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Learn about caring for bee hives and swarms at Ohio State University’s Managing Honey Bee Colonies field day June 28 from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. in Wooster.

Held on the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center’s (OARDC) campus, the first ever event of its kind in Ohio will feature open hive demonstrations, talks by beekeeping experts, question-and-answer sessions and more.

Pre-registration by June 22 is encouraged, or participants may register at the door. The cost, $20 per person, includes dinner. Participants are encouraged to bring protective gear.

Registration forms are available at the OARDC Honey Bee Laboratory, online at www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/fielddays/bees.pdf, or contact Sherry Ferrell by phone at 330-263-3684 or e-mail her at ferrell.6@osu.edu.

The program will provide hands-on learning opportunities, said Jim Tew, a beekeeping specialist with Ohio State University Extension, an OARDC entomologist and one of the event’s organizers. Participants will see and experience new information and techniques and can apply them directly to a colony.

Three sessions being offered are "Backyard Queen Production" by Tew; "Urban Beekeeping" by Kim Flottum, editor of Bee Culture magazine, and "American Foulbrood and Mites" by John Grafton, an apiary program supervisor at the Ohio Department of Agriculture. The sessions will be presented around a hive.

"These types of presentations are typically PowerPoint-driven, but even though a picture is worth a thousand words, actually standing by a hive and seeing these various points being made is considerably more effective," Tew said.

The program will focus on pests, diseases, chemical control and other challenges specific to Ohio’s 34,000 honeybee hives, he said. Colony Collapse Disorder, the condition that has been linked by many news stories to the recent disappearance of honeybees, will be mentioned as well, he added.

An open house at OARDC’s Honey Bee Laboratory will precede the program, and a tour of the lab’s Bee Museum will follow the program. The OARDC Honey Bee Lab conducts behavioral and pollination research in support of bees, beekeeping and crops that need bee pollination. The lab has a honey-processing facility, about 200 hives, a Bee Museum and a queen production out-building.

In 2005, Ohio beekeepers produced about 1 million pounds of honey worth $1.45 million, according to the Ohio Department of Agriculture. Ohio ranks 25th in U.S. honey production.

OARDC, OSU Extension and Bee Culture magazine are the field day sponsors.

Caption: Open hive demonstrations highlight the field day June 28. Photo by Ken Chamberlain, OARDC