Click Here if you listened. We’d love to know what you think. There is even a spot for feedback! Read along below!
New(ish) Beekeeper Column
Conferences and Honey Festivals
By: Richard Wahl
Regional Events
I was well into my second year of beekeeping before I discovered that there were clubs that existed for the sole purpose of advancing the knowledge and art of beekeeping for beginners and the more experienced alike. After joining a club and sporadically attending meetings it took a few more years before I paid much attention to announcements about regional or state association beekeeping conferences. Over the years I became more aware of these announcements, but with a busy work schedule and other family commitments these events always seemed to fall on dates when I already had other things planned. I therefore never attended any of these normally annual recurring conferences to take advantage of the myriad of knowledge provided by a wide range of speakers. Then shortly after beginning this column for Bee Culture magazine I was asked to be a speaker at the 2022 Michigan Beekeeper Association’s (MBA) Spring Conference. I have to admit this was the first “conference” I had ever attended and I was surprised as to what I had been missing. There were four tracks of speakers each of two days with each track devoted to a different level of beekeeping expertise. Both days furnished a Beginner Track aimed at the new beekeeper just getting started. There was also a two day Business Track for those who had already turned their beekeeping into a business or for those interested in doing so. Other tracks featured Raising Queens, Products of the Hive, Pollinator Habitat as well as a Miscellaneous track. Some of the tracks only appeared on one of the two days. Each of the tracks had three and usually four different speakers lined up giving their presentations in one hour blocks separated by fifteen minute breaks in order to give attendees time to move from one speaker of their choice to another. The speaker presentations followed a morning welcoming event with a “keynote speaker” to get each day started. There was also a one and a half hour lunch break in the middle of the day giving attendees the opportunity for lunch or the chance to visit numerous area beekeeping equipment vendors who had their tables and wares set up on site.
Registration and Attendance
These events are advertised well in advance, normally on the sponsor association website as well as on other social media. Bee clubs stay attuned to these events and give regular notification of upcoming dates, times and places during club announcements or emails sent to club members. Website event reviews will often provide a list of the speakers, the topic they will give their presentation on and a short biography of the presenter. Registration can be done in advance or on a walk in basis on the day of the event.
A fee is normally charged to cover the expense of using the venue site and to provide a reimbursement for the travel and lodging expenses of any speakers who may be coming from out of state or from a good distance away. In some cases events are set up such that a fee is paid for one day’s attendance, but usually there is one fee that allows attendance throughout any time period of a more than one day event. I have found the cost well worth the knowledge gained listening to speakers and visiting on site vendors where it is easy to get any burning questions answered on the spot. Speakers are often brought in from out of state or even from other countries as was the case for the recent Michigan Beekeepers Association (MBA) and this year’s Southeast Michigan Beekeepers Association (SEMBA) Spring Conferences. At least eight of this Spring’s SEMBA speakers came from eight other states while three had done extensive research in or came from other countries. The remainder came from various areas in the state of Michigan where the conference was held.
More on Speakers
As mentioned previously, there are numerous speakers at these events who cover a wide variety of topics. I had the opportunity to interview two speakers at the SEMBA Spring Conference this past March. I wanted to learn more about their individual reasons for getting into beekeeping and to ask about any special lessons learned that they would be willing to pass on to other beekeepers. Since this was a one day event, there were six tracks of speakers with five speakers in each track. Tracks included Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced Beekeeping as well as Bee Health, Potpourri and Beyond Beekeeping tracks. The first individual I interviewed was Mel Disselkoen, who would be speaking under the track labeled “Beyond Beekeeping” with his topic being “Righting a Laying Worker Colony”. Since I caught Mel before he gave his presentation I will focus on the answers to the questions that I posed during the interview.
Mel grew up on a farm in South Dakota and started working with bees around 1972, about fifteen years before the varroa mite entered the scene. The biggest new problems that Mel has seen during his evolutionary beekeeping years are the varroa mite infestation and the growth of the use of herbicides and pesticides. He stated that it is difficult to keep bees near golf courses and some public parks due to the heavy use of herbicides for weed control and pesticides for mosquito control. Other than that he feels the biology of beekeeping remains much the same. However, he remains largely optimistic about efforts to solve the varroa problem and efforts to make more users aware of the problems that overuse of herbicides and pesticides cause for beekeepers.
It was about 1985 when Mel got into the independent research of raising queens. In addition to raising queens he also found that one of the best controls for mites is to have brood breaks like that which occur among African bees because they swarm so much. African bees control varroa this way. It is biological and not genetic. When I asked what the best piece of advice he would give to the new beekeeper, his response was to create or have brood breaks for mite control. For many years Mel used brood breaks as his only mite control but has more recently also begun using oxalic acid vapor treatments in November on the twenty-five hives he currently maintains. Mel did not initially plan to write a book about queen rearing. But working with the Amish community in his area and repeatedly sharing information and being encouraged to write a book, his On the Spot (OTS) Queen Rearing book was first published in 1988. It can be found by going to the “Mel Disselkoen” website, searching the web under “OTS Queen Rearing” or go to www.mdasplitter.com and click on the queen bee. Mel has also had a number of YouTube videos produced highlighting lectures he has given on the same topic. As with near all beekeepers I have met, Mel was easy to talk to and more than willing to share his beekeeping experiences with honest, well thought out answers to any question I would pose. His philosophy is to cooperate with nature and use the bee’s natural instinct for survival and increase to the beekeeper’s advantage. He has found that “the best bee is the bee that can overwinter in your area.”
Another speaker that I had the pleasure to interview was Stephen J. Martin visiting from the U.K. Professor Stephen Martin is a researcher currently working at the School of Environment and Life Sciences, University of Salford, Manchester, England. He has studied social insects (bees, wasps, termites and ants) for most of his thirty year career including work on the pests and diseases facing honey bees. Early in his career he received a scholarship to study thermal regulation of hornets in Japan. This led to his PhD and an interest in the study of social insects. Following seven years in that endeavor he worked with the National Bee Unit (NBU) which runs bee health programs in England and Wales and maintains about sixty field based staff and bee inspectors in North Yorkshire. After his stint with the NBU, Professor Martin spent twelve years working at Sheffield University which took him mainly to the state of Hawaii to study honey bee pathogens. From 2012 on he continues his research efforts at the University of Salford with the goal of assisting the next generation of researchers moving the knowledge of varroa resistance forward. Well known internationally for his research on the varroa mite and the viruses it spreads, his topic at the conference fell under the “Advanced Track” and the “Bee Health Track” (he spoke at different times under each track) and was titled Evolution of Varroa Resistant Honey Bees. Professor Martin gave a very enlightening presentation on how our honey bees are very slowly adapting to the scourge of the varroa mite, how the viruses effect the bees and the research and actions that are being taken to mitigate the mite problem.
Professor Martin believes “there is a light at the end of the tunnel”, as the old saying goes and that the beekeeper must continue to adjust their beekeeping to give their bees time to adapt to the mite, as has already happened in many countries. He sees the main difference between U.K. and U.S. beekeeping being the commercialization of beekeeping in the States. He feels that large commercialization beekeeping operations in the U.S. are locked into an economically secure mite treatment cycle that will be difficult, but not impossible, to break out of. But he believes the hobbyist beekeeper can more easily adapt their beekeeping by first reducing and eventually stopping all mite treatments as their honey bees adapt their hygienic behavior to prevent the mite from reproduction, which is the only sustainable solution to the varroa mite problem. A full biography can be found on the web under “Stephen John Martin”, and for information on mite-resistance see www.varroaresistant.uk. It was a pleasure to have Professor Martin devote a portion of his lunch break to provide me the opportunity for the interview. Throughout the day speakers were always willing to answer questions and engage in conversations with beekeeper attendees whether at the beginner level or the more experienced.
Vendors
In addition to the twenty-five speakers giving presentations on twenty-eight different topics (several presentations were given twice in different time slots) at the SEMBA Conference, there were more than a dozen vendors in attendance with their wares displayed on tables. The shopping beekeeper could inspect almost any type item used by beekeepers in their endeavor to make the job of beekeeping easier. Items for sale by area and regional vendors included everything from extractors to any type of “how to” books on using any bee produced product as well as potted plants loved by pollinators. Bee motif clothing and hats were available for sale as well as candles, lotions and balms produced with the use of beeswax or honey.
If vendors had a catalogue of their wares, it was available to be picked up free of charge in order for those that wanted to review choices or look for the few things not readily placed on vendor tables. In addition, most all types of bee suit, jacket or veil could be tried on to see if the fit was correct on the spot. The beginning beekeeper could walk away with all of the basic equipment needed to get started in beekeeping and not have to pay a single shipping charge. The displays were eye catching and easily accessible down the main hall of the Wayne Community County College, Ted Scott Campus building where the SEMBA Spring Conference was held. As with the speakers, vendors were easy to talk to and ready to share the advantages of using any type product they were selling or their own experiences in beekeeping.
Honey Festivals
Unlike the conferences, honey festivals have a slightly different flavor. There may be a speaker or two demonstrating a live beehive inspection enclosed in a screened tent so as to protect onlookers from the bees or a side demonstration of the wooden beehive parts. Sometimes there may even be a brave beekeeper placing a queen bee on his chin which attracts hundreds of bees to join the queen resulting in a live bee beard most likely also conducted in a screened tent. If the facility has rooms near the open pavilion vendor area complex, there may be a few speakers. Normally, festivals are geared more toward vendors of all types selling anything related to bees. It might be pottery, clothing, patch quilts or pot holders with bee motifs or products such as soaps, balms and candles made with a component of beeswax. Pollen, bee bread and propolis tinctures may be available as well as the vendor who brings in an ice cream, granola or nuts booth.
Since festivals are usually held over the Summer months, live observation hives are often present and informational booths display not only all aspects of bees but solicitation to join area bee clubs or associations. There is often a booth or room where beekeepers can enter jars of honey from their recent harvest in a honey contest where experienced judges rate the submitted honey. Prizes may even be given out for the honeys that are submitted in any number of varied categories. As with the conferences denoted above the attendee can ask questions and strike up conversations with anyone in attendance, particularly those manning club or association tables and of course any of the vendors. The aim of most honey festivals is to educate the public on the environmental importance of our pollinators and the part honey bees play in that role. I first attended a Michigan Honey Festival in the pre-COVID years and easily spent the entire day looking at all the displays and perusing all the vendor wares that were on sale. This year’s Michigan Honey Festival will be held at the Shiawassee county Fairgrounds on July 20 and 21. Local clubs will often hold similar smaller events aimed at educating the public about bees and bee products in their local areas. A quick check of surrounding states resulted in finding a listing of over fifty Spring and Fall annual conferences that can be found searching: “International, National or State Beekeeping Conferences” or go to: https://blog.foxhoundbeecompany.com/international-national-and-state-beekeeping-conferences/. Twenty honey festivals held in fifteen states can be found searching “Honey Festivals in 2024: Find a Honey Festival Near You!” or go to: https://localhoneyfinder.org/honey-festivals.php.
Summary
The ability to ask questions and converse with fellow beekeepers allows the beekeeper to exchange a nuance of ideas and incorporate new techniques into their beekeeping regimen. While webinars and videos may be a good source for information gathering, they do not permit for an exchange of information and may present more questions than answers. In our area of southern Michigan, conferences and festivals, like those noted above, are often attended by 400 to 500 people or even more. My first attempt at giving that MBA presentation two years ago was by far not my best. I was not expecting to be speaking to a room of nearly 100 people at my first conference. A too long of a title, with too many slides and an effort to cover “everything” a new beekeeper needed to know resulted in no time left for questions and answers. It was probably too much to absorb in one sitting. I gave it my best shot, as nervous as I was, with the computer reverting the PowerPoint screen to the preparation mode at one point (Most speakers have a slide presentation to go with their presentations). Since then my topics have become much more refined and polished with around a half dozen slides and a more specific singular topic such as “Sustainable Beekeeping”, the topic I spoke on at the recent SEMBA Spring Conference. It was a much smoother presentation as I had previously presented it to a local club a month prior. I have found that attending and presenting at clubs, conferences or festivals to be a very rewarding and educational experience. If you have a “gift for gab”, do not be intimidated if asked to become a speaker. Visit local conferences and bee festivals and absorb all you can learn and then share your knowledge with others. In this fashion we all become better beekeepers, and is this not our goal while working with our Apis mellifera friends?
