NORTHWEST DISTRICT BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION August 2016 BEELINES Our mission: to promote interest in honey bees and beekeeping through the Northwest District of Western Washington, and, in particular, Snohomish County. August 9th Meeting: Dr. Evan Sugden, The Varroa Horizon-Past, Present, and Future Dr. Sugden will talk about various strategies to manage varroa mites in your hives including organic methods. Dr. Sugden s narrative: I have been a beekeeper most of my adult life. My experiences span all aspects of the trade, including commercial, hobby, research, teaching and solitary bee management. I was intimately involved in honey bee research during the calamitous late 1980 s and early 90 s and have a first hand perspective of how beekeeping has changed since before that time. This has influenced my continued involvement and has inspired me to constantly strive to be a better beekeeper and to teach good practices to others as a new generation of beekeepers evolves. I currently teach Entomology and Beekeeping in the Biology Department at the University of Washington, Seattle campus. I am faculty advisor for the UW Bee Club and an internship advisor with the UW Farm, through which the beekeeping course (a.k.a. Science with Bees ) is taught. I manage the bee hives on the UW campus and also consult on bee and insect matters for the campus. My private business consists of producing solitary bees for pollination, lecturing, and providing analysis services. When you shop at AmazonSmile, Amazon will donate 0.5% of your purchase to the Northwest District Beekeepers Association. There are no extra fees for this service and you pay the same prices on Amazon that you normally would. You can reach our AmazonSmile page at http://amazon.nwdba.org. Regularly scheduled meetings are held on the second Tuesday of each month at: Christ the King Lutheran Church 1305 Pine Avenue Snohomish, WA 6:00 Bee Talk A Buzz Session for NewBees and Experienced Beekeepers to interact and share questions and experiences. 7:00 Meeting Business meeting and guest speaker.
PAGE 2 BEELINES NORTHWEST DISTRICT BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION NUCS for Sale Proud sponsor of NWDBA Over-Wintered Survivor Bees Local and Queens Larvae should be 5 available Drawn Frames in June! Young Mated Queen CONTACT: CONTACT, Larry Brainard Tel: Tel: 425.478.0575 l.brainard08@gmail.com Larrybrainard@comcast.net Have you ever been to the fair? There is a lot to see and do the food, the rides, the displays and shows. But have you ever thought about being a part of the fair? It s not difficult to do. There are opportunities for you to enter your honey or creamed honey, comb, frames or pollen. You can also enter wax, equipment you ve made or an educational display. Simply go to evergreenstatefair.org Choose participate. Find the heading exhibitor. Scroll down and click on Open class. This will show you all the areas you can enter. Go all the way down to honey and click. You will find all the information for the honey department. (Honey entries need to be turned into the fair on August 20.) On the very last page there are guidelines and rules for your entry. Read carefully. There could be a ribbon if you follow directions. You can volunteer in any department, but Tim Ade would rather you volunteer in the bee and honey display. Please contact Tim for details. There is also a sign-up sheet at Beez Neez. (Entry tickets and parking passes are additional perks.)
Page 3 BEELINES NORTHWEST DISTRICT BEEKEEPERS Northwest District Beekeepers Assn. August-September To-Do List for the Puget Sound Calendar vs Weather: It is important to keep in mind that decisions are more dependent on prevailing weather conditions than on specific calendar dates! Hive Inspection: Following the Blackberry Nectar Flow, it is important to inspect the Hive. Among the important items to look for are: 1) Brood and Brood pattern 2) Are eggs, larvae and capped brood present? 3) Are there any Queen Cells (Swarm, Supersedure, Emergency) present? 4) Are there any signs of pests or diseases? 5) Does the Hive still have empty comb on which to grow and store nectar and pollen 6) Is there capped surplus honey that can be harvested? Food Stores: Check the amount of stores in each hive. Not all hives will have brought in surplus nectar and pollen, and possibly not a sufficient amount to carry the colony through August/September if this area experiences a dearth, which has happened several times in recent years. If stores are too low, consider feeding syrup or if the colony is small, consider combining with another colony. Colony Status: During your inspection, check the following: 1) Population size 2) Are there eggs & young larvae? (its not always necessary to find the Queen if you see young larvae) 3) Brood Pattern 4) Stores 5) Evidence of pests or disease 6) Swarm cells (swarms can occur in August-September). Honey Harvest: Once your Honey Supers are mostly filled and capped, it is time to Harvest the surplus Honey. As a general rule, a frame that is at least 80% capped and no liquid nectar droplets are released when one shakes the frame is ready for harvest. To reduce the propensity of robbing, consider removing honey supers in the early morning or evenings. Note: Avoid using frames from the Brood Nest in your honey supers so that frames that have been exposed to Miticides and other chemicals are not used to collect surplus honey. Ventilation: August and September can be among the hottest months in the Puget Sound. It is important to assure good ventilation through the hive to assist the colony s ability to maintain optimal conditions inside the hive. The following are a couple of symptoms where added ventilation is needed: one observes many bees fanning at the entrance, or a large portion of the colony bearding outside of the hive. Treatment for Mites: Investigate for evidence of Mites and Mite Loads in early August. Many Beekeepers routinely treat for mites in early August. The strategy centers on keeping Mite loads as low as possible as the colonies head into Fall and Winter. Re-Queening: There is a growing interest in re-queening colonies in early August (with young Queens that were mated in late June or after). This gives the colony a young, vibrant Queen that is vigorously building population as the colony heads towards Winter. This helps improve winter survival statistics. Yellow Jackets: The best time to treat for Yellow Jackets begins in the Spring, but it does pay to have active traps out through summer and into fall. Consider re-baiting your traps! Late Nectar Flows: After Extracting surplus Honey, place the supers back on your Hives. The bees will clean and repair the comb, and if the is a late nectar flow in your area, the combs will be filled again!! Preparation for Winter Survival: August is a time to begin assessing hives for winter survival: 1) Weak or mediocre hives can be combined. 2)Hives with old or low producing Queens can be re-queened (note: local Queen suppliers begin reducing their Queen stocks towards the end of Summer). 3)Treatment for mites (see above). 4)Begin assessment of Food Stores (see above). (Larry Brainard, Northwest District Beekeepers Assoc. August, 2014; with assistance from his Journeymen Study Mates)
PAGE 4 BEELINES NORTHWEST DISTRICT BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION Mark Your Calendars! August 9-Monthly Bee Meeting August 23 and 24-Fair Set-Up August 25 to September 5-Fair Dates...we will bee needing volunteers (this is a great opportunity for you to get volunteer hours and get practice talking about your passion.) September 13-Monthly meeting-sue Cobey October 1 and October 8-Apprentice Level Beekeeping Class 2017 Calendars: A Fund Raising Event! Help NWDBA create a calendar for 2017 by submitting original bee themed photos to helhil@msn.com. Profits from the sales of calendars will benefit our club, and we all benefit by having fabulous photos with monthly to-do lists for our wall. 2016 NWBDA Board Members Mark Salser, President president@nwdba.org Mike Kossian, V-President vice_president@nwdba.org Lori McConnell, Secretary secretary@nwdba.org Mary Rider, Treasurer treasurer@nwdba.org Tim Ade, Board Member...mbesnohomish@yahoo.com Helen Crozier, Board Member...helhil@msn.com Joe Canfield, Board Member...tjnr@comcast.net We are always looking for ideas or articles to publish in the Beelines newsletter. Please email us at mbesnohomish@yahoo.com with ideas or articles to be submitted. Please direct corrections or additions to Debbie Ade; Beelines Editor at mbesnohomish@yahoo.com Thank you to Susan Humphries and Paula Thomas for taking great photos during the Bee Picnic. You both are awesome!! Visit Us Online @ nwdba.org and Like us on Facebook!