At our October 12 meeting, MABA will welcome Randy McCaffrey (AKA: 628 Dirt Rooster). His topic will be: "Recognizable Patterns in Honey Bee Behavior." Randy  has 31 years as a contractor and structural claims specialist.  At the age of forty he developed a fascination with honey bees.  He discovered beekeeping after assisting his brother who is also a beekeeper, with the live removal (cut out) of a bee hive in an old furniture warehouse.  In 2010 armed with his knowledge of construction and his newfound fascination with bees he began removing and relocating feral bee colonies from commercial and residential…

12B Our speaker will be beekeeper Nathalie B of Bee Mindful Honey Farms (Driftwood, Texas). With close to 400 colonies and 15 years expertise in Beekeeping Education and Professional Beekeeping Services, Nathalie B. is an internationally recognized speaker and advocate for Treatment-Free, sustainable beekeeping. She is best known for promoting Horizontal Top-Bar Hives as a simple, affordable, accessible, and easy-to-manage option for backyard beekeepers. She optimized and redesigned existing plans to create a global standard for Top-Bar Hive designs, allowing cross-country interchangeability of hives and comb for suppliers and customers. She invented the Flex Hive, an internationally acclaimed Langstroth-to-Top-Bar adapter,…

12BOur speaker will be beekeeper Sam Comfort of Anarchy Apiaries.Our meetings are held at our new Westside Provisions District meeting space (1170 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30318; corner of Howell Mill Road and 14th Street). Park in the WSPD parking deck (validated parking), and follow the MABA signs. The new meeting space is a former retail space (Unit P12B) located on the ground-floor level of the building three doors down from the Flower Child restaurant, and directly across the street from Shake Shack.  MABA meets on the 2nd Monday of each month, except September and December when we hold…

On Monday, May 11, our speaker will be Tucka Bee, a small scale commercial beekeeper,  queen breeder, and candle maker, and owner of Tucka Bee, LLC. Tucka manages about 300 colonies in south Florida. Our meetings are held at our new Westside Provisions District meeting space (1170 Howell Mill Road, Atlanta, Georgia 30318; corner of Howell Mill Road and 14th Street). Park in the WSPD parking deck (validated parking), and follow the MABA signs. The new meeting space is a former restaurant space (Unit P10A) located on the ground-floor level of the building immediately next door to the Flower Child restaurant,…

On Saturday, May 2, MABA will offer UGA Certified Beekeeper testing. The Certified Beekeeper level is the first step of a four-step program in UGA’s Master Beekeeping program. MABA has been authorized by UGA to administer the exam here in Atlanta. To test at this level you must have at least one year's hands-on experience keeping honey bees. The official text for the program is the 2007 edition of First Lessons in Beekeeping, by Keith Delaplane, which is available for purchase from numerous online sources and at MABA meetings. The exam consists of a written and a practical portion, requiring approximately 2 hours to…