April Membership Meeting

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The Latest on Controlling Varroa

VFW Hall | 29 South Main Street | Coventry, RI

April 14, 2024 | 2:00 pm

[   1:00 pm for New Beekeepers Q&A   ]

Speaker:  Sara Michaud is a Cornell certified Master Beekeeper, and the past president of RIBA. She owns and operates Bee Happy Farm in Charlestown, Rhode Island. Her presentation will be on
Varroa Mites and how to control them.

New Beekeepers: Teachers and experienced beekeepers will assemble at 1:00 for an hour of question and answer for new and not so new beekeepers, so bring questions you can’t answer, and equipment you don’t know what to do with, and get some answers!

Book Swap!  Got books on your shelf about honeybees, native bees, pollinator gardens or gardening in general that are taking up space so you can’t fit new books? Bring them to the April meeting. We will have a table set up where you can drop off your books to pass on to a new home!

The beginning of each season (and new beekeeper’s adventure) starts with paranoia about Varroa. This month’s presentation will include information for new and seasoned beekeepers. We will dive into the Varroa life cycle, Integrative Pest Management, how to read miticide labels and current research on miticide efficacy (or lack of efficacy). Examples included on how to read and interpret DEM viral tests and relate to Varroa loads and disease transfer. The goal is to prepare beekeepers to be proactive rather than reactive in caring for their bees against Varroa.