WVBA
January 29th 2024
7:06 PM
Meeting called to order
Rich discussed the challenges of finding a new meeting space and said we should be good for having the room at the Evangelical church for the rest of the year.
The club is paying $1400.00 for the year and is also holding bee school at the church. Rich and Laura passed around attendance and membership forms.
Rich thanked members that assisted in trying to find a new meeting place—Elaine, Nathan, Mark, and Teri. He also mentioned thanks to Terry for handling refreshments, and everyone else who helps and cleans up. Nathan stays late to take out the garbage.
Joe announced that thanks to Winco there were 400 pounds of sugar in his truck, he said club members are free to help themselves after the meeting.
7:15
PIZZA TIME
7:42 Rich announced it was time to reelect officers. The same officers were reelected, Rich as President, Mona as Vice-President, Laura as treasurer and Elaine as secretary. Debbie will continue as librarian and Terry will continue with snacks.
Anna brought up the subject of changing the club dues.
The club has $8145.00 in the bank account minus approximately $400.00 for pizza and door prizes. Nathan asked how much we donate to OSU. It is usually $1000.00 per year. The club expenses are the rent for the meeting place, occasional postage. Also honorariums for speakers and membership in the OSBA. Rich donates printing and envelopes for the yearly mailing.
Todd said that we are in good financial shape so no need for Rich to donate the printing. Someone asked what is the source of revenue, it is only dues.
Todd asked how many paid members we had for last year. Rich believes there were 140. It was determined there is not a need to raise dues since we have plenty of money in the bank. Rich announced that Terry had a photo she took published on the cover of American Bee Journal. It features a peach orchard in Stayton.
Rich announced that federal regulations on varroa mite treatments will probably be moving from the EPA to FDA in the next couple of years and that might mean additional controls on the use of chemical treatments in hives.
Rich talked about how the public image of honeybees and beekeepers is changing, and more cities are having more regulations such as beekeepers in city limits have to go to a bee school. He mentioned an article in the most recent Bee Culture talking about clashes between enthusiasts of native pollinators vs honeybees. Rich said that the monarch butterfly is being considered to be nominated as an endangered
species.
In 1991 75 million pounds of honey were imported and in 2021 500 million pounds were imported. Rich mentioned a new publication by the Honey Bee Health coalition, about Honey bee nutrition, authored by Dr. Priyadarshini Chakrabarti Basu and can be found at
https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/HBHC-Honey-Bee-Nutrition-Guide Supplementary-Feeding-Guide-2024.pdf
A club member pointed out that since she has become a beekeeper she has become much more aware of providing forage and the native bees on her property have flourished.
Todd mentioned that what is hurting all bees is that forage is greatly diminished and modern agriculture is the culprit, not backyard beekeepers. A club member commented that in the UK farmers are focusing on reestablishing hedgerows.
Rich shared copies of “the road to queen-right and beyond,” a neat graphic.
He mentioned that Kim Flottum, the editor of Bee Culture passed away.
He mentioned that the lab in Beltsville is once again accepting honey samples for analysis. 8:13 Jeremy took the stage to talk about the 2023 OSBA conference in Bend and the ABF Conference in New Orleans.
265 people attended the conference in Bend. This is slightly higher than the previous year. It was also hosted via Zoom. The food was much improved this year. There were about 25 exhibitors from around the country selling beekeeping supplies.
Jeremy highlighted the presentation about the research regarding fungicide use in blueberry fields by Dr. Sarah Wood from the University of Saskatchewan. Jeremy said that all colonies in the Pacific Northwest are susceptible to both EFB and AFB.
He discussed another talk by Dr. Diane Cox-Foster that indicates that honeybee colonies are not negatively impacting native bee species.
Research from Mustafa Bozkus from OSU regarding Oxalic Acid. Research shows that 3 grams per brood chamber is perhaps the best option.
Jeremy mentioned the pollinator license plates.
At the conference Adrian Perez from Gold Coast Honey gave a presentation about cut outs. Our very own Dr. Dewey Caron gave a presentation about The Bee MD a diagnostic tool for beekeepers. Amina Harris gave a presentation about Honey tasting.
The American honey queen was also at the conference. Females 18-24 can apply to be next year’s honey queen.
There was a honey and wax show, Fonta Molyneaux from Lane County won blue ribbons in several categories.
George Hansen gave his encaustic painting workshops.
The clubs made donations to the OSU Honeybee Lab.
The live auction featured a Tillamook Cheese bee hive. Joe Maresh donated a glass art piece. Delsie won the encaustic painting.
The auction brought in a record $30,200.00. Total donations were $50,000.00
He thinks the conference will be in WIlsonville this year.
The ABF conference had almost 800 attendees from around the world. People with Oregon roots attending were Ellen T., George Hansen, Tom Cinquini and Priya as well as Jeremy and Delsey. There was a talk about Honey Judge Training. There are not as many young honey judges as needed so there is an effort being made to train new ones.
Jeremy had the opportunity to tour the USDA lab. They are doing an amitraz resistance study that says there is no data to support that proximity to other beekeepers or apiary density impact amitraz resistance.
There is testing being done regarding quality control in Apivar. It was found that there is good quality control regarding dosage.
They are also doing artificial insemination project of VSH queens. They have high overwinter success without mite treatments.
Randy Oliver said best to take sample of nurse bees form brood frames not because it is the most accurate but because it is the most reliable and consistent. Drones have the most mites but also the biggest variation.
8:46 Prize Drawing
Prizes included frames, varroa easy check a hive tool, a frame holder, boxes, a bottle of mead, pro dim supplement a frame holder, lip balm, drone comb frame, eggs, stickers, banana bread, assorted Hawaiian honey and a nut box.
Meeting adjourned 9:17.
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