In the fall of 2019, a committee was formed to investigate starting a club bee yard that would serve to raise North Carolina queens for members of the club plus be able to sell outside of the club as a way to help support the needs of the bee yard. The project would grow out of the NCSBA Born and Bred Queen Rearing program helping to facilitate queen rearing education and also starting to raise more Carolina queen bees.
The original committee planned the set up and financing of the new bee yard, found space for the bee yard — property managed by NC State off of Zephyr Mountain Park Road in Dobson, and began preparations to begin operations in the spring of 2020. The original committee has since disbanded but the club continues to operate the Bee Yard on Zephyr Mountain Park Road.
The original committee also pursued and received a grant from the NC Pesticide Environmental Trust Fund on March 10, 2020. The proposal for the grant may be viewed here: Grant Proposal.
To learn more about how this project, read the following posts (most include pictures):
- Monitoring Hives with Broodminder
- Bee Yard Project Receives Grant
- Hive Stands for Bee Yard Complete – Part 1
- Hives Are Ready for the Bees – Part 2
- Painting 101
- Hive Setup 101
- Setting Up the Bee Yard – Part 3
- Getting Ready for Hungry Bees – Part 4
- The Bees Have Arrived!
- Installing 3 Pound Packages
- Tending New Bees
- Releasing Queens
- Configuring Your Hive
- Oxalic Acid Treatment
- First Hive Inspection & Queen Marking
- First Hive Inspection
- Field Day Spring 2021: Pictures from May 1st
- Treating Varroa in Bee Yard
- SCBA Efforts Featured in NC Beekeepers Quarterly Magazine
Also, many of our “How To” videos are in the bee yard and you can learn more about how the bees are by watching these: