Beekeeping

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I do sell honey.   Click here to send me an email message and I will email price and delivery.   Or, you can drop by Taylor's Produce which is located ON THE WEST END (closest to the Parkway) of the Farmer's Market on Cook Avenue in Huntsville, Alabama, USA.   Be sure and go to Taylor's Produce because the storefront on the east end does not sell my honey.   If you are outside a reasonable shipping area, I will try and help you locate a more "local beekeeper".

My father started keeping bees when he was 10 years old on the farm that I now live on.   3 years before he died at age 87 he told me he would have to either turn the beekeeping operation over to me or sell it.   I had been involved in beekeeping as his helper all of my life but was more interested in enjoying him enjoy beekeeping than actually enjoying it myself.   He ran the operation, I was the brawn and he was the brains.

I took over the operation just to keep it in the family.   My father's first name was "Almer" so I named the business "Almer's Apiary".  I was not really that interested in beekeeping.   It turns out that beekeeping is infectious.   You can't just keep them.   I am not sure how the earth's magnetic field plays in their acute ability to navigate but I do know that they exhibit some magnetic properties that seems to draw me to want to know more about them.   It seem the more I learn about honey bees, the more I want to learn.

In the fall of my father's last year of beekeeping, he had 60 colonies.   The following spring when I took them over, I had 17.   That was our first exposure to mites and it was pretty devastating.  

I grew the operation to just under 150 colonies in 6 years.   I noticed one day that I was not able to pursue other hobbies because I had commitments to the bee business so I started cutting back.   I now have 90 colonies in 9 locations around the city.   I am back to the point that I can pursue other hobbies although I still have a big chunk of time devoted to the bee business.

I joined the Alabama  Beekeepers Association in 1996 and was elected to the Board of Directors that same year.   I served two years as a Director and was then elected Secretary Treasurer where I served until I was elected President in 1999 for a one year term.

While serving on the Board, I was ask by the then president (Frank Little) if I would try and get the Madison County Alabama Beekeepers Association rejuvenated.

The Madison County Beekeepers Association is a very old organization however back in the mid nineteen seventies they stopped having meetings due to lack of attendance.

At Frank's request, I was able to get the group back active and I served as President since reactivation until July of 2006.   The Madison County Beekeepers Association is now the largest regional association in the state with an average attendance at out bi-monthly meetings of 60 beekeepers.   Since there are only 22 (to my knowledge) active regional beekeeping organizations in Alabama  we have members from all surrounding counties and south central Tennessee.

The Madison County Beekeepers Association maintains a Webpage (www.alabees.com) which is a significant contributor to the success or our organization.   In addition to keeping our members up-to-date on Association activities, it vectors a lot of new members to our meetings.   Bob Martin is out Webmaster and does a really outstanding job.

In order to help lighten Bob's work load some MCBA projects are maintained on this Webpage.    One of our members, Walt Wright, has written a large number of articles in both the American Bee Journal and Bee Culture.   I have included a copy of all of his published articles on this Webpage.   Walt invented a "Swarm Control - management technique" that he calls "The Checkerboard Method Of Swarm Control".   I maintain two lists or Walt's work.   One includes only his articles on "Checkerboarding".   The other includes the rest of this articles on other beekeeping management techniques.  

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