These minutes have not been approved so they are considered DRAFT minutes.
Board members present: Roland Lalonde & Rob Key
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call to order at 0940
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World Bee Day – May 20 (United Nations declared world bee day to be May 20 last December – )
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Motion to approve last meeting minutes by Craig and seconded by Joe Boehm – carried.
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Next meeting is Friday, May 11, 2018 and John is bringing some food at 6pm if people want to show up a bit early – meeting still starts at 6:30pm
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Rob reviewed the antibiotic discussion at the Powassan meeting with the vet that they had come in. This vet will probably provide the antibiotics to beekeepers and it shouldn’t be a big deal.
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Joe mentioned that you can buy some before the legislation is passed and put it in your freezer and it should keep for quite a while (at least until the whole process gets sorted out).
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Q&A
- when to unwrap – Joe recommends middle of May for this year
- when to re-queen – up to you, queen’s can live many years and some commercial bee keepers re-queen every august, you should be able to tell by your brood pattern if your queen is still viable – the workers will also know and take care of this themselves if you don’t (if you are letting the hive raise their own queen – should aim for when the dandelions are out, otherwise you can introduce a new queen any time)
- where to find mason bees – set up your bee house and they will find it!
- will there be a tour this year? – yes, still looking for volunteers – was going to be Bracebridge / Gravenhurst but maybe Parry Sound again, Rob will talk to Peter Istvan
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reminder to take courses if you are interested – there are quite a few available right now
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50/50 – Joe won but donated his winnings to the club funds
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Motion to adjourn by Joe seconded by Roland – carried.
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formal meeting closed
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equipment show and tell and discussion