2011 Master Beekeeper program and Univ. of Florida Bee College

This past weekend I had the opportunity to attend the 2011 Bee College in Marineland, Florida.  This is a two day conference dealing with beginning and advanced classes in beekeeping and honey bee biology.  Preceding the class is a half day review for the Master Beekeeper Program followed by examinations for the Aprentice, Advanced, and Master Beekeeper levels.  I passed the Apprentice level in October and thus have to wait one year before sitting for the Advanced exam but I attended the review classes in order to garner a little extra knowledge.  Two of the members of the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association, of which I am affiliated with, passed the exam they sat for.  Also we had one member qualify for the Welsh Honey Judge class.
The bee college included a honey competition, which I entered some extracted honey and a photograph.

My extracted honey entry is the second set to the right of those entrys with ribbons.  This was the first contest I have entered, also it is the first honey I extracted, so I wasn't surprised or disappointed at not capturing a ribbon.

I thought my photograph would have attracted some attention.  I entered the infrared picture of a brood box (second image from left) that shows a bee cluster maintaining 93 degrees Farenheit observed in a hive in Ambler, Pennsylvania at Temple Univerity in April 2010.

This is a closeup of the thermogram I entered.  The white or yellow areas are warm and the purple or blue areas are cool.  This picture was taken in Pennsylvania in April but a similar phenomenom can be seen in Florida in February when I took th photo below.

This thermogram demostrates how the warmth of the brood chamber is concentrated in one area of the center of the hive in order to keep the queen and all of the workers warm throughout the winter.  This heat signature was radiating right through the wood side of the hive box.  The two bright white spots at the entrance of the hive are individual bees.  I am hoping dispalying these pictures will give someone an idea of how this technology could be used to help the Beekeeping industry.