The Buzz Newsletter

October 2008

 

 

Page 4

Notice to Members of the IHPA

The officers and board members of the IHPA would like to propose some changes to our by-laws.  This is being published so that members having questions or suggestions could present them to us before the annual meeting so that the amendments can be finalized for voting during the business meeting section during the convention.

Article III-Membership, Section 2-The Annual membership dues in the Association shall entitle the holder to membership from the beginning of one annual business meeting until the beginning of the next annual business meeting.  Proposed change:  THE ANNUAL MEMBERSHIP DUES IN THE ASSOCIATION SHALL ENTITLE THE HOLDER TO MEMBERSHIP FROM JANUARY 1 UNTIL DECEMBER 31 OF THE CURRENT YEAR.

Article IV-Officers and Directors, Section 1- The officers of this Association shall be a president, a vice-president, secretary, treasurer and historian.  There will also be seven directors, one of which will be the immediate past president. All officers will hold office for one year and be elected at large from the State of Iowa.  Proposed addition:  EACH OFFICER OR DIRECTOR SHALL BE OVER THE AGE OF 21.

Article VI-Duties of Officers, Section 3- The secretary and the treasurer shall keep the records of the Association, handle all funds and carry on all business of the Association.  Their activities shall be under the directions of the Executive Board.  They shall close their books prior to each annual meeting and make a report at the annual meeting.  The books shall be audited annually.  Proposed change: THEY SHALL CLOSE THEIR BOOKS ON DECEMBER 31 WITH THE ANNUAL AUDIT TO BE PUBLISHED IN THE ASSOCIATION NEWSLETTER.  A REPORT WILL BE GIVEN AT THE ANNUAL MEETING CONCERNING ASSOCIATION FINANCES.

 

Featured Beekeeper of the Month

Our featured beekeeper of the month is Marlyn Duncan. He and his wife, Kathryn, are from Vinton, Iowa. Their business name is “D’s Busy B’s”.

Marlyn became interested in bees in 1967 while he was working in Central City, because Mr. Gibb Sellers had bees in his back yard. Marlyn started with 2 hives. Two years later he had 10 and at one time he had 60 hives. Now he has 50 colonies. He produces comb honey and extracted honey to sell.

Marlyn enjoys just watching his bees during spring build-up through the summer, supering and the final extracting of honey. In the future, he plans to continue his current number of colonies.

Marlyn is a member of the East Central Iowa Beekeepers, a group that meets four times a year. He likes to attend the meetings and share information about what is going on in his area. He says the weather this spring has been a big factor in beekeeping in this area too. The group presents programs to schools, children’s library summer programs and other interested groups. Marlyn says he also enjoys reading the “Buzz” and the information it contains.

Marlyn writes about the flood and says, “During the flood in June 2008, 12 hives of my bees had to be moved. I spent 3 ½ hours moving them. When I checked on a Tuesday evening, I raised the hives up 1 foot. The water was not around the hives yet. The next morning, Wednesday, the water had risen 2 ½ ft. and the water was 1 foot deep around the hives. I waded and moved them to higher ground. Each hive had to be broken down and carried by hand. Lots of stings. All hives were saved. These hives are located 2 ½ miles from the Cedar River 500 year flood. Because of the flooding of the area the bees don’t have a good nectar source so there will be just a very small honey crop from these hives.”

Thanks for your story Marlyn and sorry to hear about your bad luck with the flood.

Submitted by Ron Wehr