About the MBA
The Monadnock Beekeepers Association is a beekeeping club for both beginning and experienced beekeepers in the Monadnock and Connecticut River Valley regions. We hold meetings once a month, in-person and virtually. Please feel free to come to a meeting or contact us if you have an interest in bees or beekeeping.
MBA Bee School
The Monadnock Beekeepers Association Bee School is a two day event
that takes place in early February, followed by monthly on-site practical
instruction. Bee School is open to all new and prospective beekeepers.
The course fee includes textbook (Beekeeping for Dummies, 5th edition),
all classes, and MBA membership.
If you missed this year’s Bee School, contact us to join MBA and we
may be able to set you up with an experienced beekeeper who lives
near you as a mentor!
Monadnock Beekeepers Sustainable Apiary Project
The Monadnock Beekeepers association is working toward sustainable beekeeping. By "sustainable" we mean eliminating our dependency on the importation of southern nucs, packages, and queens by promoting the local survivor genetics through nuc distribution. To be sustainable we need to use local resource management techniques to raise spring and summer nucs from our survivor colonies and our own queen production. A nucleus hive is a miniature colony with all the components of a full-size colony, including a laying queen, workers, brood at all stages of development, pollen, and honey. The benefits of a nuc are that the bees are working together to establish their colony. The queen is mated, accepted, and laying. The nucleus colony gives you about a four week head start toward getting your hive prepared for winter.
Citizen Science Project: "What Is Blooming?"
In order to better understand the honeybee nutrition and food availablity in New Hampshire, this project is seeking citizen-based data collection and ground truth to improve understanding of the forage available to bees at different points in the season. The "NH Is Blooming" site allows beekeepers to report on the plants and trees flowering in their area and see what others have reported. They can also report the color pollen they observe coming into their hives.
Nosema Ceranea Research
A collection of 30 bees, from just outside the brood area, should be in alcohol or frozen for each hive you would like tested. Mail to: Jodi Turner, 283 Matthews Road, Swanzey, NH 03446 or drop off labeled with name and contact information.
