Many of you are aware that I winter 3 months in Bolivia, South America where my wife Nieves hails from. While here I do some bee classes and apiary visits. We have class beginning this Saturday in fact (it is summer her). I just finished an intense week of coarse and field work. Kerry Clark … Read more about News from Bolivia
Ready for winter?
How do you overwinter? What do you consider the greatest challenge to successful overwintering? 38 WVBA survey respondents reported average overwintering losses of 46%, just two percentage points different from the 416 OR beekeeper average winter loss. As Figure 3 of the WVBA report illustrates … Read more about Ready for winter?
DRONES Keeping up with Technology
Do you fly a drone? No I don’t mean the live drones you find in your bee colony or tethered drones you might fly at a bee display but instead I am asking if you fly a robotic drone to use for aerial services? Drones have been used in war, espionage, research, videography and farming. New research … Read more about DRONES Keeping up with Technology
Bee loss update
The first posting on WVBA winter losses reported loss of 122 colonies = 46 % average loss, slightly lower than the statewide loss of 48%, which equals the highest for OR backyarders. The 46%loss was the highest WVBA level of the previous 4 years and 9.5% above the 4 year average. The trend is … Read more about Bee loss update
2018-19 WVBA Winter LOSS FIRST Report
At the March WVBA meeting I distributed paper copies and directed members to a web-based survey document in a continuing effort to define overwintering losses/successes of backyard beekeepers in Oregon. This was the 10th year of such survey activity. I received 416 responses from OR backyarders, … Read more about 2018-19 WVBA Winter LOSS FIRST Report
Our Reluctant Spring
I hope your bees are OK despite our cool, wet spring weather. If you overwintered colonies from last year, PLEASE don’t forget to send in a survey to www.pnwhoneybeesurvey.com to report winter losses/survivorship and your managements for the past season. Survey is open until end of April. March … Read more about Our Reluctant Spring
PNW HONEY BEE SURVEY OPEN FOR WVBA MEMBERS
In the 2017-2018 beekeeping season, 303 Oregon & 104 Washington backyarder beekeepers participated in the April survey that measures the health of our regions honey bee colonies. The survey tool also measures the local honey bees survival/losses with the highly diverse management variables such … Read more about PNW HONEY BEE SURVEY OPEN FOR WVBA MEMBERS
TOOL USE
As beekeepers we employ a variety of tools. Smoker, Hive tool, frame holders, etc etc. When I prepared the Honey Bee Health Coalition guide on managing varroa we called the guide a tool – an educational aid to combat our most serious bee pest. Just a few decades ago, tool use was among … Read more about TOOL USE
Update of November WVBAHive article on Solar and bees
I wrote in November WVBA article about the good news that OR was actively considering the incorporation of honey bee colonies and bee/pollinator friendly foraging as ground cover for solar array farms. Unfortunately the optimism I expressed in my November newsletter article that OR Solar arrays were … Read more about Update of November WVBAHive article on Solar and bees
Honey Bee Health Coalition releases new guide, tool to help beekeepers make informed hive management decisions
The Honey Bee Health Coalition has developed two new resources for beekeepers — a best practices guide for hive health and a decision support tool for taking on the honey bees most dangerous parasite. An expert team of beekeepers, entomologists, extension and regulatory agents, bee suppliers and … Read more about Honey Bee Health Coalition releases new guide, tool to help beekeepers make informed hive management decisions
Bees and Solar energy arrays
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
Fall Yard Chores
Do you take time to rake up the yard, deadhead the perennials and till the vegetable garden in the fall? Or do you leave things more natural? Leaving a “natural, “messy” yard may not win any good-neighbor awards, but it might help beneficials and insect pollinator populations. Consider letting … Read more about Fall Yard Chores