Beekeepers Association hold a field day Saturday

The Kentucky State Beekeepers Association in cooperation with Walter T. Kelley Co. will hold a Beekeeping Field Day this Saturday in Clarkson at its annual summer meeting.

The Walter T. Kelley Co. will host the event on its factory grounds in Clarkson and will provide lunch. Hands-on classes will be held in the Kelley company’s apiary.

Tentative topics include hive inspections, making splits and divides, how to mark queens and re-queening hives, grafting queen cells, varroa mite treatments and mite monitoring, small hive beetle trapping, Ross rounds and comb honey production, pulling honey techniques, honey extraction, swarm catching, solar wax melters and more.

Instructors for these apiary sessions will include Dr. Tom Webster, Kentucky State University, apiculture Extensions specialist; Carl Marks, master beekeeper and honey producer; Kent Williams, past KSBA president and EAS master neekeeper; Gordon Vernon, past KSBA president and Kentucky queen producer; Martin Hickey, current KSBA president; Harris Overholt, Kentucky beekeeper and pollen producer; and Phil Craft, state apriarist.

The field day will start at 8 a.m. and will last until 3 p.m. It is free for members of the KSBA and $10 for non-members. An inclement weather program is planned if necessary. Beekeepers should bring questions, their veils and protective clothing.

KSBA would like to get an approximate head count for this event to help them prepare for lunch. If you are planning to attend, contact Joe Taylor at (270) 879-8654, shopteacher@gmail.com or shop_teacher@yahoo.com, and say “count me in for June 6.” Taylor also is the contact regarding questions about the event.