Alison McAfee PhD | The Perilous Life of a Drone
2023-03-23 19:00 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | MA
To register email:president@bostonbeekeepers.org
Free to all BABA members!!
The perilous life of a drone
Drone honey bees are woefully understudied. An abundance of healthy, high-quality drones are necessary to produce top-notch queens, but we have a very poor understanding of how stressors like extreme temperatures and pesticide exposure affect adult drone survival, and physiology. We evaluated drone and worker stress tolerance and measured levels of common stress-response proteins after exposure to pesticides. We also tested the heat tolerance of drones from different genetic stocks (Australian, Ukrainian, and Californian) and species (honey bees and Bombus impatiens bumble bees). On aggregate, the results we obtained were not at all what we expected, and hint at drones having more complex stress tolerance mechanisms than we give them credit for.
Short Bio: Alison completed her Ph.D. in Genome Science and Technology at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and is now a postdoc at UBC and North Carolina State University. She is a L’Oreal For Women in Science Research Excellence Fellow and her research has been reported by Scientific American, National Geographic, and CBC, among other venues. When she’s not doing research or writing magazine articles, she enjoys wilderness hiking, fishing, and training horses with her dressage coach.

Mass Audubon | Solitary Bees and Bee Hotels
2023-02-25 13:00 - 14:30
Solitary Bees and Bee Hotels(This is not an event organized or hosted by BABA)
February 25, 2023 (Saturday) 1:00-2:30pm
Location: Boston Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, Mattapan
Audience: Adult
FREE to BABA Members!!!!
This program will start by discussing bee external anatomy and observing specimens. We will learn about solitary bee life cycles, threats native bees face, and how to help. We will take a special look at the family Megachilidae (mason and leaf cutter bees) before moving into our native bee house building activity. Supplies will be provided.
Please Note: This is both an indoor and outdoor program; please dress accordingly. In the case of inclement weather, a make up date will be provided.
PLEASE NOTE: This program will be conducted in accordance with current Municipal, State, and Mass Audubon Covid-19 protocols. Participants are required to wear a face covering indoors and follow social distancing guidelines.
This program is free if you are a member of Dot Rx. Please email bnccamp@massaudubon.org to register.
For more information and registration:
https://www.massaudubon.org/program-catalog/boston-nature-center/85370-solitary-bees-and-bee-hotels

Mass Audubon | Introduction to Native Bees
2023-02-11 13:00 - 14:30
Introduction to Native Bees(This is not an event organized or hosted by BABA)
February 11, 2023 (Saturday) 1:00-2:30pm
Location: Boston Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, Mattapan
Audience: Adult
FREE to BABA Members!!!!
Registration is required.
Bees are amazing pollinators, indicator species, and often misunderstood. This program will discuss native bees and their life cycles, followed by an introductory look at all seven bee families. Bees face many challenges and threats. Those will be discussed, as well as what we can do to help.
PLEASE NOTE: This program will be conducted in accordance with current Municipal, State, and Mass Audubon Covid-19 protocols. Participants are required to wear a face covering indoors and follow social distancing guidelines.
This program is free if you are a member of Dot Rx. Please email bnccamp@massaudubon.org to register.
For more information and registration:
https://www.massaudubon.org/program-catalog/boston-nature-center/85371-introduction-to-native-bees

Jean Miller | Beekeeping in Kenya: History, Culture, Tradition, and Modern Practices, Current Problems and What We Can Learn
2023-02-09 19:00 - 21:00
To register email: president@bostonbeekeepers.orgFree to all BABA members!
Jean Miller has been a beekeeper since 2014 and became a Cornell University Master Beekeeper in 2021.
Presentation addresses:
Honey History and Culture in Kenya
Difference between our Western honey bee (Apis mellifera ligustica) and African honey bee
(Apis mellifera scutellata)
Hive types used in Kenya
Honey harvesting
How to thwart a honey badger
Pests and Diseases
Why African bees tolerate varroa better than our honey bees
Elephant and Bee Project (Using hive fences to protect crops as well as elephants)
Keeping Stingless Honey Bees

Mass Audubon | Insects in Winter
2023-01-28 13:00 - 14:30
Insects in Winter(This is not an event organized or hosted by BABA)
When: January 28, 2023 (Saturday) 1:00-2:30pm
Location: Boston Nature Center and Wildlife Sanctuary, Mattapan
500 Walk Hill Street, Mattapan MA 02126
Audience: Adult
FREE to BABA Members!!!!
Registration is required.
This program will start with a general introduction to insects; to learn what distinguishes bees from other insects. We will examine some specimens and talk about insect life cycles and where they go in winter. Finally, we will take a short walk to look for overwintering insects around the BNC.
Please Note: This is both an indoor and outdoor program; please dress accordingly. In the case of inclement weather, a make up date will be provided.
PLEASE NOTE: This program will be conducted in accordance with current Municipal, State, and Mass Audubon Covid-19 protocols. Participants are required to wear a face covering indoors and follow social distancing guidelines.
This program is free if you are a member of Dot Rx. Please email bnccamp@massaudubon.org to register.

For more information and registration: https://www.massaudubon.org/program-catalog/boston-nature-center/85369-insects-in-winter

Lynn Adler | Disease Where you Dine: The role of floral traits in pollinator-pathogen interactions
2023-01-12 19:00 - 21:00
To Register email: president@bostonbeekeepers.org
Free to all BABA members!
Lynn Adler is an evolutionary ecologist who studies how floral resources affect pollinator health. She is a professor in the Biology Department at UMass Amherst, where she has worked since 2004. Prior to that, she was a professor in Biology at Virginia Tech, after receiving her PhD from UC Davis in 2000.
Flowers provide food for bees, but also may provide medicines and serve as sites of disease transmission. Many pollinator species are declining due to a range of factors including parasites and pathogens, but the potential for specific plant species to affect pollinator-pathogen interactions is largely unrecognized. I will present our discovery that consuming sunflower pollen dramatically and consistently reduced infection by a gut pathogen in the common eastern bumble bee, and show current work evaluating the mechanisms and consequences of this interaction for multiple bee species.

Jean Miller | Bees & Beekeeping in Thailand - "Giants, Dwarfs and Some Like Ours: Honey Bee Diversity”
2022-11-03 19:00 - 21:00
 The world’s distribution of honey bee species is discussed highlighting Thailand as a hotspot of diversity where four native and one non-native species live. (Apis dorsata, A. florea, A. andreniformis, A. cerana, A.mellifera)
 The three branches of honey bees is defined – Cavity Nesters, Giants, and Dwarfs
 Size comparisons, behavior characteristics, and honey production of the various species is presented.
 “Shimmering” video by the Giants, Apis dosata. Looks like honey bees doing “The Wave”. Very cool!
 How honey hunters obtain honey from feral hives.
 How two species are managed (A. cerana and A. mellifera).
 “Bee trees” – Where several open nesters (A. dorsata) create their colonies on one tree.
 A brief introduction to stingless honey bees (Trigona species)
 A little about Tropilaelaps clareae – Potential threat on the horizon?
 Mites and viruses that affect Thai honey bee species.
 General information about Thai beekeepers and how they manage (or hunt) honey bees, as well as sell hive products.
 Land Leeches! (Not a honey bee but a surprising encounter in Thailand!)
Jean Miller
Beekeeper since 2014.
Cornell University Master Beekeeper since 2021.
Member of following beekeeper organizations:
Northwest New Jersey Beekeepers Association
New Jersey Beekeepers Association
Eastern Apiculture Society
Have traveled twice to Kenya to study beekeeping there with Maryann Frazier of Penn
State. In May/June of 2022, went to Thailand with Dr. Jamie Ellis and Dr. Cameron Jack
(U. of FL) to study beekeeping and the diversity of honey bees in Southeast Asia.
Rutgers University Master Gardener since 2012. Have logged over 1600 volunteer
hours. Well versed in deer resistant plants that provide nectar and pollen for bees.
Was a substitute teacher in the Flemington area for 20 years. Have taught all grade
levels and all core subjects but prefered teaching Math and Science in grades 6 th -12 th
Process Control Manager for Nestle’s Freehold manufacturing facility (in my former life,
that is before motherhood.)
Graduated with high honors from Lehigh University with a BS in Industrial Engineering
(1985)
I’m also an avid life-long naturalist and have visited and hiked in over 50 National Parks.
Also enjoy traveling internationally (Ecuador {Galapagos Islands}, Peru, Iceland, Kenya,
Tanzania, Egypt, China, Mexico, Costa Rica, Thailand…).
To register please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org. This presentation is free to BABA members and $5 to non-members. The zoom link will be sent the evening prior to the presentation. See you there!
You’re a BABA member, so you don’t need to pay to attend this meeting, but you do need RSVP. You can do so with this button:
RSVP with a Ticket Purchase

BABA Meeting Template
2022-10-31 19:00 - 21:00
This is the text about the meeting,
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As a current BABA Member, this meeting is free to you, but you still need to “purchase” a ticket at no cost with this link:
RSVP with a Free Ticket

Jean Miller | Hive Inspections, When Things Go Wrong!
2022-09-08 19:00 - 21:00
What to look for outside the hive, at entrance and in the hive during an inspection.Presentation addresses the following:
Bears, Raccoons, Skunks
Robbing
Swarming
Bad Temperament
Disease
Queen right (or not)
Evaluating Resources (Nectar/Pollen/Brood)
Small Hive Beetle, Wax Moths and (the dreaded) Varroa Mite… and so much more!
Jean Miller
Beekeeper since 2014.
Cornell University Master Beekeeper since 2021.
Member of following beekeeper organizations:
Northwest New Jersey Beekeepers Association
New Jersey Beekeepers Association
Eastern Apiculture Society
Have traveled twice to Kenya to study beekeeping there with Maryann Frazier of Penn
State. In May/June of 2022, went to Thailand with Dr. Jamie Ellis and Dr. Cameron Jack
(U. of FL) to study beekeeping and the diversity of honey bees in Southeast Asia.
Rutgers University Master Gardener since 2012. Have logged over 1600 volunteer
hours. Well versed in deer resistant plants that provide nectar and pollen for bees.
Was a substitute teacher in the Flemington area for 20 years. Have taught all grade
levels and all core subjects but prefered teaching Math and Science in grades 6 th -12 th
Process Control Manager for Nestle’s Freehold manufacturing facility (in my former life,
that is before motherhood.)
Graduated with high honors from Lehigh University with a BS in Industrial Engineering
(1985)
I’m also an avid life-long naturalist and have visited and hiked in over 50 National Parks.
Also enjoy traveling internationally (Ecuador {Galapagos Islands}, Peru, Iceland, Kenya,
Tanzania, Egypt, China, Mexico, Costa Rica, Thailand…).
To register please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org. This presentation is free to BABA members and $5 to non-members. The zoom link will be sent the evening prior to the presentation. See you there!

Tom Sullivan | Native Bees & How to Provide Them With the Ideal Habitat
2022-08-04 19:00 - 21:00
Tom Sullivan, Masters of Arts in Landscape DesignA life long student of nature and lover of honey and honeybees from an early age, Tom took a winding path to unearth his passion. He has organized community gardens, led teens on wild food hikes, worked on vegetable farms; was an intern at The Rural Education Center in Wilton, NH he helped give birth to Stonyfield Farm Yogurt; he has also led the Olmsted Capital Crew for the Emerald Necklace in Boston in an effort to revive Frederick Law Olmsted’s original designs and his crew won an award from the Friends of Franklin Park, Boston.
Tom is a sustainable landscape designer, land consultant, and educator with special focus on native bees. He designed the first pollinator habitat nursery in Massachusetts at That’s A Plenty Farm in Hadley. A beekeeper in his youth, Tom switched his interest from honeybees to native bees in 2008 after Colony Collapse Disorder emerged as he receiving his master’s degree in sustainable landscape design. It soon became clear how intricately tied whole ecosystem health and human survival is to the well being of pollinators.
Since graduating from the Conway School of Landscape Design in 2008 he had given over fifty talks in venues such as:
New England Wildflower Society
Nasami Farm
That’s A Plenty Farm
Permaculture Convergence
Berkshire Botanic Garden
Mass Horticultural Society
The Bee Project
Monadnock Beekeepers Association
Hitchcock Center for the Environment
Northeast Organic Farmers Assoc. Conference
Doing business as “Pollinators Welcome” Tom also gives workshops on nesting, foraging and life cycles of native bees. Tom’s focus is now on designing pollinator habitat as examples how beautiful and diverse habitat gardens and mini-meadows can become. His design at the John Zon Community Center in Greenfield attracts many people and is a shiny public example of his design abilities. This year, the pollinator habitat garden in on the Greenfield Garden Club Tour on July 9 th .

Colin McCallum-Cook | Planting for Pollinators: Bee-friendly Gardening in the Northeast
2022-07-07 19:00 - 21:00
Colin McCallum-Cook is a horticulturalist at the Arnold Arboretum, where he cares for the oak, viburnum, juniper, hornbeam, mountain laurel, and corkwood collections. He is also responsible for managing some of the Arboretum’s wilder, naturalized landscapes such as Bussey Brook, the Rockery, and the Hunnewell Meadow.Colin has a long experience in stewarding natural and anthropogenic landscapes—particularly grasslands—as a farmer, field researcher, and botanist. Prior to joining the horticulture team at Arnold Arboretum, he managed the Meadow Garden at Longwood Gardens as a land stewardship technician. His professional interests include invasive species control, environmental restoration, invertebrate conservation, and fire ecology.
To register please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org
Free to BABA members, $5 for non-members

Julia Mahood | Game of Drones - Drone Congregation Areas
2022-06-09 19:00 - 21:00
Julia Mahood is a Georgia Master Beekeeper who has been keeping bees since 2004. She created the citizen science website MapMyDca.com to gather data on drone congregation areas. Julia was awarded the Georgia Beekeeper of the year in 2018. A graphic artist, she designed the Georgia “Save the honey bee” license plate. She is passionate about education and teaches beekeeping in Georgia prisons and is active in her local and state bee organizations.
The Game of Drones
Honey bee drones are the Rodney Dangerfields of the bee world, they (often) get no respect! Learn all about the amazing drones and their mysterious drone congregation areas (and how to find them using the other kind of drone) at this informative talk.
To register, please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org
Free to BABA members, $5 to non-members

Tour at The Colony in Tyngsboro, MA
2022-05-21 10:30 - 12:00
BABA members will get an exclusive tour through The Colony’s meadery and Rick will talk about his his experience on commercial beekeeping.https://thecolonyma.com/
This event is for BABA members only, to register please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org
You can become a member here: https://bostonbeekeepers.org/members/

Jamie Ellis | Queen Related Issues
2022-05-05 19:00 - 21:00
ECBA and BABA are hosting Jamie Ellis for a zoom presentation to talk about queen related issues.
If you want to register, please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org. Free to BABA members, $5 fee to non-members.

Heather Mattila | Honey Bee Nutrition
2022-04-05 19:00 - 20:30
More information on this presentation to follow.
To register, please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org.
Presentations are free to all BABA members, and $5 to non-members.

MDAR | State of the State - MA Bee Aware Honey Bee Health Survey, USDA-APHIS Honey Bee Health Survey
2022-03-22 19:00 - 21:00
MDAR State of the State: Update on honeybee health in the Commonwealth
Tuesdays 7:00pm – 9:00 pm
Zoom Meeting ID: 870 4431 9225
Passcode: [REDACTED]
Events are NOT recorded

Rich Morris | BroodMinder - Hive Monitoring Devices
2022-03-17 19:00 - 21:00
Please join us for a presentation from BroodMinder about the state of the art in Electronic Beehive Monitoring. The team at BroodMinder has shipped over 24,000 devices since 2017 and has learned a number of lessons during that time. Rich Morris will share those lessons and will discuss how we observe a growing number of colony behaviors such as brood rearing, swarming, and nectar collection and how, with the help of many citizen scientists, we are getting a better understanding of hive dynamics. We will also be discussing BroodMinder’s newest project underway, real-time varroa mite monitoring.All attendees will receive a discount code!
To register please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org
Free to BABA members, $5 to non-members
Watch a video recording of the presentation.

MDAR | State of the State - MA Beekeeping Laws and Regulations, Spring Into Beekeeping
2022-03-15 19:00 - 21:00

Kim Skyrm | Honey Bee Health Update from MA Beekeepers
2022-02-24 19:00 - 20:30
Kim Skyrm, the Chief Apiary Inspector will be talking to our BABA members!
Join the Chief Apiary Inspector, Kim Skyrm, as he shares a summary of the 2021 Apiary Program highlights, inspection data, and trends in the honey bee health for the Commonwealth.

Steve Repasky | Management of Single Brood Management, Swarm Control, and Honey Production
2022-01-20 19:00 - 20:30

Ang Roell | Sustainable Queen Rearing in the Northeast
2022-01-06 19:00 - 21:00
Join our former BABA President and one of BABA’s founders Ang Roell to learn more about her research (in collaboration with Anarchy Apiaries) on the BEST ways raise queens in the Northeast.Learning to rear your own queens is one of many ways to build a generative apiary. This means more bees adapted to where you are and less chemical inputs in your apiary.
To register, please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org
Presentations are free to all BABA members, and $5 to non-members

MDAR | State of the State - Honey Bee Viruses, Pesticides
2021-12-14 19:00 - 21:00

MDAR | State of the State - Inspection Season Data Summary
2021-12-07 19:00 - 21:00

Winterizing Workshop (In-Person & Zoom)
2021-10-30 10:30 - 12:30
The discussion will begin with a quick review of the physiology of a winter hive, and the bees’ strategies for collecting and storing honey. Then we’ll dive right in with a look at:
Wraps, from Bee-Cozies to tar-paper to straw bales and more. Then we’ll look at;
Insulating above the colony, starting with quilt boxes, rigid insulation, shims, spacers and more. The workshop will also touch on;
Feeding sugar, fondant, and pollen patties in late winter/early spring.
We will then watch a quick demo for how to build and position a quilt box. Quilt boxes are becoming a popular and relatively simple way to keep heat from escaping from the top of the hive while also allowing moisture-rich inside air to wick out.
The Zoom presentation will last 40 minutes, but the workshop will continue at Agricultural Hall. Materials and tools for assembling quilt boxes will be available for sale, as will tar-paper used for wrapping . To save a little money, bring an empty medium super and a piece of fabric larger than the box itself.
Again, the video and discussion portion of this workshop is free to BABA members, and $5 for non-members. The in-person quilt box assembly workshop immediately following the Zoom presentation (~11:15) is $10 per person. All needed materials & supplies will be available for sale.
To register, please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org

Landi Simone - Products of the Hive -- Making and Preparing for the Holidays and Beyond
2021-10-21 19:00 - 20:30
Landi Simone, owner of Gooserock Farm LLC, in northern New Jersey, will share her experience as a commercial beekeeper, turning the products of her ~100 hives into premium varietal honeys, artisan honey spreads, beeswax cosmetics and handmade beeswax soaps. Landi will share her tips and tricks for boosting production and honing marketing strategies, as well as recipes and manufacturing techniques she has fine-tuned over the years. This is a perfect and well-timed lecture for anyone thinking of ramping up production, or simply looking for gifting ideas from the products of your hive.
Landi has been an Eastern Apiculture Society Master Beekeeper since 2004, and serves as Chair of the Master Beekeeper Certification Committee for EAS. She is committed to beekeeping education, teaching an annual beekeeping classes for twenty years, and presenting workshops at both EAS and various bee clubs.
Landi’s practical approach to beekeeping stems in part from her background; she is a retired consulting civil engineer with degrees from Columbia University and Rutgers. She finds her second career in apiculture every bit as challenging as engineering — and a lot more fun.
To register, please email president@bostonbeekeepers.org
(free for BABA members, $5 fee for non-members)

Rachael Bonoan - Love That Dirty Water; Why Do Honey Bees Like Dirty Water?
2021-09-16 19:00 - 20:30
Honey bees tend to prefer dirty water to clean water. Dr. Bonoan investigated how honey bees might supplement their floral diet with minerals from “dirty water,” and what this means for honey bee nutrition throughout the year. She will answer “Why do honey bees like dirty water?”, share some tips on giving your bees a safe “dirty” water source, and briefly discuss her research at Providence College.

BABA Potluck!
2021-08-28 10:00 - 14:00
Gather at the Boston Nature Center gazebo at 10am, Saturday, August 28, and bring food/snacks, drink (no C2H6O), your smoker, show & tell items,…
BABA members (and a guest) are free. Non-BABA members may attend, but are encouraged to join ($20).
There will be games and demos, equipment swaps, a smoker contest (to see who can keep theirs smoking longest), and more.

Swarm Management & Hive Splits workshop
2021-04-26 18:30 - 20:00
Join us for an informal discussion and deep dive into managing hives to avoid swarming. One of the best methods to suppress a colony’s urge to swarm is to simply split your hive. Therefore, the methods and mechanics of hive splits will also be discussed in some detail. We’re hoping that everyone will gain the knowledge and confidence to perform at least one type of split.

BABA Lecture Series; Urban Beekeeping at the Museum of Science
2021-04-22 19:00 - 20:00
For our next lecture, this Thursday, April 22, MoS beekeepers Amelia Green (museum horticulturalist) and Cori Brant (invertebrate keeper), will discuss their work and research at the museum, including:
-A look inside the invertebrate lab and Butterfly Garden;
-Beekeeping in the Museum’s rooftop and observation hives;
-Data collection techniques while beekeeping;
-Urban honeybee welfare and habitat enrichment, including;
-Pollinator gardens and three-season nectar sources;
Their research into some of the more than 200 species of plants their bees collected nectar and pollen from;
Beekeepers and citizen science opportunities; and more.
This one-hour lecture begins at 7:00 p.m.

Watch a Package Install, Live!
2021-04-19 14:00 - 15:00
Watch live as Maureen Coello hives a package of bees into a Langstroth; Additionally, Maureen will discuss several hiving techniques, including hot weather vs. cold weather installs. BABA will try to make a recording available for future viewing.
