Latest News

• January 10th meeting

  January 11, 2019

  We had a great meeting last night. Cheryl Newbold gave an outstanding presentation on the bee dance complete with costume, props and video.

  NCSBA President talked about what was going on with the state association and the current varroa problem.

  

  

  current threat.

• January meeting

  January 9, 2019

  Our first meeting of 2019 will be Thursday night January 10th. Cheryl Newbold will talk about the bee dance. Guests are welcome.

• Bee School

  December 22, 2018

  Beekeepers of Chowan County in conjunction with Collage of The Albemarle is offering a bee school for beginners beginning January 29th. The class will meet from 6pm to 8pm each Tuesday night through February 26th. The class will cover the information a new beekeeper needs to be successful in the first year of beekeeping. Beekeepers of the Chowan County will assign a mentor to each new beekeeper to help through the first year. The cost will be $40 and includes membership in North Carolina State Beekeepers Association and Beekeepers of Chowan County. It is recommended students obtain a copy of Beekeeping for Dummies 4th edition for the class. Be prepared to be amazed and have some fun!

  Signup information is on the flyer below.

  

• Newest Journeyman

  December 14, 2018

  Congratulations to our newest recipient of a Journeyman Certificate. Last night the NCSBA Regional Director Stacey Mariner presented Julie Murphy with her Journeyman Certificate. Julie worked very hard to obtain her certification and excelled at every requirement.

  

  

• Our newest member.

  November 30, 2018

  Welcome to our newest member Paxton Blake Parker. Born July 12, 2018. Congratulations Meg & Matt Parker.

  

• November 8th meeting

  November 9, 2018

  We had a great meeting last night. We elected Julie Murphy to Vice-President and Buzz Griffin to President for next year.

  We had a good program on resources and gadgets with participation by several members.

  We had a special guest in Bob Stienberg the Senator elect for the 1st district. We discussed the importance of funding for the NC State Bee Lab in the next session of the legislature. Bob was very receptive and is well aware of the importance of honey bees.

  

• November Meeting

  November 1, 2018

  Our November meeting will be November 8th at Chowan Co. Agriculture Building 730 N. Granville St, Edenton, NC 27932.

  The program will be on beekeeping resources and gadgets.

  Visitors are welcome.

• October 20th Field Day

  October 21, 2018

  We had our second oxalic acid demo field day at Elizabeth Towes hives on October 20th. In spite of a few sprinkles we had some fun learning how to apply oxalic acid.

  

  

• Oxalic Acid Demo Field Day

  October 13, 2018

  On October 12th we held our first of two oxalic acid field days. We had 7 people attend to learn how to treat hives with oxalic acid vapor. Elizabeth Towe allowed us to use her hives for the demonstration. There was a strong emphasis on safety when using OA as a varroa treatment.

  We will have another OA field day at Elizabeth’s hives on October 20th.

  

• October Meeting

  October 13, 2018

  In spite of a tropical storm we had good attendance at our October 11th meeting. Etienne Nadeau did a great talk on preparing hives for winter. Dr. Ashley Kent gave a very informative talk on bee sting safety and avoiding beekeeper overheating.

  We also celebrated our one year club anniversary and Julie Murphy prepared a delicious cake with what else but honey.

  

  gave a great talk on preparing our hives for winter. Dr. Ashley Kent gave a very informative talk on bee sting safety and avoiding beekeeper overheating.

  We also celebrated our club’s birthday and Julie Murphy made an excellent cake with what else honey.

  

  

• October 11 meeting

  October 10, 2018

  Our meeting Thursday night will feature Etienne Nadeau reviewing winter preparation and Dr Ashley Kent will talk about bee sting safety and the dangers of beekeeper overheating.

• Edenton Farmers Market

  October 9, 2018

  Julie Murphy and Elizabeth Towe in cooperation with College of the Albemarle had a booth at the Edenton Farmers Market on October 6th. Leslie Lippencott helped them prepare cakes made with honey and also made honey some cider. They talked to people about honey bees, the club and our planned bee school. They were able to generate a lot of interest for the club.

  

• Edenton Farmers Market Fall Festival

  September 28, 2018

  In conjunction with College of the Albemarle we will have a booth at the EFM Fall Festival on October 6th from 8-12. Come by learn a little about bees and try some food cooked with honey.

  The location is 200 N Broad Street Edenton.

• Blue Ribbon

  September 27, 2018

  Elizabeth Towe and Julie Murphy put together an outstanding booth at the Chowan County Fair representing Beekeepers of Chowan County. The result was a Blue Ribbon. Great job Julie and Elizabeth!

  

• September Meeting

  September 18, 2018

  The September meeting has been canceled. Our normal meeting place is not available this week and if we had a meeting next week our October meeting would be only two weeks later. The BOCC Board unanimously decided it would be better to cancel our meeting this month.

• September 13th meeting.

  September 12, 2018

  Due to hurricane Florence the September 13th meeting has been postponed. An announcement will be made early next week about a new date for the meeting.

• Is Beekeeping For You?

  August 31, 2018

  Have you ever wondered if you could become a beekeeper?

  In cooperation with College of The Albemarle we are offering informational classes in “Is Beekeeping For You?” These classes will give you a good idea of what is is required for someone to become a successful beekeeper. The classes will be at the Edenton COA campus at 118 Blades Street, Edenton, NC. The classes will be on September 5th at 9AM and September 6th at 6PM in room 411. There is no charge for these classes and you only need to attend one class. Come see what beekeeping is all about.

  

• August meeting

  August 10, 2018

  We had a great meeting tonight. Lot of upcoming outreach events were discussed. The next scheduled event is at the COA on September 5&6 Is Beekeeping For You. More later on this event.

  Etienne Nadeau gave a great presentation on late summer beekeeping issues. This was a timely presentation and it was vert well received. A big thanks to Etienne.

  

• August meeting

  August 3, 2018

  Our August 9th meeting will feature Etienne Nadeau talking about late summer beekeeping issues. Etienne was formally awarded his Master Beekeeper Certificate at the Summer NCSBA Conference and is an excellent speaker.

• Edendon, Chowan, Recreation Discovery Day Camp Presentation

  August 2, 2018

  Julie Murphy and Elizabeth Towe gave an outstanding presentation today on the life cycle jobs of honey bees to approximately 20 children. This is part of the discovery day program for Edenton, Chowan summer recreation program. The children were able to role play the different jobs the bees have in the colony. The program was very well received.

  

• Shepard-Pruden Library Presentation

  July 31, 2018

  

  Julie Murphy and Buzz Griffin gave a presentation to about 40 children and 20 adults at the Sheparf Pruden Library on July 31st about the life cycle of honey bees and their progression of jobs. The presentation was well received and the Friends of the Library gave a donation to Beekeepers of Chowan County.

• First annual BOCC Picnic was huge success at Julie & Rick Murphy's estate

  June 17, 2018

  

  

  

  

• June Meeting

  June 3, 2018

  Our June meeting will not be held on our regular date of June 10th. Instead our meeting will take place as a chapter picnic on Saturday, June 19th at the home of Julie and Rick Murphy.

• Edenton Town Council meeting

  May 30, 2018

  On Tuesday May29th we had a good turnout of members who addressed the council in an effort to modify the Edenton Bee Ordinance to make it more beekeeper and bee friendly. The council seemed interested in making changes and Town Planner, Elizabeth Bryant said we would be given the opportunity to suggest changes to a new draft of the ordinance.

• May Meeting

  May 14, 2018

  Cheryl and Paul Newbold gave great talks at our May meeting. Cheryl told us in detail how to make creamed or spun honey and she gave everyone samples of her own recipe. Everyone really loved her recipe and the presentation.

  Paul gave a great presentation on Africanized honey bees. Where they come from and how they are different.

  

  

• Community Outreach

  April 25, 2018

  Beekeepers of Chowan County can provide speakers to educate and inform groups about the beneficial contribution of honey bees to agriculture and food production as well as common beekeeping practices. Contact Elizabeth Towe at 252-333-6965 or Julie Murphy at 252-221-2112 to discus the type of presentation you are interested in.

• May 10th Meeting

  April 24, 2018

  We will have two speakers at out May 10th meeting. Paul Newbold will talk about africanized honey bees, how and if they will affect us. Cheryl Newbold will talk about how to prepare honey for honey competitions. She will also talk about how to make creamed honey.

  Cheryl is our Regional Director and Paul is in chairman of the Master Beekeeper Program and both are master beekeepers. The have a wealth of knowledge about beekeeping and can answer questions about anything beekeeping.

• Elizabeth Towe and Julie Murphy kickoff our community outreach

  April 13, 2018

  Beekeeper members Elizabeth Towe and Julie Murphy were invited to speak to a co-op home school group that meets at the Open Door Church in Edenton to talk Honey bees. The home school group contacted BoCC via our new FB page. The students ranging in age from 6-13 have been studying honey bees and requested a beekeeper visit to help broaden their knowledge of honey bees, the role of the beekeeper and learn what they can do to help the honey bee. The students were able to be hands on with a large array of beekeeping equipment; deeps, mediums, frames with foundation through various stages of comb building and the tools carried in a typical beekeepers kit. With our bee suits donned, we engaged the students with some common questions; how does a beekeeper take care of bees? Where do bees live? How many types of honey bees live in a hive? What do honey bees do? What is honey and how do bees make it? These kids came prepared, they were quick to raise their hands to answer and asked great questions. The highlight of the visit was our newly built observation hive. The students eager and curious, quickly surrounded the hive, touching the sides gently to feel the warmth and hear the hum coming from the bees fanning themselves to cool down. After a brief honey tasting experience, we passed out wildflower seed packets for the students to grow and encourage honey bees to visit them.

  

• Instructions for installing bee packages

  April 8, 2018

  Here is a link to the instructions for installing bee packages.

• Rick Coor meeting presentation

  March 9, 2018

  

  Rick Coor gave a great presentation on package installation and queen health.

• Adolphus Leonard gave a program on beekeeping issues in our area

  February 9, 2018

  Adolphus included in his presentation a video on the life cycle of the varroa mite.

• Bee Packages

  February 1, 2018

  If you are planning to order bee packages from Rick Coor it’s time to act. Contact Rick via email rdcoor@gmail.com or phone at 919 738 7638 and let him know how many packages you need and he will reserve them for you. You will need to send him a check by the end of February. The packages are $115 each and include a marked queen. Send the check to Spring Bank Bee Farm, 298 Spring Bank Road, Goldsboro, NC 27534. Let Rick know you are part of Beekeepers of Chowan County. Ron Cummings will pick up the packages on April 8th and deliver them to the Chowan County Agriculture Building for pickup.

• Cheryl Newbold presents beekeepers with their charter from NCSBA.

  January 12, 2018