WVBA members were 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 12th year of such survey activity. I received 368 responses from OR backyarders, keeping anywhere from 1 to 40 colonies; Willamette Valley members sent in 22 surveys, 6 more […]
Overwinter loss 2020-2021 Read More »
The PNW honey bee survey is now open extending to end of April. WVBA members had been consistently participating but last year only 16 individuals reported on 88 fall hives. But those 16 had great news to report – the WVBA club report had the greatest survival of all the bee clubs with only a
Bee loss survey WVBA Read More »
Some WVBA beekeepers may remember Emily (Cross) Painter. She served as Secretary of WVBA for a couple of years, 2014-2016 while a West Salem High student. She left then to spend a gap year in England and for last four years has been an undergraduate student at the University of Vermont. You may be interested
Where is Emily these days? Read More »
January is not a month for bee colony inspection. But that does not keep us from worrying about them. So what can we do with our bees this month (besides just worrying)? It is possible to roughly group our overwintered colonies into two groups per our last fall judgement/inspection. We sought to have mostly strong
PARASITIC MITE SYNDROME (PMS) Parasitic Mite Syndrome is a condition, not a specific disease whereby a honey bee colony dies rapidly in the fall months. The initial PMS field symptoms include reduced adult population and spotty brood pattern with dying larvae. These symptoms intensify over a short time as the colony gets close to dying.
Diagnosis of deadouts Read More »
Doesn’t this just say fall? Monarch Butterfly and Honey Bee on Sunflower Photo by Kathy Garvey
To feed bees or not to feed bees? If you read Jeremy Barnes letter to the editor (in most recent ABJ, September 2020) you might wish to hit the pause button. Jeremy summarizes studies involving feeding sugar syrup to bees confined in cages in the lab. Worker bees fed sugar syrup do not live as
To Feed or not to feed (bees) Read More »
AFB is a bacterial disease of developing honey bee brood. AFB spores infect the larva in the earliest larval stage (newborn to 2 days old), generally through nurse bees supplying infected food. Infection spreads quickly among the larvae, as nurse bees, which carry the bacteria but are not affected by it, move from cell to
American Foulbrood – time to inspect Read More »
We should seek to enhance colony growth in Spring for surplus honey but seek to flatten the growth curve of mites.
I have received a very low response this year from WVBA members (<10) for the annual pnwhoneybeesurvey. It will only be up until end of day Friday May 1. Please if you have not yet had the opportunity won’t you take a few minutes and add your overwintering success and management information so I can
LAST FEW DAYS OF SURVEY Read More »
