About Meetings, Bees and Brews, Field Trips and 101 Courses
Upcoming Meetings:
October Meeting 10/22/24 – Nosema Testing, Tom Pankonen and Arthur Parks
November Meeting (Dec. 3rd) – Planting for your Bees, Jaci Dixon, Master Naturlist
We typically meet 4th Tuesday of the month, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the U of I Extension office at 1615 Commerce Parkway, Bloomington, IL 61704 They are open to everyone member or not. There is no cost to attend – Currently in-person and on Zoom
Zoom
Bees and Brews
Socialize with like minded people who want to talk bees. Typically the 2nd Wednesday of the month, 6-8 pm. Location is different each month.
Upcoming Bees and Brews
10/9/24 6-8 pm Location: Papa G’s, 204 S. Seminary, Downs
11/13/24 6-8 pm Location: TBD
Mentorship/Field Trip CIBA Hives –
Inspections, hive work and mentorship on the club hives, weather permitting. Contact me, PK, if planning to come for inspections or work. pjkorand@gmail.com 309-826-0089
Location: PK’s 6424 Alexander Heyworth Time: 11-2 pm
Dates: on Pause
Hands on Workshop:
Next – Beekeeping 101 Class, January 25th, 2025
Previous Meeting Topics or Events
9/24/24 7-9 pm Bottling and Marketing, Rob Preston, Tippy Creek
9/14/24 Mead Making Event-Demonstration of the art of mead making
8/27/24 August Meeting Winter Prep Luke Harvey
Extraction 7/27/24 Event-Demonstration of methods of uncapping, use of various equipment, and honey harvesting tools.
7/23/24 July Meeting Pulling Frames Getting Ready to Harvest -Panel discussion
6/25/24 June Meeting State Inspector Jim Wellwood- Inspections
5/28/24 May Meeting Pest Control – Arthur Parks
4/23/24 April Meeting Spliting Hive and Swarm Prevention =- Tom Pankonen, Honey Pimp Apiary
3/26/24 March Meeting Cornell Master Beekeeping Program – Master Beekeeper, Steve (Mac) McNair Salem 4 Youth, Flanagan, Il
2/27/24 7-9 pm February Meeting Queen Rearing – Tom Pankonen, Honey Pimp Apiary
Nuc and Frame building 2/17/24 Event – Demonstration of building nucs, boxes or frames.
1/23/24 7-9 pm January Meeting Genetics – Cory Stevens, Stevens Bee Co., Past president of Missouri St. Beekeepers Assoc.
11/28/23 7-9 pm Patti Koranda Planting for your bees and Winterizing your Hives, Board Elections
10/24/23 7-9 pm Sharon Seng, Products from the Hive and Ways We can Use them, Board nominations
9/26/23 7-9 pm Izzy Harms -Making Mead and sample varieties around the campfire. This event will take place at PK’s, 6424 Alexander Road, Heyworth. Bring a lawn chair. Plan for outside will move inside if weather dictates that.
8/25/23 7-9 pm Extraction Event
Location: Hillco Beekeeping Equipment, 447 Oak, Minonk, IL
Demonstration of uncapping methods, use of various extractor and exploring harvesting tools, maybe some mead sampling. This will be at Hillco Beekeeping Equipment, 447 Oak St, Minonk, IL 61760. Let me (PK) know if you will be bringing frames for extraction. Come if you have frames or not. Great time to socialize and learn and talk bees.
8/22/23 7-9 pm David Burns, Master Beekeeper, Long Lane Bees – Level Up – a Guide on how the beekeeper can become a true Citizen Scientist
7/25/23 7-9 pm The Honey Harvest-Panel talks about When and How to pull honey frames, frame storage, reserving and expectations of using equipment, containers, labeling, costs. An extraction hands on event planned in August 25, 6-8:30 pm at Hillco Bees
6/27/23 7-9 pm Pest Control – Mike Lavazza Talks about how to mitigate pests in your hives
5/23/23 7-9 pm Preventing Swarms by Supering, Splitting, Understanding Honey Bound – Panel Discussion. Talks about how to understand why bees swarm
4/25/23 7-9 pm Swarm Management: Tom Pankonen, Honey Pimp Apiary, What to look for, How to prevent swarming, How to split a hive
3/28/23 7-9 pm Mushrooms: Dr. Naeger, Research of Extracts of Polypore mushroom mycelis to reduce viruses in honey bees. Gabe Anderson, Totally Normal Fungus, How bees wax is used for Mushroom Grow Logs
2/28/23 7-9 pm John O’Brien, youth scholarship recipient, recaps Hive Life Conference, Discusses the health important of cycling out brood comb
1/24/23 7-9 pm Getting Our Girls to Spring: Discussion panel on strategies to care for the bees in the hive to make it to spring. Patti Koranda, James Shiverdecker, Valerie Ross
Previous 2022 Meeting Topics:
No December monthly meeting
11/29/22 7-9 pm – Recapping the year and CIBA Board Elections at U of I Extension McLean Co.
10/25/22 7-9 pm -What to do to get Equipment and Bees ready for Winter and Spring – Nomination for Board Elections at U of I Extension McLean Co.
9/27/22 September meeting moved to Saturday 10/1/22 12/noon at Sugar Grove Nature Center – Use of Oxaclic Acid – Demonstration of the use of the clubs OA Kits
8/23/22 August Monthly Meeting 7-9 pm Topic: Winterizing, James Shiverdecker
8/13/22 Extraction Event 2-6 pm at Hillco Bees – 710 Lincoln St., Minonk, IL
7/26/22 July monthly meeting 7-9 pm Topic: Mites and Pest Management, Arthur Parks and James Shiverdecker
6/28/22 June Monthly Meeting 7-9 pm Topic: Cottage Food Laws, Kelly Lay, McLean County Extension staff
5/24/22 May monthly meeting 7-9 pm Topic: Swarm Prevention and Splitting Hives, Tom Pankonen
4/26/22 April monthly meeting Topic: Inspecting Your Hive, What is in the box? What to look for when checking on your bees.
Presented by Jim Wellwood, State Bee Inspector
3/22/22 March monthly meeting Topic: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly: A panel discussion with Newbees and Old Bees–Perspectives of new and old beeks with Topics of what went well, thing to do now, things to think about, ask your questions
2/22/22 February monthly meeting Topic: Dead Outs, What do I do Now?, Patti Koranda
1/25/22 January monthly meeting Topic: Products of the hives, lip balm, salves and lotions, Presenter: Sharon Seng and TomPankonen,
Upcoming Bees and Brews: 12/14/22 Wednesday 7-9 pm, Location- TBD
Hands on Workshop at Sugar Grove Nature Center, 4532 N. 725 East Road, McLean, IL
- Upcoming hands on workshop: 5/18/22 10am – noon, starting at Sap House hive
Field Trips are events that we go to others sites for various hands on activities. There maybe a small cost for field trip. This would be open to everyone with a discount for current CIBA members
Previous Field Trip Event:
Previous Hands on Workshop: 5/11/22 Hive Inspections with State Inspector, Arvin Pierce, at Sugar Grove Nature Center
Previous course “Beekeeping 101” Saturday 2/5/22 8:30 am – 4:30 pm
Hive inspections at SGNC – Sugar Grove Nature Center We have hives at 2 locations. We open the hives to inspect the bees, take time to show what we see and the whys of what we are doing. Need to bring your own veil. We do have some veils on a limited basis.
Trail Hives- located east of bus remote parking area, turn left/east after immediately leaving the woods, on right/west is a gazebo and bus parking sign, go east about midway down grassy area to trail, hike trail to hives.
Sap house hive – located at the main Nature Center, backside of the Sap and Honey House.
Inside Hives – located inside the Nature Center.
Upcoming inspections dates: When weather warms up
Outreach programs: We will go to various events to promote beekeeping, talk about bees, educate the public,
Upcoming Outreach: