About us in 2010
Last Updated on Sunday, 21 February 2010 15:12 Written by Administrator Tuesday, 16 February 2010 21:13
North Central West Virginia Bee Keepers Association is dedicated to the promotion of beekeeping throughout North Central West Virginia. As a group, we strive to understand both the art and the science of apiculture. We are a non-profit organization made up of people from all walks of life linked together by the wonderful honeybee.
Steve Hamrick, president (304) 622-9827Michael Staddon, vice president (304) 782-9610Doris Watson, secretary (304) 584-8883Ron Zirkle, treasurer (304) 624-0072
WV State Insect
Last Updated on Tuesday, 23 February 2010 08:57 Written by Administrator Sunday, 21 February 2010 16:06
West Virginia designated the honeybee as the official state insect in 2002. Bee pollination is critical to plant and human survival - beeswax and honey are just surplus gifts from this tiny wonder of nature. The plant world expends a lot of energy attracting bees and other insects with brilliantly colored flowers and sweet nectar (nectar is produced solely to attract pollinating insects). The honeybee is recognized as an official state symbol in seventeen states, primarilly because honeybees play such an important role in agriculture.
Honeybees live in hives of up to 80,000 individuals. A hive consists of one queen bee (who can live up to 8 years and lay over 1,500 eggs per day), a small group of male drones (on hand to fertilize a new queen on her nuptial flight, should one be produced), and the remaining vast majority of sterile female worker bees.
Young worker bees are called house bees - they construct the hive, maintain the comb, care for the eggs and larvae, tend to the queen and drones, regulate temperature, and defend the hive. Older workers are field bees - they gather nectar and forage for pollen, water and plant resins used in hive construction. Worker bees have an extra stomach and special baskets on their hind legs to transport the pollen. Empirical evidence suggests that the honeybee "dances" to communicate the location of a nectar discovery to other honeybees. Worker bees only live about 6 weeks in summer months, but honeybees born in fall survive until the following spring.
North Central WV Bee Keepers Lifetime Award Recipients
Last Updated on Monday, 17 May 2010 06:26 Written by James Higginbotham Monday, 17 May 2010 06:23
2/17/87 Harvey Arnett Burnsihde
2005 Bill McDaniel, Wetzel Hamrick, and Kenneth Shimer
3/17/08 Roy Kerns
Instructional Videos
Written by James Higginbotham Wednesday, 07 July 2010 17:06
More YouTube videos have been linked into the Instructional section.
