Bee Club Bylaws??

[metrosean]

Myself and couple of other beekeepers are forming a new club next month. We are looking for some guidelines to get started? Anybody have a copy of bylaws they use for their club? Any other advice is welcome.

[GaSteve]

Get me your email address and I'll send our by-laws to you. We have a small informal group here in middle GA.

[indypartridge]

I'll pass along the same advice that was given to me a year ago when a buddy and I started a local club: Have fun first & don't be in a hurry to set up a 'structure' and formalize a bunch of rules.

We usually meet at the County Extension building (free) or if that's booked, at the library (free). We have no officers, bylaws or rules. We talked about dues, but decided that until we figure out something to spend money on, we'd skip that as well.

We set up a Yahoo Group which has worked quite well for asking questions, sharing info, communicating meeting times, etc.

Meetings - once a month - are very informal. Although we've had a few invited speakers (e.g. the State Apiary Inspector), generally we discuss problems, questions & issues that members are having. Usually we have a primary discussion topic that is relevant to the time of year (e.g., Fall Mgmt, Winter Feeding) or a particular problem (e.g. small hive beetle).

The biggest surprise was finding that there are far more beekeepers in our area than we expected. It's been great fun getting to know them.

Good Luck!