Willamette Valley Beekeepers Association.

Promoting Bees in the Willamette Valley of Oregon

Recent Articles

Bee nutrition – a great new guide

Just in time for our early season decision making on what is best to feed our bees is the latest release from the Honey Bee Health Coalition  Honey Bee Nutrition Guide .  https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/nutritionguide/ The guide reviews the basic of bee nutrition and serves as a manual for supplemental feeding in bee…

Varroa control— what’s NEW?

The Varroa mite is a formidable foe? As my April PNW survey shows, our annual loses, most specialists agreeing due to varroa mites, continues around 40%. We need better tools (better bees/weaker mites/better controls) to combat the mite. Here are three promising developments that might help.   Weaker Mites: Greenlight…

In-Hive Drone Behavior

While the importance of the male drone is often dismissed, we can definately state that drones are important for a colony’s reproductive success. The virgin queen receives sperm from more than a single individual leading to diverse patrilines – a critical contribution for colony-level function. A study of a group…

Hawking wasps

There is a new pest in the US – the yellow-legged hornet Vespa velutina. It is a hawker.  Last month when I travelled to Georgia to assist with their Master Beekeeper training and speak at the Georgia fall statewide bee meeting, this new pest was the hot topic. New Discovery…

Another Bee Book

Do you have enough bee books?  Is there room for one more on your shelf? If yes, consider Raising Resilient Bees by Eric and Joy McEwen. (Chelsea Green Publishing. 2023. 254 pages). Eric and Joy McEwen live on a 35 acre farm in the remote Illinois River valley of SW…

Robbing

Robber bees are foraging honey bees gone bad! Robbing bees take the fast track to riches – they  invade another colony to steal insufficiently protected stored honey reserves or sugar water being fed to a colony other than their own.  Robber bees aren’t trying to destroy another colony, rather they…

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Our Friends

WVBA is a chapter of the Oregon State Beekeepers Association. We are grateful to Chemeketa Community College 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.

Oregon State Beekeepers Association
Chemeketa Community College
Oregon Master Beekeeper Program