On July 15, 2025 there were seven in attendance at the Transylvania County Beekeepers Association. Randy made the motion to approve the June 17, 2025 minutes as emailed out on June 30, 2025. Mary seconded the motion. All were in favor. We discussed the current sourwood flow and different ways to extract it. It is best if the honey is capped to keep out the humidity and to prevent the honey from souring. If some is not capped, you may use fans and dehumidifiers to get out the moisture. Sometimes even capped honey can have a high moisture content. You can use a refractometer to test the moisture content. It is good to have the moisture at 18.6 or lower to keep the honey from fermenting.
Some members in attendance scrape out their plastic foundation frames to extract their honey. Some that have wax frames cut it into squares and squeeze out the honey. An electric honey extractor is a good investment and a lot easier to use, rather than a hand cranked extractor.
Also discussed was what to do after the flow is over. It seems early, but right after you take off your last honey for the season, it is time to treat for mites. Please follow the instructions precisely. Some medicines require the temperatures to be below 85 degrees. Apiguard is what most preferred for the fall/winter treatment. There are natural ways to keep down the mite count. However, it takes a lot of work and time. If you have just a few hives, it may be something worthwhile to look into.
After treating your mites, it will be time to get them ready for the winter to make sure they don’t starve. A 1:1 syrup recipe is a good mixture for feeding. Randy mentioned an email he received from Lewis Cauble. Lewis is looking for anyone interested in being a volunteer at the State Beekeepers booth at the Mountain State Fair in Arden this September. There are still plenty of open slots that need to be filled. Every volunteer gets free admission to the fair and free parking at the fairgrounds. The time slots are for four hours. You may do one time slot, or several. You need to sign up before August 1st. This is the link for more information:
Hope to see everyone at the next August 19, 2025 bee meeting. It may be a sticky one if everyone gets lots of honey.
