Kirk Webster 

20 Years of Commercial Beekeeping Without Treatment of Any Kind

Kirk is the owner and operator of Champlain Valley Bees & Queens in Middlebury, Vermont. He is well known for producing strong Russian Queens and nucs, as well as honey. His apiary is Kirk’s only source of income.

Kirk uses the natural processes active in nature to maintain his hives with- out treatment for mites and other pests or pathogens - his apiary has been treatment free since 2002. Each year Kirk maintains about 300 colonies that he uses for honey production, around 400 baby nucs, and he tries to provide for sale of an additional 400-500 treatment-free nucs of Russian heritage that have been tested by over- wintering them in Vermont. The bees and queens he produces are highly sought after and prized for their enhanced ability to survive both varroa and the weather extremes we have here in the Northeast.

Kirk is also a writer and has written many articles and essays, many of which can be viewed on a website at kirkwebster.com. Kirk uses this website to share his beekeeping knowledge and experiences, explore the issues he thinks are most important – “without interference, editing or censorship” – and to allow him to pull together into one place all the things he has written since 2005.

PLEASE NOTE: THIS MEETING IS IN PERSON AND OUR SPEAKER WILL BE HERE LIVE.  Please join us at 7 PM to allow time to socialize and chat with other members of the club.  Our speaker presentation will begin at 7:30 PM.