WVBA – AUG 25th, 2025
HELEN IS TAKING MINUTES FOR ELAINE TIMM
Regular attendance
Charlie is the guest speaker from Hood River
Rich like that the children that come to our meetings are always well behave and so he gave them color books and markers.
Charlie has been a beekeeper for along time. Giving a talk on Master Beekeeper Program
Master bee keeping Levels: Apprentice level, journey level, master level
Apprentice level gets assigned a mentor, most of it can be done at home
He is giving ideas of what’s going on in the hive
BEEKEEPING IS LIKE BAKING: looking at climate + environment – where is the pollen, water, nectar coming from.
READING TEA LEAVES; Bees don’t’ have bad moods, just good reasons, imagine a stranger barging into the our house rearranging furniture, stealing your food and leaving chemicals lying about, etc
WINTER PREP: August – Building Winter Bees, Queen lays higher level vitellogenin bees, extends their life by six weeks to six months, increased fat
GOING INTO WINTER -HIVE WEIGHT: One hundred twenty pounds, second box (top box) should be full of honey, assessment of winter stores.
WINTER NOURISHMENT: nectar / honey all about energy
HEAVY SNOW: snow is an insulator and helps keep them warm
KEY TO SURVIVAL: getting a handle on any Dieseases, mite levels, nutrition
FLIGHT MUSCLES: a workers wings beat in flight at a rate of over 200 cycles sec, nerves cannot operate quickly enough to keep up with speed of muscle contractions to sustain flight, the thoracic muscles resonate. Contract more than once for each nerve firing
VARROA MITE CONTROL: Honey supers should be off by end of July, allows bees to fill the brood boxes with honey, leaves time for seasonally effective mite treatment,
VARROA TREATMENT DECEMBER, because hardly any brood in December
COLONY CLUSTER: beings to form when temperatures dip below 60, colder means tighter cluster, outer 1”-3” insulator, flight muscles shiver ~50,000 to 60,00 per minute) to warm brood area, they can starve to death if the weather is cold and they can’t get to the honey right next to them. They need to keep the area warm and that takes up energy.
CLUSTER TRANSITION: queen has stopped laying eggs
Cluster temps heat directed inward of the cluster 92-95 degrees
CLUSTER DYMAMICS, bees can precisely position their bodies in layers so their thoracic hairs interlace, bees hair has similar properties to down, bees resist heat loss, layered bodies close off ventilation through the cluster
CORE TEMPERATURE; how many bees are needed to maintain optimal temps
WINTER BEES: vitellogenin (egg yolk protein), helps bees store food reserves in their body, lower levels of hormones, enlarged food glands, higher level of sugars and fats in blood
FAT BEES, queen begins transition to laying “winter bees” extend worker life from ~ 42 days up to 6 months
FALL CLUSTER: colony cluster 60 degrees
CONTROL MOISTURE: cluster exhales warm moisture air, heat rises, condenses on inner cover to a shower
WINTER HYGIENE: (summer, honey crop expands), (winter- hind gut, rectum – expand)
CONCLUSION: Reduction of mites begins in spring, nutrition, provide a safety net if needed, feed carbohydrates 2: , protein patty, ventilation allow excess moisture to escape, lift cover to assess if sufficient stores, Hive alive patty helps over wintering,.
FALL PREP: ample nutrition, sugar bricks / fondant, wind break, wrapping hive, moisture absorption
PACIFIC NORTHWEST BEE CONFERENCE – latest research for PNW beekeepers
HEATHMAN LODGE, SEPT 18-20 2026, honey show, live hive demo, vendors, and more
CHARLIE VANDEN HEUVEL, Charlie.bgbees@gmail.com, https://bg-bees.com/?
Rich received an email from Charlie about being a cosponsor for a person speaker
Using the money for project apas m research
Break time
Osba conference Oct 24-26 river house bend or
State fair booth duty from osba
Oregon state univ., Texas
Talked about yellow jacket and fipronil for control
Riches lates experience – behaving well until last time he worked on them, put suit on, taped gloves, no activity in one hive, popped lid off, and got attacked, couldn’t see out veil, then his next hive did same thing with the rest of his hives. He wasn’t using smoke
Terry holm talked liquid smoke – cash and carry 2-3” of smoke in a quart then rest with water instead of using smoke when you are worried about catching a field on fire using a traditional smoker
Discussing different additives for sugar or wintering
Drawing of prize