Sunshine State Beekeepers Association

06/05/2026

Member Ashlie Novodomec (along with her husband Steve & son Ashton) harvested honey from her hive at Dennis' place this morning using the brush, crush, strain method. We were accompanied by future beekeeper and mentee Devin (who has filled out membership application, etc. and says he will be at our next meeting) today who assisted in this harvest and also participated in going through hives with Ashlie to pull 4 frames of nice mixed brood with some good resources in order to make a split for one of Dennis' C.F. Koehnen & Sons Inc golden Cordovan Italian queens arriving tomorrow. Ashlie left this morning with 8 jars of beautiful (and she says it's "yummy") honey. Thursday, June 4, 2026

Today is the day that Ashlie has enough Honey to harvest. we chose ...

05/29/2026

POLLEN BENEFITS. At our last meeting we talked a little about pollen collected by bees and the nutritional benefits for humans by consuming... and were reminded by member Andrea that absorption of pollen can be increased dramatically by properly prepping the pollen before taking your doses. She mentioned soaking in yogurt, etc. Here is more on this topic from the National Library of Medicine (NLM): "In order to increase the digestibility of the organism, pollen grains are shredded by grinding or are subjected to warm water. In the water environment, pollen grains become swollen and, after 2-3 hours, crack and, consequently, release their values. Milk, fruit, and vegetable juices are also used for this purpose. (Ground) pollen may be mixed with many products in the ratio from 1 : 1 to 1 : 4 with the use of honey, butter, cottage cheese, yoghurt, jams, glucose, and others. Mixed pollen is taken in the amount of 1 teaspoon 3 times a day. In many diseases, however, enzymatic pollen is recommended for use. To sum up, it should be emphasized that unshredded pollen, accurately chewed before swallowing, is used by the organism only in about 10–15%. After mechanical shredding or natural release, the accessibility of biological pollen increases to 60–80% " https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4377380/

05/26/2026

👂 SSBA Members who Attended the May Meeting

We want to hear from YOU 🫵 What did you like about the May meeting? What do you want to hear more about or did an idea come to you for another meeting topic you’d like to share? Drop it below in the comments.

05/22/2026

Great meeting yesterday evening.

Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube.

05/20/2026

https://www.honeybeeman.com/bee-club-main.html

05/19/2026

Assembling Frames Workshop & Use of Frame Assembly Jig

This will be discussed/demonstrated at our Regular Meeting Thursday, May 21, 2026

BRING YOUR OWN UNASSEMBLED FRAMES
(LIMIT 10 SUPER MEDIUMS or 10 DEEPS)
AND WE MAY HAVE TIME TO LET YOU ASSEMBLE YOUR FRAMES AT MEETING

I've heard some of our members and new beekeepers say that they purchased hive kits and that it took all day to assemble because there were so many pieces. It can be a daunting task to assemble...

05/19/2026

Jennafer Snyder (our club secretary) will be discussing microscope diagnostics/monitoring for gut/digestive health at this meeting. She will be using our club microscope. Jennafer has a background in veterinary as a nurse in emergency/specialty care for 6 years and general practice for 3. She loved working on the microscope and slide prep.

BRING SOME BEES…HERES HOW TO COLLECT SAMPLES FOR MEETING:

1. Collect ten live or dead bees from the front of each hive and place them into resealable bags labeled to identify the colony.
Note: bees can be collected from anywhere in the hive, but selecting workers at the entrance may increase the likelihood of detecting the amoeba.

2. Add ten milliliters of distilled water to each bag, then crush to empty the bees' abdominal contents.

3. For simple detection (presence/absence), place a drop of liquid from the bag onto a microscope slide, apply a cover slip, and view with a light microscope. If you wish to quantify the contagion present to estimate the protozoal load, then you may use a hemocytometer to count M. mellificae spores in the same way you would use it to count Nosema spp. spores.

Jennafer Snyder (our club secretary) will be discussing microscope diagnostics/monitoring for gut/digestive health at this meeting. She will be using our club microscope. Jennafer has...

05/19/2026

Honey Show Preparation
Advice, Tips, Honey Examination, Tasting, and More

We will have some samples and different varieties for tasting and examining. This is a "for fun" honey event... nothing close to official. Bring your honey and be ready to ask questions

BRING SOME OF YOUR HONEY

This will be discussed at our Regular Meeting Thursday, May 21, 2026

We are proud to announce that William Ferry (a honey judge) will be at our next regular meeting on Thursday, May 21, 2026. TOPIC: Things you need to know about honey and honey show entries......

05/19/2026

The Pollen Trapping Training for Citizen Scientist Beekeepers

We are proud to announce that Jennifer Hagen will be at our next regular meeting on Thursday, May 21, 2026.

TOPIC: Pollen Trapping & Q&A sessions

Jennifer Hagen, LEED AP BD+C | Family & Consumer Sciences Agent
University of Florida/IFAS Extension Lee County

We have many other things going on at the same time during this meeting from assembling frames using a frame jig to diagnostics using club microscope by Jennafer Snyder, Honey tasting and Honey show advice by William Ferry. See other posts for more details on each specific workstation.

05/17/2026

You didn’t see the queen. Big deal…so what. Focus on why you are in the hive and get out quickly. Don’t dilly-dally trying to see the queen if you know she is there by the presence of eggs.