Articles

The National news picked up the potential conflict in Oregon between solar energy use of Agriculturally-zoned lands and beekeeping. A 73-acre solar project near Estacada in Clackamas County requested an exemption to build on agricultural land. To qualify, the solar project developer included … Read more about Bees and Solar energy arrays

The 2nd annual Mite-a-Thon is a Citizen Science Project of NAPPC (North American  Pollinator Protection Campaign) http://www.pollinator.org/miteathon, with support of HBHC (Honey Bee Health Coalition) http:// www.honeybehealthcoalition.org  and the BIP (Bee Informed Project) … Read more about 2nd Annual Mite-a-Thon

Do you know what is in the foods you eat? Most of us are only vaguely aware. Nutritional labelling, mandatory on many foods, can help lead to a better understanding. Do you find nutrition labels on honey jars better informs you of your dietary choice? Honey labels may soon be subject to a … Read more about Does honey have “added sugar”?

At the April WVBA meeting Morris Ostrofsky gave lots of practical information, most from his own experience, on how to capture swarms via swarm traps. If you’re looking to increase your number of colonies, consider setting out one or more swarm/bait boxes, an inexpensive means of starting additional … Read more about Swarm trapping

Last year, 334 OR/WA backyarder beekeepers returned April surveys on overwintering colony losses/survivorship, and management such as colony feeding, sanitation and Varroa control efforts. There were only 24 WVBA respondents included in the OR report, 4 fewer than the previous year. A specific … Read more about 2018 winter loss/survivorship survey now open

Beekeepers are familiar with the saying ‘keep the bees out of the trees’? Today we say this referring to keeping bees in hive boxes in the spring, avoiding them swarming to end up in a nearby tree. Despite our best efforts, capturing swarms from trees remains part of spring bee activity.  There is … Read more about Our Bee Hive

Heard the expression ‘A picture is worth a thousand words’? Here is a picture (SEE BELOW)  that may be worth a thousand questions. Photo from web source Pinterest (and most recently seen in Cowlitz WA Beekeeping newsletter). To begin with Why? Why two levels? What is problem this is attempting to … Read more about What in the BEE WORLD?

Publicity about the ‘plight’ of honey bees have been a "key" to freeing of federal grant monies for beekeeping research/extension. Coining of the term CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder) in 2006 and Time Magazine cover “Plight of the Honeybees,” 2013 [Time labelled the situation Bee Apocalypse] helped … Read more about Organic Grant initiative on Bee Health