WILLAMETTE VALLEY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION
MEETING MINUTES
JULY 26, 2021
We are all grateful that we did not meet in June when it was 115 degrees! Yikes. We had a good turnout for our pizza & potluck dinner.
President Rich opened our meeting at 7:35 with some announcements.
-
Bravo Cellars in Amity wants to host some bees.
-
An beekeeper in Salem is moving to Texas and would like to sell his bees and bee equipment. See Rich for details.
-
Dewey reported finding Small Hive Beetles!!! in a dead-out in Portland. So everybody was cautioned to keep a sharp lookout every time they open their hives.
Dewey Caron spoke to us on current season management – robbing!
-
Beekeeper robbing aka honey harvest. Ways to separate bees from honey frames are:
-
Bounce and brush frames that are at least 75% capped
-
Use a bee escape board with a spacer board
-
Use a fume board
-
Forced air (leaf blower)
-
-
Insect robbers – either other honey bees or yellowjackets
-
Use robbing screens
-
When robbing situation arises, cover the colony with wet sheets
-
It is time to be diligent with timely Varroa mite testing then treating if over treatment threshold. For current threshold recommendation, look at the Tools for Varroa Management from the Honey Bee Health Coalition.
Review the information from OSU regarding identification of the Small Hive Beetle. Then carefully look each time you open hives for them scurrying away from the light. If you find SHB in your colonies, you can use SHB traps such as “Beetle Blasters” or “Swifter wet jet scrubbing strips”.
Rich had a load of reject sugar from WinCo which he gave away.
We had a raffle then adjourned at 9:05.
Respectfully submitted,
Anna Ashby, Secretary WVBA
August 22, 2021