Orange Blossom Beekeepers Association

Monthly Meeting: Dec 17, 2020

2020 Year in Review!

Quick Monthly Announcements

What's the buzz?

OBBA Meetings

Monthly Virtual Meetings for now…

Website: news-and-updates/past-meeting-presentations

OBBA Workshop

Visit the OBBA apiary!

Reach out to Andrew on Slack!

Honey For Sale

We have OBBA honey to purchase!

Number (1 lbs)	Price
1 bottle	$10
2 bottles	$18
3 bottles	$25

Dec/Jan Bee Management

Current UF Management Recommendations (Dec)

Monitor colonies for varroa
Monitor for and control small hive beetles
Consider treating colonies for Nosema (Fumagilin)
Feed colonies if light

What is blooming in Central Florida (Dec)

Bush Aster - Aster spp.
Goldenrod - Solidago spp.
Mexican Clover - Richardia spp.
Primrose Willow - Ludwigia spp.
Spanish Needle - Bidens spp.
Wild Radish/Wild Mustard - Raphanus raphanistrum

Current UF Management Recommendations (Jan)

Repair/paint old equipment
Feed colonies if light
Consider treating colonies for Nosema (Fumagilin)

What is blooming in Central Florida (Jan)

Red Maple - Acer spp.
Sand Pine - Pinus clausa
Wild Mustard - Sinapis arvensis
Willow - Salix spp.

2020

What a year!

Meetings

In-person and Virtual Meetings

Workshops

Less frequent than previous years
Continued OBBA honeybee health maintenance
Intermittent visitation with members

Thanks: Andrew for ownership of our bee's health during this year!

Workshop: Bait Box Hive Build (MakerFX)

Workshop: Making Splits/Re-queen

Made (25) nucs across apiary
Re-queened entire apiary!
Extracted and bottled over 95 lbs of honey to sell

Workshop (Virtual): Installing a Nucleus Hive

Workshop: Creating a Nucleus Hive

Website Updates

Membership Tracking

Added online membership tracking for 2020:

68 OBBA Members
39 Families

OrangeBlossomBeekeepers.org/join-obba/

Started a Knowledge hub

WikiBee

OrangeBlossomBeekeepers.org/wikibee/

Added a Calendar

Online Event Calendar on our website

OrangeBlossomBeekeepers.org/obba-calendar/

Newsletter sign-up

We currently have 398 subscribers on MailChimp! (Thanks, Beth)

OrangeBlossomBeekeepers.org/join-obba/newsletter/

Social Media

Improved on Social Media and Online footprint:

Facebook
Instagram
Slack
YouTube
Website

Facebook

Facebook: OrangeBlossomBeekeepers

We currently have 1540 followers on our Facebook Page! (Thanks, Beth!)

Instagram

Instagram: OrangeBlossomBeekeepers

We have 112 followers on Instagram with 25 posts! (Thanks, Julia!)

Slack

Slack: obba.slack.com

We have 62 users with over 20 weekly active on Slack! (Thanks, Andrew!)

YouTube

YouTube: Orange Blossom Beekeepers

Outreach

Black Bee Organization
Central Florida Fair
Orlando Science Museum

Outreach: Black Bee Honey Project

Outreach: Central Florida Fair

We had a great experience at the Central Florida Fair in March!

Outreach: Orlando Science Museum

Great Outdoors Weekend

Outreach: Honey Sales

Had over 95 lbs to sell!
Raised so far: $388

Apiary Growth

Member Apiary's

First OBBA Member Apiary went live in May!

North (Exit 114 off I-4)
East (University Blvd close to UCF)

Siemens Green Initiative Partnership

In discussions with Siemens for a mutually beneficial relationship with 1-2 hives on their property!
Plan: Install 1-2 hives in the Spring!

Research Project

The impact of beekeeper treatment on honeybee viruses

Update from Allison
Goal: To help inform local beekeepers of what works best for their area in keeping viral loads down

Beekeeper Location

Beekeeper Location Characteristics

2020 OBBA Photos

We Caught Swarms and Re-homed Hives!

Swarms/Hives we caught

We Built and Fixed Stuff!

Equipment

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Equipment

We Introduced People to Beekeeping!

NewBees

We Harvested Honey and Made Mead!

Honey

Mead

Some of our Apiaries!

OBBA Apiary

Member Bees

Random Fun Beekeeping Pics from 2020

Beekeeping Fun

Smoke = Fire!

Beekeeping Fun

Cat!

Beekeeping Fun

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