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The Alameda County Beekeepers' Association meets the first Tuesday of each month at 7:30 PM. The next meeting is May 12 at the Rotary Nature Center at Lake Merritt in Oakland.

Although the June meeting is usually held at the fairgrounds, the June meeting on June 9 will also be held at the Rotary Nature Center.

The July meeting will take place at the Alameda County Fairgrounds.

The meetings are free and the public is invited. If you are considering keeping bees or just want to learn more, please join us!

It's swarm season again. Swarming is the way bee colonies reproduce. The swarm is looking for a good place to start a colony. You can help them.

The Alameda County Beekeepers' Association members are available to capture swarms. Some members may charge; others do it because they want the bees.

NOTE: If you see bees going in and out of a hole, such as in a wall or tree, this is no longer a swarm, it's a new colony. For these jobs, please call Stan Umlauft at A&B Swarm Removal, 800-500-4747. He's a club member who will do everything he can to save the bees.

When You Call the Beekeeper, the following information is useful to have available:

1. Your name, address and return phone number for the day you are calling.
2. When did the swarm arrive, and where it is located on your property  *We can only go on to property with the permission of the owner)
3. How big is the swarm?  Softball?  Football?  Basketball?  Larger?
4. How high is the swarm, and do you have a ladder available if needed?
5. Is it possible to clip or prune the plant where the swarm is located?

Please note:  The individuals listed below will be contracting with you directly for the removal of the swarm or colony.  ACBA does not endorse, sponsor, guarantee or assume any liability for any work they may do, and it is ACBA policy to allow the individual to determine whether or not to charge for their service and if so, at what rate.  

Club members are invited on the full-day field trip, Saturday, April 25, to visit Randy Oliver's Grass Valley operation. Randy is the club's guru, and recognized for his careful methodology for evaluating less-toxic and non-toxic apiculture methods. You'll also be able to purchase nucs to bring back with you.

For more information, to reserve a nuc, or to find a carpool, contact Sara Willis at 510-531-9423 or email  sarahchickbee [at] aol [dot] com. 

APRIL 14TH  Regular meeting with LAURIE ADAMS, speaking on North American Pollination Protection. We meet at 7:30 on the second Tuesday of the month at the Rotary Nature Center at Lake Merritt.
 
Also coming in April will bee a FIELD TRIP to Randy Oliver's apiary in Grass Valley . This is an opportunity to buy nucleus colonies or just have a great outing  to a great bee farm. There's always a story to share after one of these trips. everyone welcome whether buying a nuc or not.
 
April 19th EARTH DAY at  OAKLAND ZOO   DETAILS TO FOLLOW. An opportunity to share your knowledge with others and to learn a bit from others. An observation hive will be there.

Pacific Pinball Museum in association with Lucky Ju Ju Pinball/Art Gallery is proud to present

Ju Ju Bees

Photos, stories, videos and artist’s honey jar labels.

This show will also have natural local honey for sale in special one-of-a-kind labeled jars. Honey tasting. All proceeds benefit the Museum.

 Admission for this opening: $5/kids 8 and under, $10/Adults.

Opening Reception Friday April 3rd, 2009. 7pm to midnight.

Show runs April 3rd through April 29th.

Gallery is open from 9am to 9pm Monday thru Sunday

(Foyer is open so gallery is always viewable)

Pinball hours are 6pm to 12pm Fridays and Saturdays.

Sundays from 4 to 8pm.

Lucky Ju Ju Pinball/Art Gallery  

713  Santa Clara

Enter via the parking lot behind Tillie’s Diner

Santa Clara Ave. and Webster Street

Alameda, CA 94501

Swarm season is now full-blown, just like our spring. Beekeepers are available to safely capture and hive swarms. In Alameda County, call the Alameda County Beekeepers Association swarm coordinator, Robert Hapke at 510-393-1762. He will find someone to take care of this safely for you.

If you find a swarm, here's what you should know:

Swarms are very very unlikely to sting.

This is how bee colonies reproduce. This swarm is looking for a new home.

The swarm may stay for only a half day; it may decide to build comb and establish a new hive right where it is.

The swarm is valuable to the environment, because bees are helpful pollinators. There are many people who would like to give this colony a home.

If you find a swarm:

1. Reassure neighbors and passersby. If possible, block off an area with a radius of five or more feet from the swarm, more so no one harms the swarm than to protect people.

2. Call a beekeeper or bee club immediately. If you get voicemail, leave complete information: Location; details such as under the eaves, in a tree, how high up; how big the swarm is; whether a ladder is needed and whether you can provide it; your contact info.

You will be doing a good deed for the bees and for all of us!

March is bee month. Lots of interesting events, don't miss them:

The Alameda County Beekeepers' Association meets the second Tuesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. at the Rotary Nature Center at Lake Merritt. The address is 600 Bellevue Ave. Oakland. EXCEPTION: Each June, we meet at the Alameda County Fairgrounds to prepare for our booth there.

The Alameda County Beekeepers' Association meets the second Tuesday of every month at 7:30 p.m. at the Rotary Nature Center at Lake Merritt. The address is 600 Bellevue Ave. Oakland. EXCEPTION: Each June, we meet at the Alameda County Fairgrounds to prepare for our booth there.

"A" kindly sent a link to this article:

Beekeepers fear sting of imported Australian hives

Australia had been airfreighting the insects across the Pacific for four years to replace hives devastated by the perplexing colony collapse disorder. But six weeks ago the Australian government abruptly stopped the shipments, saying it could no longer be certain the country was free of a smaller, aggressive bee that has infested areas near the Great Barrier Reef, U.S. officials said.

The last I heard, which was a year or more ago, imported honey had driven down the prices so much that it wasn't worth large-scale beekeepers' time to harvest and sell it. Evidently, things have changed. The Dept. of Homeland Security (!) raided a  Washington state honey producer, looking for contraband.

In the U.S., where bee colonies are dying off and demand for imported honey is soaring, traders of the thick amber liquid are resorting to elaborate schemes to dodge tariffs and health safeguards in order to dump cheap honey on the market, a five-month Seattle P-I investigation has found.

This should help responsible local honey producers, many of whom already are getting a premium for their  honey.

Read about it here from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Honey Laundering -- International Trade Increasingly Rife with Crime.

And don't forget the bee club's regularly scheduled meeting, January 13 (the second Tuesday of the month) at the Rotary Wildlife Center at Lake Merritt.