4H Camp Presentation

Ruth and I were asked to make a presentation about beekeeping at the annual 4 H camp held at the River Road facility just west of Romney. Our group was the youngest campers, called the 4H "Clover Buds". They were very interested and really swarmed around the observation hive. It was a fun experience for all. Their teachers and class counselors also asked good questions. Apparently the first and second grade curriculum now includes a book on honey bees. We had never seen the 4H camp before, they have dorms, a big dining hall, meeting rooms, etc. All at a very reasonable cost for families.

Small Swarm Capture

When we had the observation hive at Heritage Days in Romney the bees got overheated. The next day at home they left the hive and swarmed to a small pine tree nearby. This video shows us putting the small swarm in a super box. We wanted to give them lots of room to settle into. We'll be taking the observation hive to the Appalachian Festival in Frostburg so we'll just take two frames out of the super for that. Capturing the swarm is easy as you'll see on the video. The queen was just starting to lay eggs when they swarmed so they must have gotten so hot at Heritage Days that they must have felt they had to abandon the observation hive to save themselves.

Blue Ribbon at The Fair

The Hampshire Beekeepers display at the Hampshire County Fair took the blue ribbon. I think I counted 9 other farm/business displays that HCBA was in competition with for the blue ribbon. The observation hive was a tremendous success. That's the reason for the blue ribbon in my opinion. It created a dynamic display instead of just a static display. We went to the fairgrounds at about 4 Pm on Saturday to pick up the display. Even as I was carrying the observation hive to the truck people were flagging me down to talk about it. It was a great experience and I think it provided a lot of exposure for HCBA.

HCBA Hampshire County Fair Display

We completed the HCBA display at the Hampshire County Fairgrounds today. Also pictured with Ruth is Paul Roomsburg, the horticulture teacher at Hampshire High School and the main coordinator for the agricultural displays at the fair. Paul is partially blocking the observation hive which we delivered and set in place today.

Top Bar Hive Frame

Ruth took a pretty interesting photo of me holding one of the top bar hive frames today. We saw the queen and there is lots of brood present.

Allegheny Fair Photo

A real nice photo of Ruth and Harry Mallow at the Allegheny Fair display which was set up by AMBA members at the fairgrounds in Cumberland.
AMBA members were awarded numerous pries and ribbons for honey and beeswax products.

Nice Photo - Bees on Buckwheat

A very nice photo from Michell Mack.