October Meeting
Thursday, October 9th at 7 PM

We look forward to you joining us for our October 9th meeting, which is back to our normal schedule of the second Thursday of the month. The meeting will be at our regular meeting place in the Central Skagit Valley Library in Sedro-Woolley.

Here's what's up this month:

• A Beeginners Q&A and Bee Chat beginning at 6:00 PM - We enjoy a pre-meeting time to share tips and tales with a few refreshments to which everyone is invited.
• Bee talk - Our presentation this month will be by Bri Price of WSU. Focusing on Nosema, she will tell us how to detect it and how to prevent this parasitic infection from destroying your colonies.  She is going to do an online dissection of a bee to teach us about the physiology that is involved, so don't miss this one.
• 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.

Nosema Apis and Honey Bee Health
Thursday, October 9th
Presentation at the SVBA Meeting

Bri Price is the Honey Bee Program Extension Coordinator for WSU's Puyallup research center and she is one of our favorite speakers. 

She is going to talk to us about Nosema, which is a single-celled parasite that attacks the digestive system of bees, dramatically weakening them and shortening their lives. It's a strange kind of beast, classified as a fungus. It is spread by long-lived spores that can lie dormant until conditions are just right for them to become active and infect bees. The spores can spread easily, and contaminate your honeycomb and beekeeping tools.

Detecting Nosema spores is not as simple as spotting mites; accurate diagnosis depends on a microscopic examination of bees.

Bri will actively demonstrate how this is accomplished in her online, live presentation. She will show us how the dissection is accomplished and what a microscopic examination can show.

The good news? There are effective antibiotic treatments that can inhibit the spores within the bees (Fumidil B), and ways to disinfect your tools and hive components.

Pacific Northwest Beekeeping Conference 
October 3-5

There's just enough time to get to this conference. It's happening this weekend in Lynnwood, just north of Seattle near the I-5 exit, at the Embassy Suites Seattle North Lynnwood Hotel. A program sponsored by the Washington State Beekeepers Association, it features numerous speakers and displays.
 
The event announcement and schedule is at this website link, and it indicates that on-site registration will be available. https://wasba.org/speakers-agenda-out-now-2025-conference/

Mason Beekeeper Conference
October 23-25, Woodinville

Mason bees are prolific pollinators and have their own set of advocates and beekeepers. In our region, this includes the Orchard Bee Association in Woodinville. It is holding a 3-day conference and Annual Meeting with both in-person and online participation opportunities.  Annual meeting registration is $125 per person and includes meeting admission and membership for one year. You can learn more about the group and the event, and register at this website: https://www.orchardbee.org/. 

Words of Wisdom on Winter
Dawn talks about winterizing

Master Beekeeper Dawn Beck took the stage at the SVBA meeting last month to inform and persuade us to be very attentive to winterizing our colonies. She emphasizes that we need to prepare our hives well before the really wet, windy, cold Northwest weather arrives. 
 
In the past, beekeepers were urged to make sure that there was lots of ventilation to keep the colony from being drenched in the moisture that can build up in a tightly sealed hive. However, Dawn cites recent research - and her own experience - that the bigger issue is the internal temperature in the hive. Keep 'em warm, and they should do fine. 

         Well insulated, this hive is even protected from the cold winter winds...

She provides moisture boards under her top cover, which seems to keep the moisture in control. And keeping some moisture inside is good - specialized bees will gather the condensation and pull it back down to share with the rest of the colony.
 
Here are a few of her recommendations:

• If you have weak colonies in the fall, combine them with a strong colony. Weak colonies probably won't make it, and combining two weak colonies makes one weak colony.
• Don't feed them fall syrup after the days and nights are getting cold. Giving them cold food can actually harm them. Online sources tell us to stop feeding syrup when daytime temps drop much below 60 degrees, for example. Around here, that is typically by mid-October. Shift over to raw cane sugar on top of your inner cover, and keep it refilled if they are ravenous.
• Insulate early. She likes using the solid insultation board material that can be cut to size used on top and around the sides. But she is also a big fan of black, insulating lumber wrapping material that you can sometimes get for free from Home Depot or Lowes that they normally throw away. She wraps this around the hives, and it works!

Mead is to honey what beer is to grains and hops. It's fermented, drinkable, and of varying quality.
 
We have tasted a number of commercially bottled mead offerings from time to time, without being persuaded that we wouldn't just prefer a bottle of honey, straight up. But we came across a bottle of spritzy, low-alcohol mead that is produced in France recently that was surprisingly tasty and very enjoyable.

A little research turns up some interesting facts, including mead's long history as a beverage. The scenes in medieval-themed movies with characters quaffing pints of mead are accurate about its prevalence back then. After being sidelined centuries ago by other alcoholic beverages that were cheaper to make, mead production today is on the rise.
 
It turns out that there are different styles of mead.

• Mead is sometimes called "honey wine", and although the honey is the principal fermentation ingredient with its high sugar content, mead can also include other ingredients.
• Hydromel is a relatively low-alcohol version.
• Metheglin is a version that contains spices.
• Melomel contains fruit.
• Mead can be "still", naturally sparkling, or carbonated.

We have been curious about mead-making as a sideline of beekeeping for a long time, but your editor has yet to try to take this on. So we are curious to see if any of our SVBA members have tried to convert some honey into mead, and how it came out. Let us know your experience, and your recipe secrets (if it came out well, of course). Send us a note at cecilbees121@gmail.com and we will share what we learn.
 
And if you want to try it out from scratch, follow this link to the American Homebrewers Association collection of mead recipes, click HERE.  

Becoming a Journeyman Beekeeper
Contact Dawn Beck if you are interested

For those of you thinking about moving up a rung on the beekeeping ladder, you may be interested in the additional training that leads to getting your Journeyman Beekeeper certificate. Dawn Beck is considering setting up a class at this level; if you are interested, send her an e-mail at dawnrunner@live.com

Tucking the bees in for the long winter nights? It's time to get them ready! 
 
Here are some beekeeping tips, drawn from VP Dawn Beck's tips and former SVBA President Brad Raspet's checklist:

• Calculate the honey stores in your overwintering supers - they will need about 60 pounds of honey it they are to make it through on their own. Some folks use a bathroom scale to be precise about it.
• Close down screened bottom board inserts, and begin reducing the hive opening as cold weather arrives.
• Provide/continue supplemental syrup feeding at 2 parts cane sugar to 1 part water 
• Provide supplemental health syrups such as HBH, particularly for colonies being moved between yards, or other treatments that you may choose.
• Install entrance reducers as the weather turns colder.
• Rearrange top boards and covers to accommodate your moisture control strategies and hive components.
• Add emergency stores of cane sugar or winter bee sugar patties before winter sets in.

Membership in the SVBA
Get with the program...

If you forgot to pay your dues, annual membership payments are always welcome from past members. It is also the perfect time for new members to join and be part of our beekeeping colony. Annual dues are only $20 for an individual or $30 for a household. It's a high value investment and supports the wide range of programs and events that we offer. The membership form and payment instructions are found on our website or by clicking 

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.

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