"Good Beekeeping and Good Fellowship"

Since 1948

Exploring the wonderful world of beekeeping together

If you are interested in getting into beekeeping, the first thing you should do is talk to a beekeeper! They'll be happy to answer your questions. Come visit us at any of our meetings.

NEW: on-line member registration is now available. See our Membership Information page.

Thinking about getting into Top-Bar Hive (TBH) beekeeping for our region in Northeastern Kansas? Look at our information further below on this page.

We are always happy to have new members join us for good beekeeping and good fellowship.

For 2014 most of our meetings will be held at the Douglas County Fair Grounds in Lawrence, KS
2110 Harper Street.

DIRECTIONS:
The address: 2110 Harper Street, Lawrence, KS

Accessible from K-10, turn north on Harper Street (West end of Lawrence). We are in building #1, which will be on the right side after you turn into the fairground parking lot.

Need driving directions?
http://www.mapquest.com/maps?address=2110+Harper+St&city=Lawrence&state=KS&zipcode=66046&redirect=true

Our next meeting:

2014 January 6, Monday 7 PM
Douglas County Fairgrounds Bldg #1

Subject: To Be Announced

We are getting ready for another exciting year of beekeeping in the heartland.

Thank you to all the members who brought cookies to the cookie exchange at the December meeting.

Some of those honey recipes came from honey.com, the National Honey Board website.

We raised $1,365.00 from the annual auction. 100% of the proceeds go to the Scholarship Fund. Thank you!

(Last updated 12/03/2013, rjb)

Greetings from the Northeastern Kansas Beekeepers' Association! We hope you find your visit enjoyable and educational.

For more information or questions about the club, please contact any of our club officers or use the Contact Us page and we'll get back to you!

The Northeastern Kansas Beekeepers' Association is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to assisting current and future beekeepers of Northeastern Kansas, as well as promoting public awareness of the benefits, necessity, and value of the honeybee.

Our purpose: to promote knowledge in modern beekeeping and improve marketing conditions.

Our association Constitution and By-Laws.

Healthy Tips for Healthy Living Direct from the Bees

The Bees are going to do what they do. Sometimes you have to let nature take its course You're just here on earth to offer a little help.

Think before you act. Slow, calm movements keep the bees charmed.

Bees sense your fear -- even more than dogs do! Send bees love. When faced with the choice of fear or love, always choose love.

To everything there is a season. The bees rest in winter, renew in the spring, and work all summer when nectar is easily available.

A hive is a marvelous miracle of nature -- all creatures work together for a common purpose. Cooperation is far more important than being right or getting credit.

Insights into Top-Bar Hive (TBH) Beekeeping:

While the interest in top-bar hive (Tanzanian, Kenyan, Warré) beekeeping seems to be growing, the NEKBA Board is not recommending this style of keeping bees to new beekeepers in our area for several reason:

The hive management style required for successful beekeeping with top-bar hives demands a higher level of skill and confidence from new beekeepers. We do not have enough long-time beekeepers with TBH experience to successfully mentor or give recommendations of support.

A few additional insights are outlined below:

Our geography can prove difficult for winter survival. The elongated horizontal configuration of the Tanzanian and Kenyan styled hives are not appropriate for our severe winters. During the cold, it is 'natural' for the bees to move up-- not over on the combs.

We believe that without active management (moving frames) during the cold season, horizontal TBH beekeepers are at greater risk of losing their colonies to the cold and starvation. Most years, we do not have sufficient enough warm days in January/February for the colony to graduate to combs full of stored honey when critically needed.

The horizontal TBH's only allow for about 20-25 pounds of honey. A TBH beekeeper will need to feed their bees each fall to give them a surviving chance in over-wintering. The Langstroth design allows for enough honey stores and space for natural, organic beekeeping, although, sometimes, we still have to feed our bees due to abnormal weather conditions such as heat and drought in the pre-ceeding season(s).

The Warré hive needs 2-3 boxes to sustain the colony through our winters here in NE Kansas. 3-4 would be even better for the bees to have enough to over-winter without having to be fed.

Honey processing in TBH beekeeping is done by cutting the combs, then crushing and straining.

Anytime honey is harvested, the colony must build new comb. This takes additional resources (honey) in the spring. The comb bars of the TBH cannot be centrifuged to extract honey and then be re-used. Crushing honey comb as a means of harvesting liquid honey predates the invention of the honey extractor, which was invented in the 1860's.

Top-bar hives cannot easily be moved. The combs do not have the strength necessary to support them during any kind of travel. The combs are more susceptible to breakage and collapse on the road.

If a beekeeper is small in stature or has a bad back or can't lift heavy things, then perhaps the 8-frame Langstroth hive would be a better consideration. The 8-frame hive is more of a 'garden-style' and is less bulky in size and weight than the 10-frame hive.

The Langstroth hive-style beekeeping is best for honey production. The association wants to promote an 'active' style of beekeeping and encourages 'active' management for honey production as well as wax, pollen, propolis, pollination and other uses of honey bee products. Beekeepers want hives that can be easily manipulated, yet we also want to give our bees the best chance of growth, productivity, and year-to-year survival. We want our beekeepers to have success and enjoyment and sustainability. We also believe our members should get a return on their investment.

We also want proven practicality. If you have been keeping TBH's for a while in our geographical area, and have been successful, please contact us. We'd love to consider you for a presentation at one of our functions. We'd like to hear from you.

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From our April 2012 Bee Buzzer, here is Dr. Chip Taylor's response to an inquiry from a beekeeper in Atchison, KS about top-bar hive beekeeping.

Dr. Chip Taylor replies:

"I've worked with top bar in the tropics - marginal even there. Certainly not a way to produce honey or effectively manage bees. These hives are only slightly better than the wooden butterfly hibernation houses. In the latter case, the wood should be reused to make bat houses.

Carol: Top-bar hives are the rage but are inappropriate for use at this latitude. Bees do not overwinter well in hives with this design. Standard beekeeping equipment is designed to allow bees to store honey and move up the way they do in natural nests.

It sounds like you don't inspect the bees to see what is actually happening inside the nest. This is a must. You have to open the hive and look at the bees. Further, you have to be able to diagnose what is happening in the colony. There are books and locals who can help with this.

If your bees swarmed - shouldn't have but a more common problem with top-bar hives - your bees may have died due to the failure to properly requeen themselves. Or, like so many colonies in this area, they may simply have gone into the winter with too few stores.

My suggestion is that you get together with the folks from the NE Kansas Beekeepers Association. This group has many programs for beginners and you may find someone who can mentor you so that you can learn the basics of bee management.

Frankly, I'd retire the top-bar hive and buy standard equipment."

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The Northeastern Kansas Beekeepers' Association is a supporter of Dr. Taylor's pet project "Monarch Watch" program.

"Good Beekeeping and Good Fellowship"

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