Buncombe County Beekeepers Club (BCBC) A Website by Beekeepers in Western North Carolina, for Bee Keepers everywhere!

Hello, Buncombe County Bee Club members, I hope that your girls are healthy, doing well and your hives are expanding. We will be having an interesting presenter for our May meeting. Dr. James Wilkes, who is, among other things, a professor of computer science at Appalachian State in Boone, is also the co-founder of the software company behind Hive Tracks. James is also a beekeeper with about 100 hives.  Dr. Wilkes is also the Information Technology Lead for the Bee Informed Partnership. Topics of discussion will be Hive Tracks and the Bee Informed project.  I have attached links for both so you have time to check them out: https://hivetracks.com/ https://beeinformed.org/ I found them both really interesting and I think in the long run they willRead More

Bees are coming soon! Are you ready?  Many of us will be receiving packages or early nucs in the next couple of weeks. In anticipation of apiary growth we will be having a workshop /workday at the club apiary at The Lords Acre in Fairview this weekend.  We will be expanding the bear fence around the yard, and expanding the hive stands, etc. in anticipation of growth of the apiary in the very near future. If you need experience about fencing, or have questions on how it works, or other things, this is a great opportunity for you to stop by, ask questions and get some hands on experience as well!  We installed the club package this afternoon, and took quick look at the other hives..Read More

Hello Buncombe County Bee Keepers, Hope all is well in your bee yards and if you are getting nucs you are getting ready. Packages have started to arrive and it is very exciting to see bee yards coming to life after winter. It was an great day at Wild Mountain Bees as I picked my packages and will be installing them tomorrow Hope that you are looking forward to Aprils meeting.We will have Megan Baker from the Buncombe County NC Extension Center come and talk to us. Her topics will be an introduction to the Cooperative Extension Service and the programs and opportunities of interest to the beekeeping community. Also beneficial plants for pollinators, including honeybees and native bees. Bring your questions and hope toRead More

Everyone,  We received a notice from Greg Rogers this morning. Greg is a long time, well respected commercial beekeeper in our area. He wanted to pass this notice along to everyone.  Right now the bees are so strong, that they are burning through their stores at an incredible rate. The problem is that the recent freezes have reduced and in some cases, eliminated the natural resources (nectar especially) that the bees rely on to  build strength and brood.  He and other beekeepers are seeing reduced stores in the hives, which are causing them to crash due to lack of food resources.  I’m seeing signs of this in my own apiary, where  1 ½ weeks ago they both had a full super of honey surplus, andRead More

MBP Beginner Beekeeper Certification TESTING:  The  Master Beekeeping Program is a stair-step program of knowledge from our NC State Beekeepers  Association (NCSBA). Buncombe County Beekeepers wants you to expand your knowledge of bees in order to help yourself and your community and prove it by becoming “certified”. 13 students took the BCBC 5 week Beginner Certified Prep Course  and are ready to test BUT if you’ve been studying on your own…go for it! Come join us! BCBC is OFFERING THE WRITTEN TEST this Wednesday 3/22/17  FROM 5:30 -7PM. Drop in at the Meeting Room at Home Gauge, 122 Lyman St, Asheville in the River Arts District.  BCBC Members no cost. Non-Members of BCBC $5 admin fee and an RSVP to Janet Peterson 628-1758 to ensure we haveRead More

We’re passing this along for those that may be interested. Thank you Anna Stratton for passing this information along! I have attached a copy of a coupon for epipen.  you can go on- line  to https://www.epipen.com/copay-offer to get the coupon.  This is a discount of up to $300 and good for insured and uninsured patients.     

Everyone,  We are still planning the workshop in the morning. The weather should be cooperative for this workshop. The location we choose for the workshop, homegauge, is a training facility that allows us an inside classroom as well as outdoor space.  We should be well equipped for this workshop!  We hope to see everyone interested in the morning.  Bring your smokers, hive tools and gear!  As a reminder, the location is :  Home gauge 122 Lyman st Asheville, nc  The location is here: http://tinyurl.com/gvmc54l  start time is 9:00am! Scott A Davis President – Buncombe County Beekeepers Club (BCBC) A chapter of the North Carolina State BeeKeepers Association Meeting the first Monday of each month at Groce United Methodist Church Tunnel Road Asheville, nc 828.712.6074 CatchRead More

  Good evening, Buncombe County Beekeepers, Hope that you’re getting out in this weirdly warm February we are having, and your girls are getting along fine. We are going to have a great and informative meeting on March 6th.  Fourth generation, 13-year, and NCSBA Master beekeeper Bryan Fisher, from Cabarrus County, is coming to speak to us on queen castles (what are those?) and making splits. Also, don’t forget our monthly mini workshop from 6:30 to 7:00.  It’s going to center on integrated pest management techniques, or IPM. If you’re going to bee attending the CHBR bee school on March 4th and 5th, we hope that you will learn a lot and not be too overwhelmed to come to the meeting! Hope to see you all March 6th. Groce United MethodistRead More

Born and Bred 2017 Presented by the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association Your NCSBA is proud to present Born & Bred 2017 in cooperation with the NCSU Apiculture Program and the NCDA&CS Apiary Inspection Service. A program of advanced beekeeper education in the field of queen rearing and colony management.  Born and Bred workshops will be on queen rearing and conducted with a curriculum of such substance that participants can effectively learn how to raise queens with the information presented and a degree of diligence on their part.  Beekeepers of all levels will be able to gain an understanding of queen production that is controlled by the beekeeper and how environmental factors affect the behavior of the honey bee during queen production. In practice, itRead More

February is here already???!!! really?? wow! We will be having Assistant Manager Daniel Roath from Brushy Mountain Bee Farm come down and talk and educate us on Oxalic Acid and the treatment of Varroa Mites. For those of us that may not know what Oxalic Acid is, it is the latest treatment now legally available in the USA for the Varroa Mite. It should be a really informative meeting. We hope to see a lot of members new and old ! In continuing to expand our commitment to continuing education for all our members, this month will is the first of our many monthly mini workshops that occur before the regular monthly meeting. This months Mini-workshop is:  Smoker Management- Use/management/cleaning/care of smokers Bring your new orRead More