Bennington Beekeepers Club Meeting on Thursday, October 9

The Bennington Beekeepers' Club is pleased to announce that our October meeting will be held on Thursday, October 9, from 6:30 to 9:00 p.m. in the Rotary Room of the Bennington Free Library (101 Silver Street, Bennington). 

On-street parking is available.

This month's meeting will feature speaker Nick Delaini, who has served as an assistant bee inspector in Vermont.

The evening will include a potluck and social time from 6:30--7:00, 

a brief business meeting from 7:00--7:20, 

and the speaker's talk, followed by the raffle at 8:45. Donated raffle items are welcome.

An agenda packet will be sent electronically the week of the meeting and will also be available on paper at the meeting. 

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

Save the Date for the

VBA Winter Meeting

Saturday, January 31st, 2026

Middlebury Union High School

We’re looking forward to seeing you all in late January for our Winter Meeting to be held in Middlebury on January 31st, 2026. We’re working on the agenda but here are a couple of things that we can confirm:

• The Honey Show will be back. Make sure to save a jar of this season’s harvest for the competition!

• Landi Simone from Goose Rock Farm will be the keynote speaker.

Registration will be available on the VBA website later this fall.

 VBA Zoom Meeting - October 23rd- Winter Prep

The latest on hive wrapping, insulation, and ventilation in preparation for winter October 23, 2025, 7:00 P.M. via Zoom Presented by Andrew Munkres Event Details Andrew has been experimenting with alternative ways to wrap and insulate colonies for winter. He'll present his latest findings and add his own experience on survival and winter colony strength. Andrew overwinters several hundred colonies. Pre-Registration requited via the VBA website www.vermontbeekeepers.org

 Thursday, September 11th Meeting

Please note this week's BCBC meeting is Thursday September 11th, not Tuesday September 9th as originally posted. Refer to our original posting for full details.

 VBA Zoom Meeting September 11th

Preparing apiary, colonies, and hives for winter

Presented by Fred Putnam and Andrew Munkres

Thursday, September 11, 7:00 P.M. via Zoom

Event Details

• Evaluating food stores to ensure sufficient winter reserves.

• Selecting the best hive configuration for winter, including decisions on honey super removal and retention.

• Consolidating frames and equalizing resources between colonies.

• Understanding hive weighing: procedures, safety tips, and target weights for various configurations.

• Feeding for rapid weight gain if they are short on stores with a focus on internal top feeders and can/jar feeders – when to begin and when to finish.

• Preventing robbing.

• Winterization techniques: wraps, insulation, mouse guards, and entrance reducers and effects on winter colony survival.

• Setting up windbreaks, including general specifications and types to avoid.

• Reviewing late-season mite treatment options, their effectiveness, and situational considerations.

• Conducting winter inspections: purpose, timing, and methods.

• Mid-winter feeding: solid foods, candy boards, and Mountain Camp emergency feeding.

• Updates on electric fencing recommendations.

Participants will have the opportunity to ask questions and discuss any concerns or challenges they have faced with their own colonies.

Registration for this zoom meeting available on the VBA website

 September Club Meeting Announcement

Our next meeting will be Thursday, September 11th, at the Bennington Free Library. Bring a meal to share for 6:30 and the meeting will start at 7:00. Dan Conlon from Warm Colors Apiary will be speaking.

We have a jammed packed agenda, so please mark your calendars and if you are not able to make it, please let us know. You can email us at: Frenchmansgarden@gmail.com .

Additionally, please be aware that the US Department of Agriculture has opened a public comment period on the proposal to relocate approximately 2,600 Washington-based positions to five regional hubs, which would directly impact the USDA Beltsville Bee Research Laboratory. Because it is the opinion of many US-based honeybee scientists and beekeeping industry leaders that relocation of the Beltsville Lab would result in immediate and long-term harm to the beekeeping industry, you are encouraged to leave an individual comment during the public comment period, which ends on August 31. You may do so by following
the instructions at the bottom of the announcement here: https://www.usda.gov/about-usda/news/press-releases/2025/08/01/usda-opens-public-comment-period-department-reorganization-plan

If you are inclined to add your signature to a petition regarding this matter, Project Apis has sent the following announcement to its members, with the request that you add your name to their public comment: https://g3j1.engage.squarespace-mail.com/r?m=68b063009817953694049828&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.projectapism.org%2Fcampaigns%2Fview-email%2FQl7g-84PQY2jqzedUowqCr7HRQl_7uZY7oAzMQKNMtRVqdEbyqEZ6AqE8ey-Jnp5l56jKwCZ9Cy2I_iugS5A7lSdwk8neprCf6FkgpXATGckpo-9JsngHVIbR2xTLTBXZDFjrN8Or7ziK6QJ8VXcbWmr3XKMn-PFlKvbQg%3D%3D%3Fss_source%3Dsscampaigns%26ss_campaign_id%3D68af9023b6feb169bd328375%26ss_email_id%3D68b063009817953694049828%26ss_campaign_name%3DUSDA%2BOpens%2BPublic%2BComment%2BPeriod%2Bon%2BDepartment%2BReorganization%2BPlan%25C2%25A0%26ss_campaign_sent_date%3D2025-08-28T14%253A09%253A17Z&w=650342507631075013d25a2c&c=b_68af9023b6feb169bd328375&l=en-US&s=YMFjpG4EbIcCcDrwvJQTu0oRRO0%3D 

 

American Foulbrood Disease American Foulbrood is popping up again in nearby states. Our state bee inspector, Brooke Decker, has sent along the following recommendations for Vermont beekeepers this fall:    AFB is a reportable disease. Beekeepers should always be inspecting their colonies for brood diseases.  If beekeepers find any concerning brood, they should immediately contact the apiary program for an inspection. Do not buy bees without first asking for (and receiving) a state issued health inspection certificate. Not all states require inspection prior to sale, But Vermont requires it for colony sales in-state and for imports coming into VT from out-of-state.  Never reuse old equipment from an unknown source (yard sale, marketplace sale, etc.) or even a known source, it’s just not good practice. Just because we have not detected any AFB in VT in the past couple years, does not mean that it’s not lying dormant in some equipment somewhere. Beekeepers are the primary source of spreading AFB through equipment transfer. Be diligent!