September 10, 2020 Meeting: Richard Reid will present:
Wintering Bees in the Virginia Mountains
Richard Reid is a long-time member, past President, and valued leader of the NRVBA. Richard will talk about the needs and preparation of colonies for winter, including nutrition, ventilation/insulation, mouse protection, cluster size, wind, and diagnosing and reusing resources from deadouts. Also, some thoughts on how to store supers of drawn comb in winter, fall and winter queen failure, and overwintering nucs.
Richard started beekeeping when it was easy to be a “bee haver” in the early ‘70s. Then varroa came in the early 90s and all of Richard’s bees died out by 1995. He bought his first package of bees and they died in two months. The equipment was stored for about a dozen years until 2007 when he started beekeeping the second time.
In an effort to become a full-time beekeeper, Richard tried to retire from a career in construction 6 years ago. Out of the last dozen years, he has managed to expand his operation each of those years except one. His management has changed to adapt to problems, but the one constant that makes his operation sustainable is expansion through splitting and utilizing overwintered nucleus colonies.
Based just outside of Blacksburg, Richard enjoys operating Happy Hollow Honey for honey and nuc production, and he raises a few extra queens for sale after the splits are made.
Carl Lefko will be sending a meeting invitation prior to Thursday. This meeting, like the others, will be recorded.
Meeting Agenda
-Business:
Apiary report
Treasurer’s report
-What you should be doing with your bees
– Featured Presentation: Richard Reid
-Emory B. Altizer, NRVBA President
