Santa Rosa Beekeepers Association

10/12/2026

🌀October Beekeepers Meeting Canceled🌀

Hello, Beekeepers! 🐝💛

Due to the recent storm, we have decided to cancel our meeting scheduled for this Thursday, October 15.

We sincerely hope that you, your families, and your bees made it safely through the storm with minimal damage.

Please stay safe, take care of one another, and know that our beekeeping community is here to support each other.

As a reminder, elections will be held next month, so please start thinking about and coming up with candidates for the officer positions.

We look forward to seeing everyone at our November meeting!

Santa Rosa Beekeepers Association 🐝💛

10/12/2026

🐝💛 Hello, Santa Rosa Beekeepers! 💛🐝

How did everyone fare through the hurricane? We hope you, your families, and your homes are all safe and sound — and of course, we hope your bees and hives weathered the storm as well! 🐝🏡

Stay safe, everyone! 🐝🌻

10/08/2026

Another reason to go to this amazing conference !
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1ECXouqtGc/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Bo Sterk will be joining us on stage at the Bee Expo 2027!

Bo has been promoting and teaching beekeeping in 18 Caribbean countries and in the US for over 2 decades. His work with Haitian beekeepers has been published in Bee Culture, Bee Craft, Austalasian, Kelly Newsletter and Bees for Development magazines. He has been a speaker and instructor at many of the major bee conferences in the US, the Caribbean and including Apimondia, the World Bee Congress. He has also been a guest on Podcasts: “Two Bees in a Podcast”, “Beekeeping Love,” “Beekeeping Today”. And has served on the boards of Florida State Beekeepers Association and ABF. Bo has been a beekeeper for over 30 years.

10/07/2026

What does everyone do when a storm is coming? We wanna hear all the great tips and tricks!!⛈️🌩️🌪️

🐝Ratchet-strap every Langstroth from the outer cover all the way around the bottom board, so the entire hive becomes one unit. A brick or block on top is not enough in hurricane-force winds. 

🐝Anchor the whole hive to the ground. Drive a T-post/rebar beside it and use another strap to secure the hive/stand to that anchor. FDACS specifically recommends this setup.

🐝Remove anything unnecessary or loose—empty supers, external/top feeders, loose covers, equipment sitting nearby, etc. Lower, compact hives have less wind profile.

🐝Get any hive out of a spot that could flood. This is actually more important than wind strapping. If water could rise over the entrance, move it to higher ground before the storm.

🐝Tilt the Langstroths slightly forward so wind-driven rain entering the hive can drain out rather than pool on the bottom board.

🐝Look overhead. If any hive is under a large pine, dead limb, or questionable tree, I’d relocate it. A beautifully strapped hive doesn’t help if a limb lands on it.

🐝Have syrup/feed available for afterward. Hurricanes can strip blooms and keep bees confined for days, so surviving colonies can face a sudden forage shortage.

10/05/2026

Here’s a fun tool if you’re curious about where your bees might actually be foraging! 🐝💛

You might be surprised—it could be a lot different than what you have pictured in your mind. It’s pretty fascinating to see just how far our bees may travel and what’s within their foraging range. 💛🐝

Drop a pin on your apiary and see the 1, 2 and 3 mile forage rings your bees actually work, with the acreage each circle covers. Free, no signup.

09/30/2026

09/19/2026

When stacking buckets, use a piece of plywood between them to help spread the weight out to the edges of the bucket, rather than putting all that pressure on the center of the lid.

A simple step that can help prevent the lids from collapsing under the weight! 🍯

09/19/2026

🐝 FREE Beekeeping Tools! 🐝

We thought you might find some of these FREE tools handy!

There are interactive calculators, planners, and checklist generators designed for serious beekeepers. 🍯🌼

Best of all — no signup required! Everything works instantly right in your browser.

Definitely worth checking out and saving for later! 🐝💛

Free interactive beekeeping tools for varroa management. Treatment calendars, mite efficacy calculators, yard planners, and more. The protocol-driven varroa management system for serious beekeepers.

09/18/2026

🐝 Thank you to everyone who came out to our meeting last night! 💛

A HUGE thank you to Thomas Derbes for teaching us all about estuaries and making it so easy to understand how taking care of our land and water directly impacts all the creatures we share our environment with — especially our favorite, the honeybees! 🌎🌊🐝

And another big thank you to Buck Brignano for sharing his tip on sealing frames with wood glue as another line of defense against those pesky small hive beetles — bringing his Apimaye nuk and for donating the MOTHER OF ALL HOT GLUE GUNS to one very lucky winner! 😂🔥

We love meetings where we can learn from each other, share practical beekeeping ideas, and have a little fun along the way.

Thank you, Thomas and Buck, and thank you to everyone who continues to make the Santa Rosa Beekeepers Association such a wonderful community! 🐝💛