Brown County Beekeepers Association

🐝😂 Hive Dive #2 – The Bees Have No Respect for Titles 😂🐝

Our next BCBA Hive Dive is coming up at Quacker's Honey Farm on:

📅 Saturday, June 13
🕘 9:00 AM
📍 4122 St. Francis Park Circle, Suamico

Our host, Chris DeWolfe, is the club’s Secretary and a talented beekeeper. But as this photo demonstrates, the bees are excellent at reminding us that we’re all students of the hive. 😆

Chris has plenty of options planned, including:

👑 Checking if new queens are mated and laying
🐝 Verifying swarm prevention efforts are working
🧬 Moving grafted queen cells into mating nucs
🔬 Performing mite tests
📋 Full hive inspections

The challenge is… we probably won’t have time to do everything.

👉 What would YOU like to see most at this Hive Dive?

Drop a comment below and let us know:
1️⃣ Queen checks
2️⃣ Swarm prevention
3️⃣ Queen rearing & mating nucs
4️⃣ Mite testing
5️⃣ Full hive inspections

We’ll use your feedback to help shape the morning.

No matter what we choose, one thing is guaranteed: the 🐝 will be in control 😂

🚨 Tomorrow night’s BCBA meeting is one you do NOT want to miss! 🚨

Varroa mites are still the #1 threat to honey bee colonies, and we’re turning this meeting into a hands-on learning night focused on real-world mite management.

🐝 Learn multiple mite testing methods
🔬 View mites under a microscope
🧪 See treatment options and timing strategies
📋 Build a season-long mite management plan
🤝 Connect with fellow beekeepers from beginners to experienced keepers

⏰ 5:30 PM – Networking & New Member Forum with Rance Bennett
🎤 6:30 PM – Main Meeting Begins
📍 Green Bay Botanical Gardens

💵 AND…bring your dollar bills y’all!
We’ll be holding a FUN raffle with mite testing and treatment items up for grabs throughout the night. Somebody’s going home with some new bee gear. 😎

Learn. Connect. Protect our bees — together. 🐝🖤

🐝 That’s a wrap! Another successful BCBA Introduction to Beekeeping class is officially in the books. 🐝

From lighting smokers and performing mite checks to finding queens and reading brood patterns, our students got real hands-on experience working live colonies at the NWTC Sustainable Agriculture Gardens this weekend.

A huge thank you goes out to our class leader Bob Michiels for organizing and leading the program, along with all of our volunteer instructors who donated their time, knowledge, and patience to help educate the next generation of beekeepers:

• Carl Fisher
• Dave Elsen
• Wayne Steigelman
• Chris DeWolfe
• Chris Groth
• Dick Sturm
• Andrea Michaud
• Mike, Ela and Pat Laes
• Chad Ford
• Ed Poillion

This is what makes the Brown County Beekeepers Association special — experienced beekeepers stepping up to mentor, teach, and support new members of the beekeeping community.

The bees cooperated, queens were spotted, smokers stayed lit (mostly 😄), and a lot of confidence was built out in the apiary today.

Thanks again to everyone who helped make the 2026 class a success. The future of beekeeping in Northeast Wisconsin is in good hands. 🍯🐝

🐝📺 BCBA Made Another Appearance on WFRV’s Sustainably Speaking!

A big thank you to WFRV Local 5 and Meteorologist Nathan Himpsl for stopping out at our first Hive Dive of the season to spotlight local beekeeping and pollinator education.

The segment focused on preparing colonies for the busy summer months and gave viewers a look at real hands-on beekeeping right here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Huge credit to our instructors Dave Elsen and Carl Fisher from EF Honey who continue helping educate the community and promote sustainable beekeeping practices. The club has built something people are paying attention to — and that doesn’t happen by accident.

🎥 Check out the story here:
Sustainably Speaking: Beekeeping preparation for the summer months

https://www.wearegreenbay.com/news/sustainably-speaking/sustainably-speaking-beekeeping-preparation-for-the-summer-months/

Sustainably Speaking: Beekeeping preparation for the summer months (WFRV) – As temperatures begin to warm and flowers begin blooming across northeast Wisconsin, beekeepers are getting back in the hive for one of the busiest and most important times of the ye…

🐝 BCBA “At the Hive” Hands-On Training is this Saturday!
**Introduction to Beekeeping students only**

Our 2026 Introduction to Beekeeping students will be getting into live hives THIS Saturday, May 16th from 8:00–10:00 AM at the NWTC Sustainable Agriculture Gardens.

This is where classroom learning turns into real-world beekeeping:
🔥 Lighting and using smokers
👑 Queen identification
🪱 Mite checks (powdered sugar roll & alcohol wash)
🍯 Reading brood patterns and food stores
🐝 Hive inspections and bee behavior
🧰 Proper hive tools and hive maintenance practices

Our instructor team this year includes:
• Carl Fisher
• Dave Elsen
• Wayne Steigelman
• Chris DeWolfe
• Bob Michiels

Whether it’s your first time opening a hive or your tenth, this is the part where confidence starts getting built. Expect bees, smoke, questions, learning… and probably a few “aha” moments.

📍 NWTC Sustainable Agriculture Gardens
🕗 Saturday, May 16 | 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM

Reminder to students:
✔ Wear long pants and closed-toe shoes
✔ Bring your bee suit/veil if you have one
✔ Come ready to learn and get into the hives

Huge thanks to our volunteer instructors helping make this happen.

Good ideas to consider

🐝 Why Bees Swarm — and How Beekeepers Can Help Prevent It

Swarming is one of the most natural things honey bees do. It’s how a strong colony reproduces. When a hive gets crowded, the queen is laying well, nectar is coming in, and the bees feel like they’re running out of space, the colony may raise a new queen. The old queen then leaves with a large group of worker bees to start a new home.

To the bees, swarming is success. To the beekeeper, it can mean losing half the workforce right before the honey flow!

The main reasons bees swarm are:

✅ Overcrowding — too many bees and not enough room
✅ Backfilled brood nest — nectar gets stored where the queen should be laying
✅ Poor ventilation — hot, crowded hives build swarm pressure
✅ Old or failing queen — colonies with older queens are more likely to prepare to swarm
✅ Strong spring build-up — healthy colonies can grow faster than expected

Ray recommends staying ahead of the bees, not reacting after they’ve already made up their minds. The best swarm prevention starts early in spring.

Here are a few proven ways to reduce swarming:

🐝 Add space before the colony is packed
🐝 Add supers early when nectar flow begins
🐝 Keep the brood nest open so the queen has room to lay
🐝 Reverse brood boxes when appropriate in spring
🐝 Make splits from booming colonies
🐝 Replace older queens with young, productive queens
🐝 Inspect every 7–10 days during swarm season
🐝 Watch for swarm cells along the bottom edges of frames

One important note: simply cutting out queen cells usually does not stop swarming. Once the colony is deep into swarm mode, they often keep trying. It’s better to fix the reason they want to swarm: crowding, congestion, lack of laying space, or queen issues.

A strong hive is a blessing, but it needs timely management. Give bees room before they need it, keep young queens when possible, and check colonies regularly during spring buildup. Good swarm prevention means more bees stay in your boxes, more honey gets made, and fewer surprise calls from the neighbor about a basketball-sized cluster hanging in a tree. 🐝🍯

Learn more by visiting https://MountainSweetHoney.com/bees

🐝🎉 Happy Birthday, Chris! 🎉🐝

Please join us in wishing our BCBA President, Chris Groth, a very Happy Birthday! 🎂

Chris puts in countless hours supporting our members, leading the club, and helping grow the beekeeping community here in Brown County. From education to outreach, his impact is felt across everything we do—and we’re better because of it.

Thanks for all you do, Chris. We hope you have a fantastic day! 🍯🐝

🐝 Proud of Our BCBA Members – Sarah & Jen Featured! 🍯

This Green Bay Press-Gazette article highlights how education, natural practices, and community support are driving success for today’s beekeepers. It’s a great example of how knowledge—not just hives—builds sustainable, thriving operations.

Give it a read and help us celebrate Sarah and Jenny representing our local beekeeping community! 👏

Sisters share love of beekeeping; create successful business together Sisters Jen Renfro and Sarah Mueller have created a successful business, Two Chicks Apiary, raising bees.