At the April meeting (April 24) we knew of only a single swarm. Rich covered swarming in his comments and his comments will be posted in the meeting minutes. we should begin to hear of local bee swarms  in May and June. Swarming means different things to different individuals. Some beekeepers see swarms as a […]

  Last year, 271 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 38 WVBA respondents included in the OR report, which are posted on the website: http://pnwhoneybeesurvey.com/survey-results/2015-16-survey-reports/ Colony loss levels last year from WVBA respondents were 31% for 8-frame and

There was an informative webinar mid-January from Bee Culture Magazine [“The Kim and Jim Show”] that was all about packages. You can still view the one-hour broadcast at Bee Culture webpage www.beeculture.org Look for it filed under events. Kim and Jim discussed only packages but their comments would generally apply to nucs, although with a

Dead colony forensics – examining a dead colony to help determine what might have been the reason for non-survival.  Identifying the problem can guide changes in management leading to improved overwintering success. Last year backyard OR beekeepers lost 43% of their overwintering colonies – there were additional losses during the active year resulting in approximately

The Honey Bee Health Coalition has released a series of videos to help beekeepers promote colony health and combat costly and destructive Varroa mite infestations. The videos provide detailed step-by-step instructions on how to monitor hives for Varroa and safely treat when levels get too high. The videos complement the Coalition’s wildly popular Tools for