Recent Articles
UPDATE – Annual PNW loss survey
The pnwhoneybeesurvey remains OPEN until April 30th. Please participate @ https://pnwhoneybeesurvey.com/survey/ . This will be the 16th year. I have modified the survey so you can simply enter survival/loss this past winter; select Fast Track to pass around questions on management if you wish. The 19 WVBA members so…
PNW Honeybeesurvey now underway
The pnwhoneybeesurvey is OPEN. The members of WVBA have been especially supportive of this annual survey of Oregon and Washington backyard beekeepers. Please participate before May 1st @ https://pnwhoneybeesurvey.com/survey/ . This will be the 16th year. I have modified the survey so you can simply enter survival/loss this past winter…
Wintering bees
The stretch of winter without bees can feel lengthy. We readied our colonies in the fall for the long lean months of cold, and then had to leave them to do what they do. Do you see the winter months as a much deserved reprieve from the physical labor of…
Dead Bees Don’t store Honey
Have you thought about treatment-less beekeeping? Dead Bees Don’t Make Honey by Theresa Martin (2024. Little Wolf Farm, ISBN 979-8-9902757-0-6, available from Amazon) is best explained by its subtitle 10 tips for Healthy Productive Bees. This newest of practical paperbacks is an extremely well written guide to help ensure success…
Queens can lay different egg sizes
A bee egg is 1/1000th the size of the eventual adult bee. It may surprise you that all the eggs a queen lays in beeswax comb cells are NOT the same size. Younger-aged queens, not surprisingly, lay more robust, larger eggs than older-aged queens. Two-year old queens lay eggs that…
2023-24 Winter Loss Report
WVBA members are encouraged to complete a web-based survey document in a continuing effort to define overwintering losses/successes of backyard beekeepers in Oregon. This was the 15th year of such survey activity. I received 171 reports from Oregon beekeepers keeping anywhere from 1 to 41 colonies; Willamette Valley members sent…
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Our Friends
WVBA is a chapter of the Oregon State Beekeepers Association. We are grateful to Salem Evangelical Church for allowing us to hold our meetings on their campus. The Oregon Master Beekeeper Program is a joint effort of the Oregon State Beekeepers Association and Oregon State University; we passionately support its mission.
