• Business Tools and Marketing Strategies for Beekeepers - December 5-6, 2008. Offered by Rutgers New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station Office of Continuing Education, this course is for beekeepers who are currently maintaining hives and want to better understand business practices, marketing challenges and production opportunities. The course is also designed to assist sideliners who wish to scale up their operations to become commercial pollinators or larger honey producers. Grant Stiles (commercial honey producer and pollinator) and Tim Schuler (sideliner pollinator and honey producer) will be among the instructors. For details and registration for this two-day course, click here. For a detailed brochure, click here.



• Short Course for New Beekeepers - Held on two consecutive Saturdays, March 7 and 14, 2009 (snow date March 21) at the Sussex County Fair Administration Building, Augusta, NJ. Offered by the Sussex County Beekeepers Association, a branch of the New Jersey Beekeepers Association, details will be posted when available.



• Bee-ginner's Beekeeping at Rutgers - Hands-on course for new beekeepers to start and care for a honeybee colony. April 23-25, 2009. 9:00AM to 4:00 PM on the 23rd and 24th; 9:00 AM to 12:00 noon on the 25th in Bordentown. NJ. This is a great course that covers basic bee biology, hive management, queen bee purchasing, honey extraction, candle-making and more. Hands-on sessions include assembling hives, opening and examining colonies, as well as honey tasting. The cost of the course is $150 if you register before April 9, 2009. NJBA members receive a 10% discount on the fee (as do master gardeners), which includes breakfast and lunch on Thursday and Friday.

• Eastern Apiculture Society (EAS) Annual Conference - Every summer EAS conducts its Annual Conference consisting of lectures, workshops, vendor displays, short courses for beginning and advanced beekeepers, and annual business meeting in one of its 26 member states or provinces in the Eastern United States and Canada. Over 400 people generally attend the conference each year. EAS 2009 will be held August 3-7, 2009 at the Holiday Valley Resort in Ellicottville, NY.

• Apimondia 2009 a biennial, international beekeeping congress to be held in Montpellier, France, in 2009.

Video Library for NJBA Members

• The NJBA maintains a library of video tapes and CD's for members to borrow. Managed by member Pat Ricci, you can arrange with him to pick tapes up at any CJBA or State meeting if you contact him in advance. They can also be mailed to you for the cost of postage. For details and a list of available tapes, click here.

Marketing Materials

• Bees on the Move - Swarming is how honey bees reproduce. During swarming, honey bees are at their gentlest, but the buzzing and sheer numbers can be intimidating to the general public. There were many more swarms than usual in the spring of 2008 due mainly to cool, rainy weather conditions. New beekeepers Pier Guidi and Liz Nelson were inspired at a state NJBA meeting by long-term member Tom Fuscaldo who for years has handed out a typed page on swarms to the public whenever he has retrieved a swarm. Please feel free to print out this brochure and hand it out whenever you're collecting a swarm, giving a talk on bees or manning the booth at a fair. Electronically, you can provide people with a link. Kudos to new members Pier and Liz for rolling up their sleeves and acting on their idea to update Tom's hard copy and get it on the web and accessible! Click here for a two-sided version.

• NJBA Trifold Brochure - This brochure can be downloaded and printed to be used as a promotional piece at fairs or to give to prospective members. If you would like to change it to have it customized with your branch contact, please send the changes to Curtis Crowell, and the modified brochure will be posted here.


• NJBA Decal - Seventeen months in the making, the educational NJBA decal is available! The New Jersey state insect since 1974, urbanization in the state is limiting opportunities for beekeepers. With several New Jersey towns passing ordinances against keeping bees, the decal was created to educate the public about the benefits of the honeybee and what a honeybee actually looks like so they do not get mistaken for the less beneficial stinging yellow jackets, wasps and hornets. NJBA members should be displaying their decals in the windows of their vehicles and homes and distributing them at roadside stands, farm markets, annual agricultural convention and county fairs. If you have not received your decals, contact your branch secretary.

Topics of Interest

• Swarms? Honey bees reproduce by "casting swarms" in the spring. Hives that are healthy and strong will produce new queens in the early spring. When the new queen emerges, the old queen leaves with about half of the hive population. The swarm will usually settle in a bush or tree and form a large solid cluster while scout bees search for a new home. At this time, with full honey stomachs and no brood or hive to defend, these swarming bees are not typically agressive. In a few hours or a day or two they will fly off to a new home. Click here for pictures of honey bee swarms. Have a swarm within reach on your property? Send the location of the swarm, address, how long it has been there and contact information to swarms@njbeekeepers.org, or click here for a list of beekeepers in the New Jersey that you can contact directly for swarm removal.

  A swarm in May - is worth a load of hay.

  A swarm in June - is worth a silver spoon.

  A swarm in July - isn't worth a fly.