Welcome to the Coweta Beekeepers Association Website

Come on in and visit.... 

Celebrating our 15^th year!

2013, A year of learning

Our members offer for sale Pure, Raw and Unfiltered Coweta County honey. 

NEW meeting location: Coweta Extension Office, 255 Pine Road, Newnan, Georgia

Thinking of becoming a beekeeper?

If you live in or near Newnan, Georgia or Coweta County, Georgia, and you’re interested in becoming a beekeeper, we can help you learn about this very old and interesting endeavor.  More information about our beekeeping class below. 

Looking for a speaker?  If your group is looking for a speaker please contact us.  We are always looking for opportunities to explain the importance and fascination of honey bees and honey.

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Becoming a beekeeper...

• Take a course
• Join a local association
• Get a mentor
• Get a good beekeeping book ... The Beekeeper's Handbook  http://www.amazon.com/Beekeepers-Handbook-Fourth-Diana-Sammataro/dp/0801476941

Introduction to Beekeeping Class January 25, 2014

Registration Form

Schedule

The Coweta Beekeepers Association is offering a beekeeping class January 25, 2014, at 8:00 AM, at the Coweta Extension Office, 255 Pine Road, Newnan, Georgia. 

This class is an introduction to beekeeping and includes the knowledge required to become one.  Topics include honeybee biology; the functions of the colony; equipment; assembling a beehive; lighting a smoker; best location for a beehive; honeybee installation; hive inspection; a year in the beehive; potential problems and how to harvest honey. 

During the day of instruction students will meet members of the Coweta Beekeepers Association who are available as mentors to help guide new beekeepers.

Cost, which is $50.00 in advance or $55.00 at the door, includes instruction, snacks and lunch, a copy of First Lessons in Beekeeping and 2014 membership in the Coweta Beekeepers Association. 

Preregister by sending a check for $50.00 to Coweta Beekeepers Association, Steven Page, 180 Barrington Grange Drive, Sharpsburg, GA 30277.  Include name, address, telephone number and email address.  A registration form is available at www.cowetabeekeepers.org

This year a family option is available.  The fee is $50.00 in advance or $55.00 at the door for the first person.  Additional family members may attend for $10.00 each.  Each family will receive one copy of First Lessons in Beekeeping.

Early registration deadline is January 18, 2014. Registration will be accepted on the day of the class but space is limited.  Register early, this class sells out.

Coweta Beekeepers Association was established in 1999 and meets on the second Monday of each month at 7:00 pm at the Coweta County Extension Office, 255 Pine Road, Newnan, Georgia .  Most of the members, who live in Coweta and surrounding counties, keep bees. 

For more information contact Steven Page at 770-683-2465

Registration Form

Flyer

Beekeeping Decisions

“Stay ahead of your bees....”

1. Are you going to start beekeeping in the spring?

NO – End....   It's best to start beekeeping in the spring and ordering bees (nucs) as early as possible. The earlier a nuc is ordered, the earlier it arrives in the spring allowing the colony to become established prior to the end of the main nectar flow in May.

YES – Order your bees in September or as early as possible for spring delivery. Buster sells quality nucs.   http://www.bustersbees.com/store/purchase-nuc

2. Make sure you have a suitable location for your beehives. 

Beehives should be located away from people and pets, in the sun facing east or south, on the north or west side of an open area.  They need at least a half day sun preferably morning into early afternoon.  Avoid low spots which could flood or be damp.  Supers of honey are heavy, it is best if you can move them from the bee yard on some kind of vehicle.

3.  How many hives will you start with? 

The recommended number is two.  A second hive allows you to fix some problems that may develop.  One is OK; it just limits options for a weak hive.

4. Are you going to use 10 frame or 8 frame equipment?

10 frame - traditional size, heavier, more difficult to get the bees to build comb on outer frames.  I use 10 frame equipment but may transition to 8 frame equipment at some point.

8 frame – Gaining in popularity, less weight, easier to get the bees to build comb on all the frames, same price as 10 frame equipment but will require more supers.  Some indication the 8 frame equipment makes stronger colonies.

5. Order your woodenware - bottom board, supers, frames, foundation, feeder, inner cover, outer cover.  Extra – nuc w/frames and foundation (a place to put a swarm) 

Assemble, prime and paint your woodenware. (Outside only for prime and paint)  All your equipment needs to be ready when your nucs are ready to be picked up.

Wood is heavy, try to avoid shipping charges:

• Drive to Buster’s Bees  

• Drive to Rossman Apiaries in Moultrie, GA. 

• Mann Lake offers free shipping on most orders over $100. 

• Brushy Mountain Bee Farm offers free shipping after Thanksgiving.

6. Order your equipment – this can be ordered with your woodenware. 

Minimum – Veil, smoker, hive tool, bee brush.

Nice to have – Jacket or coveralls, gloves, frame grip, frame rest.

Beekeeping Supply Companies

Local – Buster’s Bees   www.bustersbees.com   Jonesboro, GA

Georgia – Rossman Apiaries    www.gabees.com     Moultrie, GA

North Carolina - Miller Bee Supply  www.millerbeesupply.com

                       Brushy Mountain Bee Farm www.brushymountainbeefarm.com

Florida and Illinois – Dadant & Sons www.dadant.com/catalog/

Kentucky -     Walter T. Kelly Co. https://kelleybees.com

Minnesota -   Mann Lake Ltd. www.mannlakeltd.com   free shipping on orders over $100

Three fun videos from B Weaver http://www.beeweaver.com/welcome about becoming a beekeeper.

Enjoy....

The REAL Bee Movie..... here are 3 excerpts from our bee film (a work in progress). Our goal in the film is to help you become a successful beekeeper as quickly as possible, and we hope to make you giggle a bit, too.

Episode 1

People from all walks of life become beekeepers. City dwellers, suburbanites, weekend farmers, and country folk can enjoy and benefit from bees. The young, young at heart, and those in between all can keep bees. It used to be that 'grandpa' was the beekeeper in the family. Today sisters, daughters, mothers, wives are taking up the hive tool more then ever before. Our "tongue in cheek" films focus on Skip, a city dweller with little country experience, whose daughter would like a bee hive... and he is willing to give it a try... well maybe! He heads to the farm and 'meets the Weavers,' and before you know it he is seriously thinking that bees aren't such a crazy idea after all. No matter who you are, or how little you know about bees, you can successfully manage a bee colony. youtu.be/KE2dU8lGD2o

Episode 2

Skip, our fearless new beekeeper you met in Episode 1 (Is Beekeeping For You), is ready to learn the basics. Danny Weaver introduces Skip to the gear he needs to work the bees, and helps him get started. From lighting a smoker and cracking into a hive and checking on the bees, Skip gets his first real peak at a hive.... and so do you. Danny shows Skip the basics of hive manipulation and the components that make up the hive. Skip gets a hang of the lingo and learns what to do 'when the bee stings'. He also learns some beekeeping basics, and so do you.  http://youtu.be/rISqe-c5N3o

Episode 3

After meeting the Weavers in Episode 1 (Is Beekeeping For You) and going over the hive basics with Danny Weaver in Episode 2 (Meet A Healthy Hive), Skip is ready to get started with his first bees. Binford Weaver has a couple three pound packages and hives ready to go. Binford has worked bees since he was a boy, and Skip is truly learning from a pro. There are several ways to hive a package (and several types of hives), but the method Skip (and you) learn is one of the best for success, especially for a beginner beekeeper.  http://youtu.be/bEMV7EKnV8A

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Pure, Fresh, raw and unfiltered, local honey is available for purchase from our members.

More information on where to purchase local honey from our members.

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Help, I have honeybees living in my wall!!

Contact  

Jerry Edwards    678-333-6889  jedwarga@bellsouth.net

Bobby Torbush   770-927-0077

Richard Littleton (Carroll County) 770-830-1943

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Why buy Pure & Raw Local honey? 

Honey laundering conceals country of origin to avoid tariffs and sneak contaminated honey into the USA.

Honey Laundering

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The Honey Launderers: Uncovering the Largest Food Fraud in U.S. History

Magnus von Buddenbrock and Stefanie Giesselbach arrived in Chicago in 2006 full of hope. He was 30, she was 28, and they had both won their first overseas assignments at ALW Food Group, a family-owned food-trading company based in Hamburg. Von Buddenbrock had joined ALW—the initials stand for its founder, Alfred L. Wolff—four years earlier after earning a degree in marketing and international business, and he was expert in the buying and selling of gum arabic, a key ingredient in candy and soft drinks. Giesselbach had started at ALW as a 19-year-old apprentice. She worked hard, learned quickly, spoke five languages, and within three years had become the company’s first female product manager. Her specialty was honey.

Click here to continue reading

Asian Honey, Banned in Europe, Is Flooding U.S. Grocery Shelves

FDA has the laws needed to keep adulterated honey off store shelves but does little, honey industry says.

Click here to continue reading....

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Beekeeping Supplies

Beekeeping Supplies and Nucleus Hives (nucs)

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