The Santa Barbara Beekeeper's Association is dedicated to the promotion and advancement of beekeeping through best management practices, the education and mentoring of people about honey bees and beekeeping, and increasing public awareness of environmental concerns affecting honey bees.
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Donations may be tax-deductable, please consult a tax attorney
What started out as a little Google Group founded by Krista Harris, publisher of Edible Santa Barbara, has turned into over 100 enthusiastic Backyard Beekeepers yearning to learn more about the Majestic World of the Honey Bee.
In the spring of 2011, the group began its journey to more formal organization through the efforts of Todd Bebb and Paul Cronshaw. Now an established California non-profit, SBBA hopes to bring our goals of education, awareness and honeybee preservation to a new level.
We are fortunate to have some of the most knowledgable and experienced Beekeepers living right here in Santa Barbara, willing to share this knowledge and experience with us. Learning how to take care of the Honey Bee, so that she can continue taking care of us, is what we all hope to do.
We hope you will enjoy this website, learn from it, and contribute your experiences with the Bees.
Bee Well and Bee Happy
President
Paul Cronshaw
Paul Cronshaw (“The Beeman”) has been keeping honeybees in Santa Barbara County since graduating from SBHS in 1971. He set up his first hive on the roof of his parent’s house, purchased his first hive equipment from Sears catalog, and ordered a package of bees from Mississippi. Since then he has been following his passion for honeybees by maintaining a small apiary in the Montecito foothills, mentoring beginner beekeepers, teaching beekeeping to high school students, removing and relocating honeybees humanely from structures, and recently starting a “bee-host” program to promote the urban beekeeping movement.
Vice-President
Todd A. Bebb
Todd Bebb started beekeeping just earlier this year, with an interest in Backyard Gardening, and a desire to help out the bees after seeing a local showing of Vanishing of the Bees . He joined the local Santa Barbara Beekeepers Google Group, took a Beginning Beekeeping Class that Paul offered at Fairview Gardens, and bought his first hive. He was immediately smitten by the Bees, and now takes on as many Bee Rescues and Relocations as time will allow. He is trying his best to get over Bee Stings and trusts that Paul is correct in telling him that it only gets less painful with each one.
Secretary
Gina Jepson
Gina Jepson began her beekeeping career in the spring of 2008 with a packaged top-bar hive. She did almost everything wrong and her bees absconded. Gina decided she was a Really Bad Beekeeper and gave up. A few months later, she met Paul Cronshaw who set her up with a new colony and got her back on track. Now she has two thriving colonies in her back yard with five others scattered around town, and knows enough to mentor others. She recently became a Certified Instructor for the Washington State Master Beekeeper Program. Gina also homeschools her four kids, makes her own bread and loves to sew, although she doesn't have much time to do it.
Honeybees are typically found above the ground nesting in cavities of trees. However, they can also inhabit other structures such as house attics and walls, gas and water meter boxes, and any other dark, safe object.
There are basically 3 ways to remove bees from structures:
A. EXTERMINATION
Local pest control companies can usually kill bees quickly with a variety of chemicals. It can be rather messy, the chemicals are left inside the wall, and the comb and honey remains which can attract rodents and insects. If the entrance holes are not plugged up well, a future swarm will move in to occupy the empty colony. Depending on the size of the hive, this method can take up to a few hours to complete.
B. CUT-OUT
If the owner gives permission to remove the wall to gain access to the hive, a special bee vac is used to humanely remove the bees. The comb is cut from the hive and placed in a bee box. The bee box is left next to the old location for several days so the bees can settle into their new house and clean out the old structure. The old comb is scrapped off and pinesol oil is rubbed over the old comb to hide the smell of wax. Insulation is put into the wall to prevent future infestation by another swarm of bees.
C. BAIT-OUT
This technique is the most humane way to remove bees. A small nuc hive with one frame of bees and a queen is placed in front of the entrance of the colony in the structure (wall, tree, etc). A wire funnel is placed over the entrance to create a oneway street for the bees. The bees fly out of the wall hive but cannot get back in so they enter the bait hive and are welcomed by the new queen. This process usually takes from 6 to 8 weeks to complete.
Bee Removal Flier.pdf
Your Garden Will Love You!
Your Bees will Love You!
When we are asked to come and rescue Bees that have set up shop in your home (wall, attics, etc.), we then have to find a new home for them in a place that is a little more convenient for us, and just as appealing to them.
With our Host a Hive program, you can reap all the benefits that the Bees offer your garden, and we will make sure that they are kept Healthy and Thriving. Its not just the Honey that they will put on your table...You will know that you are helping to keep all food on all of our tables. Without Bees, we would not have any food!
Several Styles of Hives are available to complement your Garden, and we can even offer a custom designed Hive that the Bees will certainly be showing off to all of their Friends :-)
Please contact us to discuss this fun way to get into the wonderful world of Beekeeping.
Swarming of bees is a natural part of the bee's life cycle... Almost half of the worker bees and maybe a few drones, leave the parent hive after having starved the old queen to stop her laying and reduce her weight. The old queen may have to be goaded into flight by harassing workers.
The departing swarm leaves the hive often with thousands of bees in the air, and darkening the sky. The old queen has not flown since her mating flight; she tires easily and will stop to rest on a nearby structure. The bees will cluster around her to protect their ruler. In this stage, the bees are very gentle and should not be bothered. In 90% of the cases, they will move on to a new location in 24 hrs. If you would like to have an SBBA beekeeper relocate the swarm, please contact this number: 805.669.6229, or click on the Call Me button below to be connected for free through Google.
In order to reduce swarming it is important that the beekeeper is aware of it's many causes and can take action when these stimuli are noticed. Beekeepers need to take particular care to reduce the chances of swarms issuing from their hives and to take action to collect swarms that occur in their own neighborhood, whether or not the came from their own hives.
The basic idea of swarm control is very simple indeed... Separate the queen and the brood. There are a multitude of ways of achieving this, and some of these methods are still known by the names of the individuals that invented or popularised the methods:- artificial swarming, Demaree, removing a nucleus and selection of non-swarmy strains.
RESOURCES
The SBBA is committed to education throughout the community to raise awareness of the plight of the honeybee. Look for us at local events. Our monthly Apiary Meetups are an opportunity to "build our colony" as well as draw from the extensive experience of local beekeepers. We will also be holding Introductory and Advanced Beekeeping Classes throughout the year. Please check our Events page for more information.
We are also in the process of developing classroom and group presentations, please contact us if your organization would be interested in learning more.
We offer Master Beekeeper Certification courses through Washington State Beekeeper's Association. A description of the program can be found here.
If you are keeping bees in the City of Goleta, the City of Santa Barbara or Santa Barbara County, we strongly recommend you register your hive(s) with the Santa Barbara County Agriculture Commissioner. There is no charge for registering your hive(s). Please click the button below to download the relevant form. Thank you for your cooperation!
We would like to maintain good-faith compliance with the ordinances and regulations which govern this activity. These regulations can be found in Ch 7, Article V on the Santa Barabara County website.
Please send completed forms to:
Guy Tingos
Santa Barbara County Agricultural Commissioner's Office
263 Calle del Remedio
Santa Barbara, CA 93110
ApiaryRegistrationSBC.pdf
PHOTOGRAPHS
For more pictures, see the Beeman's Picasa page
VIDEOS
SBBA IN THE NEWS
In the short time SBBA has been in existance, it has been featured in the Santa Barbara News-Press, the Santa Barbara Independant, and even the nightly reports in the Oval Office. Click on the links below to read the articles. If you would like an interview, or to learn more about what we do, please contact us.
Stewards of the Bees : Backyard Beekeepers talk about a hobby that keeps them buzzing
Latest buzz on preserving bees: Removing hive without stinging the bees.
Backyard Beekeepers : The Bebbs Share Their Garden with Tens of Thousands of Bees
Bee news from around the world
Some of the groups below we are actually affiliated with, others we would like to be. Click on any of the logos to be transported to their website.
Address:
1503 West Valerio Street, Santa Barbara Ca, 93101
Tel:
805.699.6229
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Copyright 2011 Santa Barbara Beekeepers Association
