Author: Rick Mullen

Located in Wausau, Wisconsin; the Marathon County Beekeepers Association is a community of beekeepers and people interested in honey bees or beekeeping. We work in cooperation with the Marathon County UW Extension Office.
Membership is open to anyone with an interest in honey bees.
Annual dues of $10
per family
Our organization objectives:

Worker Honey Bee
Inside a bee hive all work is done by the worker honey bees. All worker honey bees are female. In this picture, the yellow on the bees’ back leg is pollen it has collected.

Marathon County Beekeepers
association

...Where Bees and People Meet...

Increase public awareness of honey bee issues
Education of beekeepers
Sponsor a friendly and social environment pertaining to beekeeping and the honey bee culture.
Forming a strong bond among bee keepers
Increasing the quality, availability, and demand for local, raw honey

“If bees were to disappear from the globe, mankind would only have four years left to live.”
Albert Einstein

Queen Honey Bee
Contrary to popular belief, the queen honey bee does not rule the hive. However, the pheromones her body produces do control certain aspects of the hive. The queen is basically an egg laying machine, and may lay as many as 1200 to 1600 eggs a day during the peak of the season. A queen only leaves the hive to mate, or to swarm.

For Additional Information Contact
President - Bruce Paquette
(715) 675-3980
Vice President - Bill Heipp
(715) 574-3680

Visit us online @

http://marathoncountybee
association.com/

THE IMPORTANCE OF BEES
Honey bees play a vital roll in the food supply of our world.
Millions of acres of USA fruit, vegetable, and seed crops depend on honey bee pollination. About one-third of the total human diet is derived directly or indirectly from insect-pollinated plants.
Honey bees in the USA produce about 149 million pounds of honey each year. This is only about 1/3 of the honey consumed in the United States.
The almond crop in California is completely dependent on honey bees for pollination. Pollinating the almond crop in California is a billion dollar industry in and of itself, requiring approximately 1.7 million bee hives.
The bees pollinate alfalfa, clover and other foods for livestock.

Advantages of becoming a Member of Marathon County Beekeepers Association

Learn about beekeeping from beekeepers of all levels of experience
Timely information about what do I do next?
Mentor list of experienced beekeepers willing to help
Access to beekeeping library
Access to honey extraction equipment
Assistance in ordering honey bees and beekeeping equipment

THE IMPORTANCE OF
BEEKEEPERS Beekeepers play a vital role in agriculture .
Beekeepers strive to help insure the hives success, by providing a home for the honey bees through the use of bee hives.
Beekeepers also monitor the bees health to help ensure the bees survival. Bees have lower tendencies to swarm or leave the hive when beekeepers have relieved the hive of the surplus honey or have expanded the available hive space.
Beekeeping requires some special tools and knowledge to help in assisting the bees, as well as collecting the honey produced by the bees.

Meetings Meetings are held the second Tuesday of each month at 7:00 PM. We also host a club picnic, usually in July, in place of our monthly meeting.
Meetings take place at the UW Extension Building, Room 1. This building is located at 212 River Drive in Wausau, WI.
Please visit our website for upcoming workshops and changes to our meeting schedule.

Inspecting a hive
Using a smoker to “calm” honey bees to
perform a hive inspection.

Honey Bee swarm
In a swarm, honey bees tend to be very docile. Contact an Association Member to assist you with relocating a swarm.

Meetings The Second Tuesday of each Month

Annual dues of $10
per family

Marathon County Beekeepers
association