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Big Bee Buzz 2013

14K views 43 replies 12 participants last post by  Solomon Parker 
#1 ·
Is anybody headed to the Big Bee Buzz 2013 in Tulsa this year?

Heap good stuff for treatment-free beekeepers this year. Michael Bush, Sam Comfort, and Ed Levi headlining. I'll be there as well, in an unofficial capacity of course if you'd like to meet and/or talk to me. I went last year and live blogged the whole thing. It was loads of fun, learned a lot, and got to hang out with some quality beekeepers. I hope to do the same thing again this year.

See you there.

Big Bee Buzz 2013
The 2013 NEOBA Big Bee Buzz is coming and online registration is now available! It will be held March 22nd and 23rd, at Eastside Christian Church. NEOBA presents this seminar every year as part of our mission to educate folks in this region about beekeeping. We always have visitors from other states, and we present speakers who are worth traveling to see.

Nearly all of the presentations, whether or not strictly about chemical-free methods, will focus on practical aspects of beekeeping, such as hive management. Our speakers will focus on beekeeping without the use of chemicals. Even if you are a beekeeper who treats your bees, there will be plenty of information that will apply to you.
Conference Details
  • When: Starts at 5:30PM on Friday, March 22nd, wrapping up around 9:00PM, then starting up again at 8:45AM on Saturday, March 23rd, finishing up by 4:00PM.
  • Where: Eastside Christian Church (1438 S Indianapolis Ave, Tulsa 74112) in the fellowship hall.
  • Cost: $30 – Pay online through PayPal using the link below: (http://neoba.org/big-bee-buzz-2013/)
  • Food: Dinner on Friday night and lunch on Saturday will be provided.
Conference Guest Speakers
  • Michael Bush – An accomplished beekeeper, queen raiser, and author from Nebraska.
  • Sam Comfort – A commercial beekeeper based on New York and the East Coast, who is chemical free and employs top bar hives.
  • Ed Levi – Ed is a former bee inspector for Arkansas, world traveler, chemical free beekeeper, and long-time friend and mentor to NEOBA. He will probably give us an update on his work with beekeepers overseas, including recent travels in North Africa.
Conference Itinerary (subject to change)
Friday, March 22[SUP]nd[/SUP]

  • 5:30PM – Registration
  • 6:00PM Ed Levi, How I Don’t Medicate My Bees
  • 6:45PM – Dinner
  • 7:30PM Michael Bush, Lazy Beekeeping
  • 8:15PM – Sam Comfort, Alternative Hives for Alternative Minds – Bringing the Means of Production Back to the Beekeeper
  • 9:00PM – Adjourn
Saturday, March 23[SUP]rd[/SUP]

  • 8:45AM – Registration
  • 9:15AM – Don Molnar (Oklahoma Apiary Inspector), Oklahoma Beekeeping Update
  • 9:30AM - Ed Levi, The Bee Informed Partnership
  • 9:45AM – Michael Bush, Four Simple Steps to Better Beekeeping
  • 10:45AM – Break
  • 11:00AM – Sam Comfort, Swarm the State: the Creation of Anarchy Apiaries
  • 12:00PM – Catered Lunch/Socialize
  • 1:15PM – Michael Bush, Natural Comb and the Importance Of Cell Size
  • 2:15PM – Break
  • 2:30PM – Ed Levi, Continuing Beekeeping Travels With Ed
  • 3:15PM – All Speakers, Panel Discussion
  • 3:45PM – Auction and Raffle
  • 4:00PM – Adjourn
 
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#14 ·
You do not need to pre-register to attend. The reality is that most people do not pre-register. Nobody will complain, even a little, if you fail to pre-register. In other words, please do not stay home just because you forgot to pre-register.

However, if you plan to attend, we would GREATLY APPRECIATE IT if you would pre-register. It helps us to know how much food to cater and to otherwise plan the event. You can pre-register by going to the NEOBA.org website.

The $30.00 fee includes two meals and a very good conference, making it a ridiculous deal. As a club, we basically subsidize this event and plan to lose money. It is not a fundraiser but is instead part of our organization's mission to educate people about beekeeping. So don't miss this opportunity.

Also, the primary vendor for this event is Ozark Bee Supply, and their website is www.ozarkbees.com. You should contact them any place orders for equipment in advance to make sure they have what you want.

Thanks, and hope to see you there.

Neil
 
#17 ·
I'm going to be blogging the event this year in case anyone is interested in hearing about the presentations. Last year I did more general blogs. This year I'm working off my phone so I will be able to post in real time and I plan on doing articles on each individual presentation.

Hopefully the event will be on video, but I don't know anything about that.
 
#20 ·
oh nice. my wife and i are pretty excited to be going. how about equipment for sale ? did they have a descent amount for sale ? i know after dealing with this cutout and having to crush and strain the comb , we really want to get one of those bucket strainer set ups and maybe a couple honey gates. it would be nice to save some money in shipping if we can get it there :)
 
#25 ·
Big Bee Buzz 2013: My Conclusions

The Big Bee Buzz put put on by NEOBA was again a fantastic event. This year's festivities were a substantially treatment-free themed affair. It was so much fun, I got to meet and hang out with Sam Comfort, got to hang out with Michael Bush, and got to know Ed Levi (former Arkansas State Bee Inspector) better. So what did I take away?

Some context. Everything I say is from the perspective of someone who is a Bond method beekeeper, and quite evangelical about it. I believe people should raise their own bees. I firmly dislike monoculture and the migratory beekeeping that enables it. My focus is pretty strictly on small beekeepers, backyard beekeepers, hobbyists, avid hobbyists, and sideliners.

The new name I am using for my philosophy which I got with permission from Sam Comfort is Expansion Model Beekeeping. My twist is this: As a beekeeper, rather than spending a load of time learning about all the treatments, what they do, how to use them, all the mechanical and cultural methods of controlling mites, brood breaks, screened bottom boards etc., rather than putting energy into learning and internalizing all that stuff, learn how to breed and expand and to outrun the mites. And the thing is, outrunning them is only necessary for a relatively brief period of time. Once your local and localized population becomes sustainable, the mites are not a problem at all. Focus on creating and maintaining a population from which you can lose a few and not have coronaries about it. It's no big deal because you'll just raise some more in the spring. The last two years, I've only lost a single hive. That's after three years in this location with some higher losses, but a no point was it unsustainable. And with the methods that I have discovered and implemented now, I could have done it without buying new bees or queens. Run your operation, whatever size, on an expansion model rather than trying to maintain some certain benchmark. Hives are much easier to reduce in number than increase.

A handy trick I learned from Mike Bush was when a queen flies off, to dump some bees on the topbars of the hives. They will begin scent fanning and she'll have a better chance of making it back to the right hive.

Something I have been convinced to do is register my bees. I had been concerned that some inspector was going to tell me that I had to treat them. Ed Levi calmed my fears and said that they can't do that. The only thing they can do in Arkansas is burn them if they have American Foul Brood. I'm not so concerned about that. I've never had foulbrood and if I did, burning them is probably a good idea even though every deep box costs about $30 and every medium box costs about $25. It could get not cheap but it would be even more not cheap if it were allowed to spread. Anyway, the biggest benefit of registering and getting inspected is that I can ship queens and bees around.

I'm also going to start going to the Northwest Arkansas Beekeepers meetings. I need to learn more about my area and get to know the local beekeepers.

Sam thinks I should move up to 100 hives, but I doubt that's going to be happening any time soon. There's other things I like to do too you know. From talking to him I will also try putting my entrances somewhere in the middle of the hives to hopefully keep the brood and pollen separated a bit better from the honey.
 
#28 ·
Re: Big Bee Buzz 2013: My Conclusions

Expansion Model sounds interesting; my concern is that some beekeepers, new ones in particular, will adopt the name of the philosophy but not the work that goes along with it. My take is that it requires observing what is going on in your hives and responding to those observations in keeping with the philosophy. It is most certainly not dumping a commercially produced package on new foundation in the spring, ignore them all summer, and b*tching about their either dieing or not producing a honey crop.

Learning to see what you are observing is key. Beginning this year I will be making the effort to keep my TF bees going rather than experimenting if TF bees will survive and thrive in my area. I can't afford to bring in new bees every year only to have them die. So I will be looking into the whys deeper - why has this over wintered colony not taken off? Stuff like that.
 
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