Chemicals  available to control varroa mites /timing and methods with Lloyd Schmaltz

Vista Tech Building, Lower Waterman center
(Please park in the north parking lot and enter through the Vista Tech entrance walk straight through to back by the cafeteria area and use one of the stairways to go to the lower level. )

Coffee, Tea, & Cocoa will be provided by SEMBA.

Questions & answers with Luke 

6:00 Club announcements and comments 6:30

Megan Milbrath

PLEASE NOTE THE TIME - 6PM

Successful overwintering - How do bees survive the winter cold? What can we do to make it easier on them? We’ll cover the biology of the the winter bee, with of focus on how their behavior can drive our management. We’ll also cover ways that we can improve overwinter success. The focus is on the work that needs to be done in August and September.

Set yourself up for a successful winter!

Westview Orchards and Winery in Romeo. 

It will be at the end of their tart and sweet U-Pick cherry crop around then and have start of

 summer red raspberries. More information to come. Will be a fun day!

We will have two dozen Meghan Milbrath’s 14 day old queen cells available and a dozen mated queens from Mike Sautter- all very excellent stock

text Rich @ 248 585 5558 to reserve one

see you Sunday!!

No meeting in June. Enjoy!

SEMBA’s own Senad Livadic will be speaking to us on Making splits and NUCs and how to manage your colonies.

Senad started and learned basic beekeeping in Bosnia before he came to live in Michigan in 2000. Please join us!

Colony autopsy: decoding clues to why a colony died

 Losing a honey bee colony is never easy. Identifying why your bees died can help you improve your honey bee management skills in the future. In this presentation, we will discuss possible reasons for a colony’s death based on the clues the bees left behind. We will talk about what to do with a deadout’s leftover honey and equipment, and we will focus on ways to prevent colony loss in future beekeeping seasons.

Ana Heck learned how to keep bees in Nicaragua while apprenticing on an organic farm and working with a women's beekeeping cooperative. She joined the University of Minnesota Bee Squad in 2014, where she managed apiaries, provided hands-on and classroom training to beekeepers, and managed Bee Squad outreach and Extension programs. Heck joined Michigan State University’s Michigan Pollinator Initiative in January 2019 as a Research Technologist to support pollinator education initiatives, honey bee research, and implementation of policies to protect pollinators. She holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Minnesota and a B.A. in Philosophy and Spanish from Creighton University.

Most meetings are on the 3rd Sunday of every month. But not April’s meeting due to the Easter Holiday

• Coffee, Tea, & Cocoa will be provided by SEMBA.

• Membership meeting: 2:00

• Club announcements

• Open meeting questions / Comments/ Suggestions

• Program: 2: 30

• Meghan Milbrath on Varroa Viruses

Please park in the north parking lot and enter through the Vis Ta Tech entrance

Please RSVP HERE

September 16, 2018 at 1:00

• Potluck: 1:30 bring a dish to pass and your own table service.
• Coffee, Tea, & Cocoa will be provided by SEMBA.
• Membership meeting: 2:00
• Club announcements
• Open meeting questions / comments/ Suggestions
• Program: 2: 30 with Charlotte Hubbard

Fall management /Overwintering

‘Keeping bees (alive) in any climate is challenging, but Michigan have some additional requirements to address in order to see the little darlings fly back out again in March or April.’

Please park in the north parking lot and enter through the Vis Ta Tech entrance

Raise your own queens! Get off the package treadmill!
Increase your understanding of bee biology.
SEMBA QUEEN REARING 101
(For third year or more experienced beekeepers only)

Hands on class includes diverse queen rearing techniques:
*grafting
*making splits
*Cloake board
*Miller method
*cutting out swarm cells
*setting up basic starter/finisher colonies
Max students: 24. Great teacher to student ratio.
Syllabus and bibliography included
Fee: $60
No Refunds after July 19th. If you cancel there is a $10.00 fee

The Class will be held in the City of Detroit. Once you sign up we will send you the address and the reading list and syllabus. 

Pre-register now for the Summer Picnic! The cut-off for registration for lunch July 11th 2018

Summer Picnic - July 15, 2018  

Check - in starting at 12:30   Lunch starting at 12:45

Program at 2:00

You do not need to be pre-registered to come to the program.

Bob will give a presentation on setting up a honey house and give a tour of his new facility.

On-site Raffle for plants and more! Trivia!

Bob will also have items for sale.

Queen raffle only for members who have pre-registered for lunch

and paid online.

$5.00 per person lunch - catered by Heavenly Hotdog

Choice of meat: Hot dogs, Brats, polish sausage, or Vegetarian hot dogs, Chips, Coleslaw, Baked Beans and drink.

Click HERE to pre-register

Dessert potluck: Please bring a dessert using Honey for the dessert bar.

No refunds.

You must be pre-registered for the picnic portion of the meeting.

If you have questions please contact  Tammy Email tammybonifield@gmail.com or call (248)219-1285

Trip to Canada

SEMBA is organizing a trip to Canada to visit Ferguson Apiaries in Hensall, Ontario. The Ferguson family is the biggest buckfast queen producer in North America. The trip will take place Saturday, May 26th.

• We will meet at Schoolcraft College in Livonia at 7:00am and depart at 7:30am
• Proceed to  Seven Ponds in Almont to pick up a group of people there
• Proceed to Pilot Travel Center on M-69 in Smiths Creek to pick up the beekeepers from Pine River Club

Then its off to the Canadian Border!  We plan to arrive at Ferguson Apiaries around 11:00-11:30am. The Ferguson family will provide a sandwich for us. We will be returning back home at 2:30-3:00pm.

The cost of transportation and food is $40.00. Each person attending will need to have a passport or Enhanced Drivers License that will allow you into Canada.   

Total number of spaces  is limited to 55 people! 

When you have added the trip to your cart. Go to the top of the page and click on the shopping cart in the top right hand corner.