SBA meeting March 11, 2026

The meeting will be held in person at the Ag Center and on Zoom

Dr. Katie Lee: Long Live the Queen? Factors Affecting Queen Health

Katie Lee received her Master of Science and doctorate degrees from the University of Minnesota, where her research specialized in improving honey bee colony health. Her work focused on developing a sampling plan for the parasitic mite Varroa destructor, metrics indicating queen and colony health, and the benefits of pollinator plantings. For the nonprofit Bee Informed Partnership, she was a founding member of both the Northern California and Minnesota-based Tech-Transfer Teams, traveling across the United States for six years to provide services for commercial beekeepers. As the Extension Educator in Apiculture at the University of Minnesota Bee Lab, she develops educational resources for beekeepers and serves as a coordinator of the Minnesota Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) grant program. Dr. Lee’s long-term goal is to develop and share practical information with beekeepers.

Join an active community of veteran and novice beekeepers and listen to talks from a variety of experts.

Meetings are held at 7PM on the second Wednesday of every month and are open to the public.


Spring/Summer Location:
Steppingstone Farm Museum in Havre de Grace
461 Quaker Bottom Rd. Havre de Grace, MD 21078

Farm Museum directions

Fall/Winter Location:
Harford County Agricultural Center, 3525 Conowingo Road, Suite 600, Street MD 21154

Agricultural Center directions

Upcoming meetings

April 8 Monica Schmitt: preparing honey show entries

May 13 Cybil Preston

June 10 Dave Papke: apiary update

July 8 Beekeeping equipment and gadget show and tell

August 12 Summer picnic

Queen bee on a frame with no drawn comb, surrounded by a few worker bees

Past meetings

February 11, 2026 Honey tasting, honey contest

January 14, 2026 Tina Sebestyen: Diagnosing deadouts

November 12, 2025 Sarah Wheelan: honey bee genetics

October 8, 2025 Ann Frey: pollen trapping

September 10, 2025 Gabriela Quinlan: bee nutrition and winter bees

July 9, 2025 Beekeeping gadget show and tell

June 11, 2025 Clyde Strang: Winter prep and diagnosing deadouts

May 14, 2025 Eric Malcolm: Colony inspections

April 9, 2025 Ally Martin Ewert: Propolis

March 12, 2025 Robyn Underwood: Drones

February 18, 2025 Honey tasting/exchange and presentation by Ted and Jen Sizemore on beekeeping in the Kisumu region of Kenya

January 8, 2025 Dave Schultz, apiculture inspector: What if the groundhog was wrong? Late winter/early spring management

November 13, 2024 Dr. Frank Rinkevich: Genetics of amitraz resistance in Varroa

October 9, 2024 Dr. Jon Zawislak: Queen loss and laying workers

September 11, 2024 SBA members: Winter hive prep

July 10, 2024 SBA members: Choosing a mite treatment

June 12, 2024 Todd Cichonowicz: Local pollination

May 8, 2024 Cybil Preston: Varroa control

April 10, 2024 Dennis Helmer: Queen breeding and queen health

March 13, 2024 Jack Geraghty: Bee research at Delaware University; and Dona Bushong: Long Langstroth hives

February 14, 2024 Honey tasting, exchange, and competition

January 10, 2024 Selina Bruckner: Small hive beetle