Transylvania County Beekeepers Association

On June 17, 2025 we had twenty people in attendance at the Transylvania County Beekeeper’s Association meeting. Randy made a motion to accept the 5/20/25 minutes as emailed out on 5/27/25 with the change to correct infected to affected. Sheila seconded the motion. All were in favor. We have $508 to date in the association’s fund. It is $10 per person, $15 per family to join our Association, per calendar year. 

The NC State Beekeepers Association is meeting close by this year at Blue Ridge Community College in Hendersonville, NC, July 10-12 https://www.ncbeekeepers.org/calendar/state-meetings/2025-summer-meeting. There will be a lot of information to take in and vendors to visit. 

Our speaker for the evening was Carla Robertson. Carla is a member of the Henderson County’s Beekeepers Association https://hcbeekeepers.org/. They meet on the third Monday of the month at 100 Extension Drive located at Jackson Park.

Carla has grown up in the family business of raising bees. The family business is Hoopers Creek Bee Company in Arden, NC. https://hooperscreekbeeco.wordpress.com/ They keep their bees both in FL and NC in order to have a wide selection of bees and honey to offer. 

Carla manages Save American Honey Association, which was established this year https://www.ncbeekeepers.org/programs/real-nc-honey. Carla is trying to raise consumer awareness and clear up misunderstandings about real honey and our agriculture bee industry. She wants to show all the hard work that is involved in real honey production. 

Some honey being sold is being blended with other syrups such as corn syrup, rice syrup, sugar, or high-fructose corn syrup. Both domestic honey (produced and harvested in the US by American beekeepers) and imported honey may be blended and not real honey. Honey labels can be deceiving. The label may say 100% US Grade A, local and not actually be local honey. Only 60% of the honey has to be from a local bee farm in order to call it local honey. Please check out the u-tube video regarding fake honey: https://youtu.be/G4Z9XqBw3Bw

There are several different tests to analyze honey to tell if it is real honey. Some tests are not real accurate and can easily be falsified. The best test for real honey testing is a DNA test, but it is still not 100%. For instance, if several things are blooming at the same time as the sourwood, the DNA test may not come back to verify sourwood honey even though it may be taken during the sourwood honey flow. 

There is currently no policing to keep the honey real. Only when someone contacts the real NC honey program concerned is there follow up into blended, ultra-filtered or adulterated honey. Beekeepers selling their honey can join the certified honey program https://www.ncbeekeepers.org/programs/certified-honey-producer/certified-honey-producer-application There is just a small $25 fee for two years to join. The National Honey Board just passed the USDA definition of what is pure honey. https://honey.com/

Carla ended the meeting with a variety of real honey for participants to sample. 

Hope to see you all at our next meeting on July 15th. 

Please join us this coming Tuesday, June 17th at the Community Services Building (106 E. Morgan St. Brevard, NC) to hear our guest speaker Carla Robertson. She has a lot of information to share. 6:30 pm to mingle and talk to other club members, with the official meeting starting at 7 pm. 

Carla Robertson is a second-generation commercial beekeeper based in Hoopers Creek, NC, where she plays a key role in her family’s business, Hoopers Creek Bee Company. Introduced to beekeeping at a very young age, Carla has developed a deep knowledge of what it takes to sustain a successful beekeeping operation in today’s challenging landscape.

Though based in North Carolina, Carla and her family are also migratory beekeepers, taking their bees to Florida each season to produce nucleus colonies, queens, and packages. In addition to their beekeeping work, Hoopers Creek Bee Company carries a full line of Amish-made beekeeping supplies, supporting both new and experienced beekeepers across the region.

Carla also helps run the Certified Honey Producer Program in North Carolina, which promotes transparency and quality in local honey production. She is the founder of the Save American Honey movement, a national effort to educate consumers on the importance of buying honey directly from U.S. beekeepers. Through open conversations with fellow beekeepers, Carla is shining a light on the growing threat of imported and falsified honey in the market and working to get real U.S. honey back into homes across the country.

Please check your spam folders for meeting reminders. I had several come back as undeliverable for spam filters. Please make sure to add this email address to your email list to avoid spam. 

5/20/25 Meeting Minutes:

There were 17 people in attendance. David made a motion to approve the 4/15/25 minutes as emailed out on 4/21/25. Dean seconded the motion. All were in favor. 

John Carrico was our guest speaker. John has been a paramedic for 20 years and has been flying with MOMMA as a paramedic for 11 years. His presentation was on anaphylaxis.

1 in 50 people will have an anaphylactic reaction sometime in their life. The word is from Greek; Ana means against; Phylaxis is reaction. It is a severe, potentially life threatening, systemic allergic reaction that usually happens in less than 2 hours. The body reacts to exposure of an antigen.

Benadryl can help with the allergic reaction. Seasonal allergy medicine will not help. You need benadryl. 

However, if it is a severe, life threatening reaction, you need to call 911 to get help right away. You will need a shot of epinephrine, if you don’t have an epi pen available. When using an epi pen, you need to keep it in for 2-3 seconds for it to work. Make sure to put your thumb in the right place in order not to jab your thumb instead of your leg or arm when administering the epi pen. An increased heart rate is one side effect of epinephrine; therefore, it may be best to call 911 if you have a history of heart or other medical conditions. After 5-10 minutes, the heart rate will start to go back down to normal. 

There is no rhyme or reason for anaphylaxis shock. Someone never allergic can all of the sudden become allergic. The number one anaphylaxis reaction is a food allergy (shellfish, fruits, nuts, etc.). Other causes are insect stings, animal dander, latex, medication. 

There are different levels of an anaphylaxis reaction. The first level is a localized reaction. The reaction happens in one spot. Nowhere else on the body reacts to the sting/exposure. 

The second level of an anaphylaxis reaction is systemic. Benadryl is a good antidote. One may have hives and itching all over the body. The reaction happens in multiple systems in the body. There are no life threatening symptoms.

The third level is anaphylaxis shock. The body tries to shut down to other antigens in the body. Vasodilation occurs. One becomes pale, sweaty. Blood pressure drops making the person dizzy, light headed and confused. They may feel like they are going to pass out and speak without making sense. Smooth muscles start to swell (throat, mouth, tongue), making it difficult/impossible to breathe. Wheezing and coughing may occur. The GI tract may become affected making one feel sick to their stomach, or have diarrhea due to the fact blood moves away from the digestive tract.  

The more exposed one is, the reaction may become more severe. 30 bee stings are more likely to affect someone than 5. More people die from drug allergies (see attached chart).

If you have an allergic reaction, you will probably react again to the same allergen again. If the reaction happens suddenly, you should be more concerned. 

When you are stung, it is best to scrape the stinger out using a hive tool, credit card, or finger nails. Then smoke the area to prevent bees from coming after the infected area to sting more. Don’t use tweezers. Tweezers, or squeezing the stinger just squeezes more venom into the sting area. A good beekeeper always keeps benadryl on hand. 

All in attendance appreciated John Carrico’s presentation. We learned a great deal about anaphylaxis.

Several different swarms have been caught by those in attendance. The honey flow is sporadic. Good in some places and not so good in others. 

Next meeting will be June 17, 2025. 6:30 to 7 pm will be social time. 7-8 pm is the official meeting time. 

Bees are buzzing. Please join us on May 20th for the next bee club meeting. We meet at 6:30pm to socialize and catch up on bee news. The official meeting begins at 7:00 pm. Speaker tbd. See you there, 106 E. Morgan St. Brevard, the Community Services Bldg.

4/15/25 Meeting Minutes

There were 13 people in attendance. Randy made a motion to approve the 3/18/25 minutes as emailed out on 3/26/25. Ellis seconded the motion. All were in favor. There was no treasurer report this month.

Dave Ellis caught three swarms in one day. All were at different locations. Be on the lookout for swarms. Dave uses swarm commander to help attract the bees. The location of the swarm boxes are not very high. One was even on the ground. Wait 2-3 days once the bees move into the swarm trap before removing them. Some have found if you put honey in the swarm trap, the bees will more than likely rob the trap and not stay in it. 

One member built a Russian Scion to catch swarms. It is an easy method. However, you have to be able to get the swarm right away before they leave. There are a lot of sites on the internet about making one and how they work.

Hive beetles and ants are worse in FL than in our area. Some members use diatomaceous earth and cinnamon to keep ants out, but the rain washes it away, so you have to reapply it. 

Rosemary Ennis has a 10 frame shallow box and three supers for sale. It is just the boxes, no frames for around $60-$70. You may email her if you are interested: brdjen4@yahoo.com. 

Randy is catching swarms. He doesn’t want anymore bees to take care of. You can email him if you would like one of his swarms: flenviro@gmail.com. If you have too many bees and catch some swarms, please reply to this email with your name and contact information. We can let others know if they are interested and need more bees.

Everyone mentioned how many hives they were managing. Some were just getting back into keeping bees. Most were in agreement that if you were beekeeping for a hobby, 6-8 hives is about the right number. Any more requires a lot of work and time. 

Our next meeting will be the third Thursday, May 20th at 6:30 pm to socialize, with the meeting beginning at 7:00 pm. Same place: 106 E. Morgan St. Brevard, NC, The Community Services Building. Hope to see you all in May!

Hope to see you all for our next meeting, on tax day, April 15th. Same place, 106 E Morgan St, Transylvania County Community Services Building, Brevard. You can come early at 6:30 pm to socialize and see how other bees are doing. The official meeting will start at 7 pm and end around 8 pm. We are now meeting on the third Tuesday of the month to have a little more time to socialize. See you soon. 

https://www.psu.edu/news/research/story/buzz-me-bees-wearing-itty-bitty-qr-codes-reveal-hive-secrets

WATCH: Experts baffled by mass bee deaths
https://www.cbsnews.com/video/experts-baffled-by-mass-bee-deaths/

There were 20 people in attendance. Marvin made a motion to approve the 2/4/25 meeting minutes as emailed out and posted on the website on 2/7/25. Randy second the motion. All were in favor. Sheila stated we have a $498 balance in the association’s fund. We have 18 paid members to date. The Transylvania County Beekeepers Association has been contacted by the local camp association to work with the camps in their education program. Please let Devin know if you are interested in working with the local camps to educate them about bees. 

The speaker for the meeting was David Ellis. David is a former commercial beekeeper from Maine and relocated to our area. He has six decades of experience in beekeeping. We have a lot of floral sources for bees from March to September, unlike a lot of other places, such as Maine. 

When starting to keep bees, you need to determine your goals. Most important goal is keeping your bees alive. Think about what you want out of your bees (nucs, queens, honey, pollination for farmers, etc.). Keep an annual calendar of what you need to do each month regarding your bees. 

Around valentines day (weather permitting) you can do a quick first inspection just to determine if your hives are dead or alive. A quick peak in the box and/or by lifting the box to see how heavy it is. If they are dead, you will need to clean out the hive and disinfect it with a 5:1 part of water and bleach. Spray down the frames and let them dry in the sun. Wipe down the bottom boards and inside of the hive with the disinfectant. If you need to feed your hives in February, you want to use sugar, not syrup because it is still too cold. 

The second inspection is in March, when the temperatures are above 60 degrees. Out of ten hives, you may have 25% weak, 50% perfect and 25% real strong. The real strong hives may result in a swarm. You want to make sure you keep the real strong hive flourishing. In November David usually puts some sugar and a winter patty in the hive. If they ate it all in February, then it is a strong hive. If not, it is a weak hive. You may want to think about requeening, or combining weak hives. In March you can start feeding syrup to hives that have a little honey supply at a 1:1 ratio. If there are no bees in the bottom hive, David takes it off and cleans it up, moving the top box down. He adds space, an extra box to the strong hives around mid March. Look for sealed brood in March. If there is a lot of brood, you will need to split the hive around the first part of April to prevent a swarm. David doesn’t reverse boxes if the bottom box is empty and the top is full, but some beekeepers do. 

During the spring/late winter months, you need to work quick and efficiently when peeking inside your bees. Try not to disturb your bees too much. Make sure you have your smoker going good and equipment ready to go. 

Bees out breed the mites this time of year. Around 60% of hives will have no mites if you test for them now because the mites are in the brood and will hatch out in May during the honey flow. Best time to treat your bees is now, before the honey flow. Otherwise, you will have to wait until after the honey flow sometime in June. David likes to use Oxalic acid or Apistan this time of year for mite treatment. When David goes into his hives he also likes to dust them with a little powdered sugar, chaga and reishi mushroom mixture to keep them healthy and hopefully keep down the mite count. 

Watch the bees to see what they are bringing into the hive. If not bringing in any pollen, then there may not be a queen, or she is weak. If the bees are crawling on the ground and acting unusual, they may have a virus, mites, or have been affected by some chemical in the environment. Plant stuff your bees like to provide them food and energy. 

David Ellis also raises queens. It is best to plan ahead for new queens. David sells queens and queen cells. Queen cells are 1/3 of the cost as a queen, but the queen is accepted better than the cell. In August you will need to start getting your bees ready for winter by feeding them, etc.

Hope to see everyone at our next bee meeting on tax day, April 15, 2025. You can arrive at 6:30 pm to share your bee news and hear about other bees. The meeting will start at 7 pm at the Community Services Building 106 E. Morgan St. Brevard, NC. 

Hope you can join us for the next Transylvania County Beekeepers Association this coming Tuesday, March 18th. We now have the meeting facility at the Transylvania Community Services Building (106 E. Morgan St. Brevard) for an earlier time (6:30 pm) to socialize and get to know other beekeepers in the community. The official meeting will begin at 7 pm. If 6:30 is too early, hope you can make the 7 pm meeting. 

We will have a special presentation: “Planning for late March and April in the Bee Yard”, by David Ellis. David is a retired commercial beekeeper from Maine. He managed thousands of hives for honey production and pollination across the US, and now manages a 50 hive operation here in Transylvania County. David raises excellent queens and consistently  has very high winter survival rates.  Come learn from David to help you feel more prepared heading into this year’s bee season! 

Spring is just around the corner. The bees are out and about enjoying the warm, sunny days. I encountered a nice surprise when I found some honey bees feeding on the sugar maple in our yard. Attached is a picture of the bees filling up on the syrup. You may need to zoom in to see all the bees. The whole tree trunk was covered in bees.