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Apiary Registration 2008

Maury Wills, IDALS

It is time to register your apiary sites for 2007. You may again register on-line using your pin number and password from last year. Before registering you must contact the office via email (maury.wills@idals.state.ia.us) or by phone (515-281-5783) to let us know how many apiary sites you will have in which counties. If you don’t remember your pin number and password please contact us. If you do not have a computer or are having difficulty registering on-line you may register by calling the office. If you register in this manner you must have the following apiary information available when you call:

1. Township Name
2. Landowner Name
3. Township Number
4. Range
5. Section
6. Quarter Section
7. Number of colonies at each site

The Beeyard Report

It’s February 19th--another day of snow and wind. Tomorrow is my route day but it looks like it will be mid-morning before I can get out of the driveway. Some of the drifts are over my head. I can’t recall a winter like this in recent memory. There were some years in the 80’s that had a lot of snow. I have a picture of Adam standing on a snow drift that is above the fence in the horse pen. The snow was piled up so high that driving down the country roads was like going down a trench but I can’t remember a winter with this much sustained cold weather since the 70’s.

This is the time of year that I start to worry about the bees. I like to check them in February and give them a little feed and a pollen patty. We have a few yards close to the road that can be checked when we get a little warm up. Most of them require a trip over hill and dale. We won’t be able to get to those until some time March. Our colonies were heavy going into winter but the clusters were huge. There haven’t been any days warm enough for the bees to move over to feed. I am afraid we are going to have a lot of dead ones that will still have honey in the outside frames. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do but wait.

I attended the INCA (Iowa Network for Community Agriculture) meeting in Cedar Rapids on Feb 2nd. It was set up similar to the Saturday program at our annual meeting--general session in the morning and workshops in the afternoon. They are working with the Williamsburg RC&D to develop a regional food system. I was impressed with the number and quality of people that they had working on this. There were people there from Iowa State, Marshalltown Community College, Maharishi U, many people from Grinnell College and, I think, some people from Drake. We could stand to take a few pointers on how to incorporate people into our organization. I enjoyed the meeting.

Package prices took a leap. I knew it was coming but it still shocked me. High fuel cost drives everything. When we started selling package bees, a 2# package was $25. That price has more than doubled in just a few years.

Everybody needs to think spring!!!

Submitted by Phil Ebert

An IHPA t-shirt makes a great gift for bee enthusiast of all ages!

IHPA T-Shirts ( These are membership prices. Non-member prices are available on request.)

The t-shirts are a bright yellow shirt with brown lettering.
Youth size (S) (M) (L) circle one ____qty. X $ 8.50 ....................................$___________
Adult size (S) (M) (L) circle one ____qty. X $ 9.00 .....................................$___________
Adult size (XL) (XXL) circle one ____qty. X $10.00 ...................................$___________

Shipping is $3.00 per shirt, or $5.00 for two shirts. Shipping $___________
TOTAL $___________

Make check payable to: IOWA HONEY PRODUCERS ASSOCIATION
Send form and check to:

Melanie Bower, IHPA Treasurer
207 S.E. Diehl
Des Moines, IA 50315
Phone: (515) 287-6542