Welcome to the Kalamazoo Bee Club
The Kalamazoo Bee Club provides beekeeping education, support, and bee-related services to the greater Kalamazoo area. The Kalamazoo Bee Club is an open club—anyone can be a member; no membership fee or dues are collected. We provide education through monthly programs (generally in the form of an educational presentation), field days during the non-winter months at the club apiary, and our annual Bee School.
June Meeting
Wednesday, June 14, 2017, at 6:30 p.m
Kalamazoo Nature Center – 7000 North Westnedge Ave., Kalamazoo
Raising Royalty
with Sheldon Schwitek
Talk 1 – Queens and Queen Rearing
In this presentation, we will look at the importance of the Queen Honey Bee. We will examine the difference in her development from an egg compared to other honey bees and the various stages of her life cycle. We will study how this knowledge can help us understand what we can do to create new queens or replace existing ones.
With this basic understanding, we will then examine some simple and more advanced ways in which we can rear local queens for our use in the apiary.
Talk 2 – Dolittle Nucs and Cloake Board Queen Rearing
This presentation will focus on 2 simple techniques that beekeepers can use to increase their colony numbers utilizing some simple equipment and a bee colony needed to nurture young larvae.
The Doolittle method of making nucleus colonies will be introduced as a quick and simple way to make nucleus colonies with very little manipulation and one piece of specialized equipment.
The use of a Cloake board is a small-scale method of raising your own queens. The principles that were introduced in making Doolittle Nucs are the basis for utilizing a Cloake Board. Even a backyard beekeeper with a couple of hives and a strong colony can make a few queens to increase their colony numbers and even have a few for sale. It is a perfect way to perpetuate strong over-wintered genetics you are so proud of.