutes for Date: Mar 14th, 2017
Meeting held in Kinsmen Pavilion at Richmond Nature Park, 7:30 pm
There were 60 people in attendance.
Meeting called to order at 7:39 pm.
- Welcome : Opening Remarks and Introduction by Fiona Gold
- Introduction of “New bees”. 6 Newbees introduced.
- Members were encouraged to buy raffle tickets.
- Motion to approve minutes from Feb. 14, 2017 meeting
- Motion to approve Feb 14th, 2017 minutes made by Jeff Lee, seconded by Blair Trenholme.
- Carried.
- Treasurer’s Report
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- Currently $13170.66 in the RBA account. The total will be $12820.00 after the Don Studinski workshop costs are paid out.
- Iotron March run
- A second Iotron run is scheduled in March. Drop off dates are Monday, March 27 to through Thursday March 30, 2017.
- Details reagarding preparation, dropoff, and payment can be found at: https://richmondbeekeepersca.wordpress.com/club-activities/iotron/
- Bee Political Column in newsletter
- Fiona Gold introduced the Bee Political column for the newsletter.
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- Members were encouraged to speak to Fiona at the break regarding interest in writing for the new Bee Political column for the newsletter. If any member is interested in participating, please contact Fiona Gold.
- Membership payment reminder
- Members were reminded to pay their 2017 dues if they haven’t done so yet.
- Club emails
- Members were asked if anyone is not receiving RBA emails. Everyone present is receiving emails. Any paid RBA members not receiving club emails is asked to get in touch with Ian Caven.
- Seed Exchange
- Winston Wong discussed starting a seed swap at upcoming meetings.
- A Langley bee club member present at the meeting offered that they had done a seed swap, and it was very successful.
- Compliance Act Officer, PIPA, membership lists, consents
- Ian Caven discussed PIPA, and privacy regarding membership lists. Going forward Ian Caven is the RBA compliance officer for the club.
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- Going forward membership signup will include a consent form to collect and store personal information. Changes are being made to further increase privacy of personal information.
- Website Update – new hosting platform, logo
- The new website is nearly ready. We’re in the process of moving our hosting over to a new service.
- The new logo will be in use soon on the new website
- Reports:
- Tim Monaghan – Donald Studinski, BCIT
- 53 people attended the workshop, 59% of which were from outside of the RBA. The workshop was a success, and all of Don’s books were sold.
- A $5800 budget was approved for the event. With expenses coming out to $3629.94, and a revenue of $3202.30, the end cost to the club was $427.64.
- Jeff Lee – BCHPA Semi Annual in Kamloops
- BCHPA Semi Annual sold out, and a big success.
- Michael Palmer gave a great presentation about running an apiary that creates resources rather than using up resources. Mike discussed mixing Amitraz at home. Jeff stressed that this is not legal in Canada, and can be dangerous for health. Members are cautioned against doing this.
- Large 2016/17 winter losses were discussed. Jeff encouraged members to visit their hives as soon as weather permits to prevent further losses as hives use up remaining resources rapidly rearing new brood.
- Tim Monaghan – Donald Studinski, BCIT
- Suspected Nosema in New Zealand packages
- Jeff Lee discussed New Zealand packages arriving with fecal staining, and higher than normal numbers of dead bees. There has been concern about Nosema, but multiple samples from different colonies have been sent to Paul van Westendorp for testing, and results show no sign of Nosema. Some members suggested part of the problem may be the Giant Willow Aphid in New Zealand. They secrete a honeydew that the bees love to collect, but the sugars are not fully digestible by bees, and can cause problems if the bees can’t get out for regular cleansing flights.
- Julia Common recommended a free app by the Alberta government called Bee Health, as well as the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists manual on Bee Diseases.
- Jeff discussed what to look for, and encouraged club members to send samples to Paul van Westendorp for testing if Nosema is suspected.
- Coffee Break & Raffle
- Presentations
- Steve Sandve – Swarming
- Phil Laflamme – Queen Grafting
- Julia Common – Splitting
- Justin Student & Laura Zazzara – Natural Queen Rearing
- Motion to Adjourn: 9:50pm… Carried
- Next Meeting: Tuesday, April 11th 2017