Success Stories By MajorProgram FY2025Jul 1, 2024 - Jun 30, 2025
MICA STEM and HEALTH Camp
Author: Tamara Potter
Major Program: Beekeeping
Describe the Issue or Situation.This event offered middle-school students a chance to try honey from New Zealand, Switzerland, Greece and Kentucky as well as have a chance to wear a bee veil and get into beehives. Describe the Outreach or Educational Program Response (and Partners, if applicable). The response from the participants was enthusiasticProvide the Number and Description(s) of Participants/Target Audience. 25Provide a Statement of Outcomes or Program Impact. Please n
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Submitted 1890s Capacity Building Grant proposal
Author: Tamara Potter
Major Program: Beekeeping
Describe the Issue or Situation. I wrote a grant proposal to purchase diagnostic kits for Kentucky & Ohio beekeepers. These kits are currently unavailable in the U.S. The grant proposal request funds to buy kits, antibiotics for veterinarians and fund workshops. Describe the Outreach or Educational Program Response (and Partners, if applicable). The partner is Dr. Hongmei Li-Byarlay, Central State University (Ohio). The grant also lists as partners local be
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September Beelines "Combining Hives for Winter Success"
Author: Tamara Potter
Major Program: Beekeeping
Describe the Issue or Situation. Beginner Beekeepers may feel sympathetic about their first-year hives and not want to combine a colony that has too few bees, thinking he or she may be able to coax it through the winter. My article encourages the beginner beekeeper to think of the entire hive, that it takes a lot of bees to produce a lot of young bees in the spring. Instructions are included in the article.Describe the Outreach or Educational Program Response (and Partners, if
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August Beelines, "Fall Requeening"
Author: Tamara Potter
Major Program: Beekeeping
Describe the Issue or Situation. In advance of the Fall KY Queen Bee Breeders Annual Meeting, I wrote an article about the benefits of requeening a hive in July or August. At the annual meeting, I demonstrated all of the techniques described in the article. The primary benefit is that the colony does not go queenless in the spring because it has a new young queen. Describe the Outreach or Educational Program Response (and Partners, if applicable). Kentucky State Be
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FLOYD COUNTY BEGINNING BEEKEEPER'S SCHOOL
Author: Chad Allen
Major Program: Beekeeping
Honeybees are valuable animals. They pollinate about $10 billion worth of U.S. crops and produce about $150 million worth of honey each year. Unfortunately, they face serious new problems. Two kinds of mites that are parasites of honeybees were brought into the United States and have spread rapidly. Tracheal mites live in air tubes inside bees, making it hard for them to breathe. Varroa mites live in bee colonies and feed on developing bee larvae (brood). Both tiny pe
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Autoclave Service
Author: Tamara Potter
Major Program: Beekeeping
Describe the Issue or Situation.Beekeepers have difficulty being able to manage diseases, and the KSU autoclave makes it possible to sterilize beekeeping equipment. For over two years, the KSU autoclave has not been used, but beginning Nov. 2024, the autoclave is now operable. Describe the Outreach or Educational Program Response (and Partners, if applicable). The autoclave has been able to sterilize equipment for three beekeepers (two commercial, one researcher). T
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KY Queen Bee Breeder Association vaccine demo grant
Author: Tamara Potter
Major Program: Beekeeping
Describe the Issue or Situation. Currently, there is a disease that affects honey bees called American foulbrood, for which there is no cure. In 2023, a company released a vaccine made from dead American foulbrood bacterium with conditional approval from Environmental Protection Agency. In working with the KY Queen Bee Breeders Association, I was able to apply for funds to purchase this new vaccine and demonstrate to beekeepers how they can use it to protect their hives.Describe the
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