Alaska Treatment Free Beekeeping Symposium 2020 VI

Event Date-January 18th, 2020

The “Alaska Treatment-Free Beekeeping Symposium 2020 VI” event is being held at; “The Glenn Massay Theaterhttps://glennmassaytheater.com/ , at the Matanuska Susitna College, on January 18th 2020, 8:00 A.M. to 7:00 P.M. Mat-Su Collage is located at 8295 College Dr, Palmer, AK 99645. http://matsu.alaska.edu/ Doors will be open at 8:00 A.M. for walk-in registration, and check-in. Symposium begins at 9:00 A.M., ends 7:00 P.M.

If you or someone you know is a beekeeping educator, and you feel they might make a good speaker for the event, please contact me to initiate it.

Click here for Event Schedule. Alaska Treatment-Free Beekeeping Symposium Schedule 2020 VI
Purchase Admission, click here. AKTF Beekeeping Symposium Admission Purchase

Symposium brought to you by Alaska Honey Bee Products. To pre-register email klm@gci.net, or call 907-242-0588. Scroll down for registration details.


2020 Symposium Speakers


Dr. Medhat Nasr

Dr. Medhat Nasr, Former Alberta Provincial Apiculturist.  Currently. Currently, he is President of “Bee Culture Solutions Ltd”. He is a highly regarded apiculturist, educator and regulator with over 50 years of experience in both the public and private sector.  His expertise encompasses a wide diverse range of skills including bee breeding, nutrition, and Management of bee diseases and pests with emphases on Varroa mites and Nosema. He develop many alternative treatments for varroa mites including Formic acid, oxalic acid, and HopGuard for mite control. He also established the first Bee Technology Transfer program in Ontario, Canada. Medhat has a passion for teaching. He has conducted many seminars and workshops. He presented his research outcomes and gave numerous presentations at many conferences and meetings throughout Canada, United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, Argentina, UK, Switzerland, Germany, and Ukraine.

He has also received numerous awards for his contributions to the apiculture field in Canada and USA. In 2019 he was awarded Willie Baumgartner Memorial Award. In 2018 he was awarded Outstanding Service Award by the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists (CAPA). He was awarded “Roger A Morse Teaching, Extension, Regulatory Award” by the Eastern Apiculture Society, in the USA in 2015 and he was also awarded “Fred Rathje Memorial Award” by the Canadian Honey Council in 2010. He has been awarded a life membership in several beekeeping associations across Canada and USA. Most recently, Medhat served as President of the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists from 2013 to 2017.

He was graduated from Cairo University, Giza, Egypt with degrees in Entomology- apiculture (B. Sc. and M. Sc.) and from University of California, Davis with a Ph. D. degree in Entomology- Apiculture.


Lisa Hay

Lisa Hay is a fifth year Beekeeper. She has been very active in organizing efforts to speak out on the honey bee-killing pesticides that are being used in the Interior of Alaska. Ms. Hay will present on what we know about these chemicals, who’s using what pesticides, how to recognize if your bees have been exposed, what to do if they have, and the status of efforts to stop their use.

In 2018, Ms. Hay surveyed Interior Alaska beekeepers about overwintering their hives north of the Alaska Range. She’ll present the results of that survey and additional related information on how bees are being overwintered in the Interior of Alaska. Ms. Hay owns Happy Creek Farm through which she keeps her hives and chickens; and grows peonies, haskap berries and vegetables that are sold in Alaska. In her spare time, Ms. Hay is a psychotherapist in private practice working to rehabilitate violent offenders and providing therapy to clients who suffer from complex PTSD and related issues.


Etienne Tardif

I am a 9th year beekeeper, currently using 2 types of polystyrene hives. I currently have about a 75% success rate. All of my losses have been due to Nosema during late winter or early spring. The 2 probable causes are likely due a high percentage of honeydew honey in my bees’ winter stores and the lack of a wide variety of pollen sources in late summer. I have adapted my beekeeping practices to mitigate these over the last 2 seasons. I limit my hive treatment to OAV (Oxalic Acid Vapourization) when I 1st get new nucs to ensure the mites are knocked out early and some essential oil and natural extracts. I live with my wife, dog and chickens on a small piece of land, approximately 40km from Whitehorse, Yukon. It is located in native “alpine-ish” Boreal Forest with some native Yukon grasslands in the area. This habitat offers great spring to early summer forage in abundance (willow, prairie crocus, soapberries, beard-tongue, kinnikinnick, lingonberries, Labrador tea and alpine vetch to name a few), and our roadside has abundant dandelion. However, my main nectar flow relies almost exclusively on fireweed. I have also been introducing clovers, phacelia and sainfoin to my property to increase the number of frost tolerant forage.
I will be splitting my talk into 2 distinct sections.
1) Northern Bee Nutrition – Tips and Tricks to ensuring your bees are healthy year round. Through observations of my local forage, I have been able to get a better understanding of some of our gaps in both pollen and nectar sources that influences the health of our bees. Most of my focus is around effective fall feeding to ensure winter survival and a strong spring ramp up. Here is a link to a recent article I wrote for one of our provincial beekeeping magazines.
2) Hive Monitoring –  In this section I will outline and approach that can be used to gain a better understanding of your local “beekeeping” conditions (nectar flows and weather), understand the impact of your beekeeping practices on your bees, a view of the internal hive dynamics (temperature, humidity, weight changes) and a way to test out new wintering approaches (i.e top entrance vs no top entrance). This winter I am trialing a few different wintering setups (Double vs single, Paradise Honey Bee Boxes Vs Lysons, Moisture quilt vs No Moisture quilt and R40 hive tops with all seem tucked taped.

https://sites.google.com/view/northof60beekeeping/north-of-60-research-projects/hive-monitoring

Getting my 2 singles and 5 frame nuc ready for winter

My Bee Forage Poster


Mia Kirk

Development Specialist, Alaska Division of Agriculture

Mia has been with the Division for 11 years, providing inspection and certification services for various agricultural producers and products throughout the state.  Mia has worked with the bee community and industry on the import requirements and recently, on the coordination of the National Honey Bee Disease and Pest Survey. In 2018, Alaska beekeepers participated in this pilot survey, which included a molecular and visual analyses of existing and exotic pathogens and parasites as well as testing for 200 known pesticides. Mia will give a discussion on the survey protocols, 2018 results and discuss how beekeepers can participate in the future surveys.  She will also discuss the AK Division of Agriculture’s role in protecting bee health by reviewing the import regulations affecting bees and equipment.

Mia Kirk’s Symposium Presentation Jan 2019

 Tim Huffman

Tim will give a short talk about beginning beekeeping for those who are just beginning.

Bio; I started beekeeping with two packages in April, 2018. In my first year I did a split, caught a swarm, and did a cutout of a colony I found living in a fence. In 2019, I supplemented my three overwintered colonies with 5 more packages, did a number of splits, and eventually enjoyed my first honey harvest. I’m looking forward to even more bees in 2020, as I partner with a local brewery to keep bees on their roof.

TFB Symposium – Beginning Beekeeping (2)


List of Vendors

Royal Alaskan Honey, Owner Alex King. 3lb or 4lb package bees, nucs, and limited equipment for sale in the Mat-Su Valley and Anchorage area. Italian, Carniolan, and pure Russian queens available. http://www.royalalaskanhoney.com/


Ri-Generation Nutrition, Owner Nathan Broumley, Package Bees, Bee Max Styrofoam Hive Components, Frames & Foundation, Hive tools& Beekeeping Attire, Conveniently Located in Eagle River Alaska. https://www.facebook.com/pages/RiGeneration-Nutrition/104882479591895


Happy Creek Farm, Fairbanks, AK

Keeping bees in Goldstream area. Selling some Beekeeping equipment, honey, haskap berries, peonies and birch products. We are able to use the Alaska Grown logo. FB page: Happy Creek Farm.
Phone: 907-347-3093.

Admission pre-registration; $60.00

Email klm@gci.net to register for the Symposium. You can pay by check, or if you prefer I can invoice you through https://squareup.com. There will be an additional charge of $5.00 added to credit card payments to cover credit card service fees per each registration.

Purchase of admission pre-registration to 2019 Symposium entitles buyer to 7% discount off purchase of package bees, (except for early bird package bee price) for the 2019 season from “Alaska Honey Bee“.

10 percent discount for Vets, Seniors (55 years or older), Students, and Beekeeping Clubs & Association Members.

Any Questions regarding pre-registration please call me at 907-242-0588


Walk-in registration; $80.00

Can accept checks, cash, and credit cards at the door. There will be an additional charge of $5.00 added to credit card payments per each registration to cover credit card service fees through https://squareup.com.

Any Questions regarding walk-in registration please call me at 907-242-0588


Vendor registration; $140.00

There is lots of space for TFB vendors, and exhibitors to set up in the foyer of the theater if you may be interested in promoting your TFB business.

Vendor registration; Price $140.00, no discounts for business’s, includes a space limited to ten feet wide, and Event registration for two people. Vendors must be pre-approved, and pre-registered prior to this Event. All Vendor employees must also be registered for the Symposium that attend. Vendor registration fee must be paid prior to the Symposium. Vendors must have a current Alaska Business License.

To pre-register as vendor email klm@gci.net, or call 907-242-0588.


Symposium brought to you by Alaska Honey Bee.

For more information please call me, Keith Malone at 907-242-0588, or email at klm@gci.net

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