Newsletter for January 2025
 

Our first monthly meeting in this new beekeeping year will be on Thursday, January 9th at 7:00 PM. We will be meeting at the Central Skagit Valley Library in Sedro-Woolley.
 
Here's what's up this month:

• A "bee chat" beginning at 6:30 PM - We enjoy a pre-meeting time to share tips and tales with a few refreshments to which everyone is invited.
• Bee talk - Our speaker, Briana Price from WSU is going to help us confront Small Hive Beetles and other emerging pests.
• Zoom option - If you can't come, but want to participate, you can join us by Zoom. An e-mail with the link will be sent to members before the meeting.

January Meeting Presentation
Briana Price:  SHB and other Emerging Pests
Thursday, January 9th at the SVBA meeting

Bri Price will weigh in on the challenges associated with the small hive beetle (SHB) that has begun to appear in our region. A few of these in a hive don't seem to do much harm at first, but their population and the associated problems can explode if they are not managed. This small black beast of a bug has caused enormous problems in other parts of the U.S. and has begun appearing in hives in our region.

She will expand on that theme and also describe other pests that are emerging in the beekeeper world. It's a good time of year to begin anticipating the expanded pest management campaigns that will be waging as spring arrives and flowers, bees, and pests emerge.
 
Bri Price is an entomologist and is the Honey Bee Program Extension Coordinator at Washington State's Puyallup Research and Extension Center. An expert in integrated pest management she passes on her knowledge to the beekeeping community through outreach and education.

February Meeting Presentation
Randy Oliver: Reading the Comb
Thursday, February 13th at the SVBA meeting

Randy Oliver is a renowned beekeeper, innovator, and researcher. He can be thought of as something between a guru and a rock star in the beekeeping world.  We are going to welcome Randy as our featured speaker at the February SVBA meeting. Randy will show us how to "read the comb" within a hive to understand the conditions and identify opportunities to better manage our colonies.

Randy hosts this fascinating website: ScientificBeekeeping.com. Be sure to look it up if you have not come across it. 

Among other contributions, he is well known for his experiments and promotion of slow-release oxalic acid pads to control Varroa mites.
 
He brings a practical side to beekeeping as a commercial beekeeper and provides information that is clear and evidence-based. He is located in the picturesque town of Grass Valley in the foothills of California's Sierra Nevada mountains. The climate there is surprisingly similar to Skagit Valley; although somewhat hotter in an average year, Grass Valley gets even more rain during their cool winters than does Mount Vernon. So our bees contend with very similar conditions.

Beginning Beekeeping Course
Either
February 1st and 2nd, 8 AM to Noon
or
March1st and 2nd, 8 AM to Noon

Join us for two consecutive online classes on a Saturday and Sunday morning, learning from the experienced members of the Skagit Valley Beekeepers Association (SVBA). This is a custom curriculum developed by course instructor Dawn Beck. 

She will offer this online interactive course two different times, once at the beginning of February and again at the beginning of March, if that is more convenient.

This course will equip beginners with what you need to get started and be successful in your first year. But it is also a great course for more experienced beekeepers, covering a broad spectrum of topics and providing an opportunity to have your questions answered.
The course cost is $65.

This class will provide the information necessary for the exams offered separately by the Washington State Beekeepers Association (WASBA) to become certified at both the Beginning and Apprentice Beekeeping levels. The cost for the WASBA tests and certificates is $25 for the Beginner level and $35 for the Apprentice level.

Contact information and a course registration link will be posted in a separate e-mail and online at our website soon.

Tell your friends that have shown interest in learning to be a beekeeper - or take a refresher course, yourself!

SVBA Annual Potluck and Auction Event
March 13th 6-8 PM
Sedro-Woolley Senior Center

The event is from 6 PM to 8PM. But we will be setting up the display tables beginning at 5 PM, so come early to bring the items that you will be contributing to this year's trove of bee-related and non-bee goods (or services).
 
Bring items to auction, and good food! The SVBA provides a main dish, but we look forward to you adding you own favorite dish to the potluck, which somehow ends up with an appropriate distribution of salads, breads, veggies, starches...and best of all, the desserts.  

Thanks to everyone who shared holiday treats at our 3rd annual celebration/cookie exchange. Maybe we should host the Great Skagit Baking Show next year... it was that good.
 
As a sidebar at the event, we introduced an instructional video about how to properly use the Epipen® auto injector. This is a readily available resource for administering a rapid dose of epinephrine to help counteract a potentially dangerous reaction that some individuals have to bee stings. The reaction is called "anaphylaxis". We have had a number of people take the quiz to attain an Epipen certificate.

Keep those Dues Flying In
SVBA: One of the best deals going

The new season is officially open for 2025 SVBA memberships and renewals, and our Treasurer Domie Bourgeois is getting our membership subscriptions up to date.  She is available to sign you up at our monthly meetings, or you can use the other options listed below.
 
Annual membership dues are for a calendar year. Annual dues are only $20 for an individual or $30 for a household. That's a high value investment and supports the wide range of programs and events that we offer including: 

• Monthly meetings, speaker programs and special events
• Bee chats and mentoring sessions
• Website, Facebook page, and this SVBA monthly newsletter
• SVBA demonstration hives at our Apiary in Bow
• Annual beekeeping course 
• SVBA booth at the Skagit County Fair

The membership form and payment instructions are found on our website or by clicking HERE.

The online payment option can be accessed by clicking HERE.

What the Bees See
Craig P. Burrows, Photography

We were recently introduced to a spectacular new hardcover book that we have added to our growing shelf of bee tomes which was...eye opening.
 
Bees' eyes are attuned to a different spectrum of light than our human eyes. They see only a portion of the wavelengths that we perceive, but their sight reception extends into the ultraviolet spectrum that is completely invisible to us beekeepers.
 
Using special equipment and techniques, photographer and horticulturalist Craig Burrows has produced images translating what the bees see when they look at flowers. The flowers look entirely different and are much more spectacular, as though they were being illuminated from the inside to attract their pollinators.
 
As a high-quality photography book alone, it is a great "get". But it also contains artfully illustrated short treatises on interesting topics - from the botany of the manuka tree as a famed honey source to the anatomy of flowers and bees. An essay speculations on what there world would be like without bees, which is not a pretty picture.
 
Listed at $40 by its publisher, a check of Amazon's website shows that a hardcover version may be available for a price of just over $20. 

It may still be dark and gloomy, but the days are getting longer and there are always things to do for your colonies. Here is a January checklist drawn from former SVBA President Brad Raspet's monthly schedule of activities:

• Check - Check the hives for damage and look at the bottom board, to make sure the entrance is not blocked.
• Weigh - Weigh and record colony weight in pounds (that bathroom scale should help).
• Feed - Feed honey, bee candy, or raw sugar.
• Order - Order bee packages or nucs if you know you will need them, and purchase pollen patties for spring supplemental feeding.

Skagit Valley Beekeepers Association

Brett DeLawter              President  brettdelawter@gmail.com
Dawn Beck                    Vice President   dawnrunner@live.com
Domie Bourgeois         Treasurer/Website Manager domie.bourgeois@gmail.com
Brenda Crossley          Secretary   brendacrossley49@gmail.com
Steve Cecil                    Newsletter  cecilbees121@gmail.com
Don Johnson                Board   homebrewtwo@gmail.com
Jim Kohl                        Board
Heather Oates               Board  hoates@gmail.com
Seth Smith.                   Board   seth_smith@live.com
Chris Zimmerman        Board  gocougs87@gmail.com
Matt and Nikki Jones   SVBA Equipment Managers  lamesican@gmail.com