FIRST PRIZE – COVER
Julie Maurer
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my Honey gave to me: Twelve drones a-buzzin’, eleven acres blooming, ten swarms-a-swirling, nine hive tools scraping, eight mites-a-dying, seven smokers puffing, six feeders dripping, Five Breeder Queens, four honey bears, three sting-proof veils, two goat skin gloves, and a nuc for my apiary.
SECOND PLACE WINNER
Kevin Hendrix
On The Twelfth Day Of Christmas, My Beekeeper Gave To Me,
Twelve Beeks A Meeting
Eleven Virgin’s Piping
Ten Frames A Spinning
Nine Field Bees Dancing
Eight Smokers Smoking
Seven Swarms a Swirling
Six Queens a Laying
Five Top-Bar Hives
Four Buzzing Drones
Three Hive Tools
Two Worker Bees and
A Jar of Royal Jelly.
THRID PLACE WINNER
Jeanne Hansen
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas my Honey sent to me,
12 Deep hive bodies,
11 Honey supers,
10 Larva feeding,
9 Drones a buzzing,
8 workers dancing,
7 Nurses grooming,
6 Queens a laying,
5 Pairs of Gloves.
4 Bottom boards,
3 Hive tools,
2 Pretty veils,
and a big Carniolan Queen Bee.
Elayne Allen
12..extractors spinning
11…frames a dripping
10… smokers smoking
9….nucs a buzzing
8…drones a flying
7…queen cells hatching
6…wax foundations
5…epi pens.
4…angry bees
3…old gloves
2…broken frames
1. and a super without a queen bee
Judy Ann Hamon
On the twelfth day of Christmas
My Bee Keeper gave to me
Twelve quarts of clover honey
Eleven worker bees
Ten inner frames
Nine hive tools
Eight bee smokers
Seven pairs of gloves
Six hive feeders
Five bottom boards
Four top lids
Three sheets of wax
Two shallow supers and
A beautiful Russian Queen Bee
The Tokach Family
On The Twelfth Day Of Christmas, My Mentor Gave To Me,
Twelve Hives A Humming
Eleven Virgins Piping
Ten Top Hive Feeders
Nine Waggle Dances
An Eight Frame Extractor
Seven Drawn Out Supers
Six Queens A Laying
Five Antihistamines For Stings
Four Styles of Hive Tools
Three Lazy Drones
Two Goatskin Gloves
And A Reference Book For My Library
Carol Locker
On the twelfth day of Christmas
my beekeeper sent to me:
Twelve Pollen Patties
Eleven Supers Dripping
Ten Workers Working
Nine Smokers Smoking
Eight Drones a Mating
Seven Hives a Buzzing
Six Queens a Laying
Five Extractors
Four Honey Bees
Three Muth Jars
Two Swarm Catchers
and a Bee Culture Magazine
Amy Kaiser
On the Twelfth day of Christmas, my Honey gave to me,12 Brood Emerging, 11 Workers Waggling, 10 Extractors Spinning, 9 Flowers Blooming, 8 Drones A Mating, 7 Bees A Buzzing, 6 Smokers Puffing, 5 CAPTURED SWARMS, 4 Jugs of Mead, 3 Hive Tools, 2 Honey Bears, And a Young Well-Mated Queen Bee
Mary Ertl
On the 12th day of Christmas, my bee man gave to me 12 happy neighbors!, 11 jars of honey, 10 beeswax candles, 9 jugs of mead, 8 rows of garden, 7 blooming fruit trees, 6 pollen patties, 5 mite-die strips, 4 jars of syrup, 3 honey supers, 2 pounds of bees, and a bee hive in the backyard.
Denise Elliott
1 very healthy happy queen bee
2 Healthy Hives
3 Hive Tools
4 Frames of Brood
5 Bee filled Nucs
6 Nice brood patterns
7 Drones a Waiting (!)
8 Queen Attendants
9 Smokers Smoking
10 Frames of Ross Rounds
11 Fondant Patties
12 Pounds of Honey!
Thelma Allen
on the twelfth day of Christmas, my beekeeper gave to me,
twelve frames of honey,
eleven foragers foraging,
ten nurse bees nursing,
nine bees a’ dancin,
eight drones a’ lazin,
seven guards a’ guardin,
six swarms a’ swarmin,
five hive tools….
four queen bees,
three brood frames,
two goatskin gloves
and a brand new ” mann lake” bee suit.
Ken Burrows
On the twelfth day of Yule my bee-loved gave to me: Twelve weeks a-healing, eleven feet a-falling, ten feet a-climbing, nine stings a-stinging,eight souts a-dancing, seven frames a-waiting, six neighbors calling. Five timely splits. Four swollen hives, three aging queens, two pounds of free bees, and a swarm forming in my peach tree.
Lucian Costanzo
12 Drones a Droning
11 New Queens Piping
10 Pupae Sleeping
9 Waggle Dancing
8 Nursemaids Nursing
7 Swarms a Swarming
6 Queens a Laying
5 Swollen Stings
4-Letter Words
3 Epi-Pens
2 Torn Old Gloves
and a Fat, Healthy, Fertile Queen Bee
Jack Brock and Marge Moon
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
12 hives a swarming
11 queen excluders
10 nucs a buzzing
9 hot knives melting
8 hive tools prying
7 smokers smoking
6 sweaty headbands
5 sticky things!
4 beetle traps
3 tubs of sugar
2 ankle straps and a Minnesota Hygienic Queen.
Sheri Lefty
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me 12 visits to the chiro-practor, 11 cases of honey jars, 10 sticky boards, 9 chickens to eat drone comb, 8 wagglers waggling, 7 dozen frames, 6 more supers each, 5 gold-en-rod plants, 4 calls about swarming bees, 3 supers for each, 2 packages of carnies and an ap-i-ar-y.
Diane Wolf
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love sent to me:
twelve hive tools
eleven in-hive feeders
ten honey jars
nine bee veils
eight pollen patties
seven goatskin gloves
six capping knives
Five Langstroth hives
four drone combs
three beetle traps
two capping scratchers and a hand held honey refractometer
* a- hand- held- hon-ey- re-frac-tom-e-ter (how to sing this phrase)
Ben Cooper
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
Twelve hand-dipped candles,
Eleven young queens piping, Ten plastic feeders, nine protein patties, Eight copper Smokers, Seven pounds of beeswax, Six queens a laying, . . . FIVE TOP BAR HIVES, Four mason jars, Three bee shirts, Two hive tools and an observation hive.
Ed Levi
On the First day of Christmas my true love sent to me a Hygienic Queen Bee.
On the Second day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Two leather gloves
On the Third day of Christmas my true love sent to me
Three Marking Pens,
4 Garden Hives
5 Strong Nucs
6 Bees–a-Swarming
7 Smokers Puffing
8 Queens-a-Piping
9 Workers Dancing
10 Drones-a-Mating
11 Flowers Flowing
12 Drums-a- Filling
Elayne Allen
On the 1st day of Christmas my bee man gave to me,
on the 12th day of Christmas my bee man gave to me
12..extractors spinning
11…frames a dripping
10… smokers smoking
9….nucs a buzzing
8…drones a flying
7…queen cells hatching
6…wax foundations
5…epi pens.
4…angry bees
3…old gloves
2…broken frames
1. and a super without a queen bee
Patrick Peters
On the first day of Christmas, my queen bee gave to me:
a mite away quick strip
On the second day of Christmas, my queen bee gave to me:
Two honey supers and a mite away quick strip
On the third day … three pollen patties
On the fourth day … four bronze smokers
On the fifth day … five shallow frames
On the sixth day … six Boardman feeders
On the seventh day … seven queen excluders
On the eighth day … eight inner covers
On the ninth day … nine inspector jackets
On the tenth day … ten Italian queens
On the eleventh day … eleven outer covers
On the twelfth day … twelve cappings scratchers
Tom Chester
On the __FIRST__ day of Christmas
my true love gave to me:
A sample of his bees’ honey
2 Lovely pints
3 Squeeze bears
4 Queenline quarts
5 Plastic pails
6 Dozen bottles
7 Gallon Buckets
8 Gross of hex jars
9 Brimming barrels
10 Tanker trucks
11 Railroad tankcars
12 Honeyed kisses
Tom Chester
On the First day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
A book on how to keep bees
2 Stainless smokers
3 Hive tools
4 Bottom boards
5 Outer covers
6 Langstroth deeps
7 Western supers
8 Boardman feeders
9 Formic treatments
10 Bags of sugar
11 Dozen frames
12 Jars for my honey
Lisa Tokach
On The Twelfth Day Of Christmas, A Bad Keeper Gave To Me,
Twelve Colonies Collapsing
Eleven Scavenging Skunks
Ten Varroa Mites
Nine Foulbrood Frames
Eight Angry Neighbors
Seven Field Bees Robbing
Six Frames of Drone Patch
Five Deformed Wings
Four Hive Beetles
Three Wax Moths
Two Dueling Queens
And A Swarm of Feral Bees In My Tree
Tokach Family
On The Twelfth Day Of Christmas, My Mentor Gave To Me,
Twelve Hives A Humming
Eleven Virgins Piping
Ten Top Hive Feeders
Nine Waggle Dances
An Eight Frame Extractor
Seven Drawn Out Supers
Six Queens A Laying
Five Antihistamines For Stings
Four Styles of Hive Tools
Three Lazy Drones
Two Goatskin Gloves
And A Reference Book For My Library
Sage Tokach
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my beehive gave to me
Twelve ladies fanning
Eleven house bees cleaning
Ten nurse bees tending
Nine workers dancing
Eight guard bees buzzing
Seven bees emerging
Six drones a-napping
Five painful stings
Four frames of brood
Three field bees
Two honeycombs
And an egg-laying, Russian queen bee
Eleanor (Ellie) Andrews
On the twelfth day of Christmas, my beekeeper gave to me:
Twelve news reporters,
Eleven die-off stories,
Ten public outcries,
Nine bills in Congress,
Eight brand-new cure-alls,
Seven published studies,
Six different opinions,
Five dead-out hives!
Four pesticides,
Three cold harsh winters,
Two Varroa mites,
But ju-st o-ne ho-ney bee!
Steve Lyon
On the Twelfth day of Christmas, my mentor gave to me
Twelve Traps for Trapping, Eleven Russians Dancing, Ten Drones for Breeding, Nine Nucs for Nothing, Eight Queen Cells Queening, Seven Smokers Smoking, Six Queens a Laying, Five Swarms in Trees, Four Langstroth Hives,Three Ross Rounds, Two Hive Tools And An Idiot’s Guide on How to Raise Bees.
Lou Whipple
On the twelfth day of Christmas, we danced for joy to see,
Honey harvests humming, New hives a thriving,
Ten keepers reaping,
Nine Queens romancing,
Eight laden supers,
Seven swarms re-combing,
Tricks in bee veiling,
Five golden stings,
Four pollen yards, Three fresh blends,
Two thousand drones
From one beehive and a Queen Bee.
Steve Lyon
On the Twelfth Day of Christmas, my mentor gave to me
Twelve Sacks of Sugar, Eleven Pollen Paddies,Ten Frame Foundations, Nine Bee-Z Smokers,Eight Queen Cells Queening,Seven Swarms a Swarmimg, Six Bees a Dancing, Five skeps of Bees, Four Queen Excluders,Three Top Feeders, Two Beetle Traps And a stack of Bee Culture Magaizines
Ellen Cobau
On the twelfth day of Christmas
my beekeeper sent to me:
Twelve Droneys Dawdling
Eleven Bottles Filling
Ten Frames a Spinning
Nine Wagtail dancers
Eight Smokers Smoking
Seven Bees a Foraging
Six Broods a Hatching
Five Goldenrods
Four honey supers
Three Pounds of Bees
Two Matching Bee Suits
and a Fertile Italian Queen Bee
Steve Lyon
On the Twelveth day of Christmas , my mentor gave to me
Twelve shallow supers,Eleven pollen paddies, Ten drones for breeding, Nine nucs for nothing, Eight honey bear bottles,Seven smokers smoking, Six queens a laying, Five frames of bees, Four langstroth hives,Three hive tools, two hand extractors And a honey sweetened glass of iced tea
Mara Henico
On the twelfth day of Christmas
My bee keeper gave to me
Twelve pure wax candles,
Eleven suits and veils,
Ten drones a-droning,
Nine neon hive tools,
Eight shallow supers,
Seven swarms a-swarming,
Six honey dippers,
Five honey pots,
Four queen excluders,
Three wicker skeps,
Two Epi-Pens,
And the deed to his apiary
Scott Mofford
On the Twelfth day of Christmas my beekeeper gave to me-
Twelve drones a humming
Eleven virgins piping
Ten frames a drawing
Nine wagglers dancing
Eight mead fermenting
Seven swarms a swarming
Six queens a laying
FIVE FANNING WINGS!
Four balling guards
Three wooden shims
Two leather gloves
and a nuc with some honey candy!
