Newsletter for December 2024
 

It's our holiday meeting/celebration, and features the third annual cookie exchange. We will start at 7 PM, December 12th at the Sedro-Woolley Library. We have a short agenda followed by a festive chance to share your beekeeping tales, tips, and tribulations with your fellow apiarists to close out 2024.

Here's what's up this month:

• Brief meeting - Brett DeLawter will bring us up to date with SVBA news.
• Celebration with cookie consumption - Enjoy, but save some to take home.
• Presentation on the side - We are going to be running a video presentation provided to us by the Washington State Beekeepers Association (WASBA)  showing how to administer emergency treatment with an Epipen® auto injector for a dangerous anaphylactic allergic reaction to a bee sting.  

This is an in-person event, so we will not be providing a Zoom meeting option this month.

December Informational Video
At the SVBA holiday meeting/celebration

Some people develop extreme allergic reactions to bee stings that can be sudden and life-threatening. The severe reaction that can occur is called "anaphylaxis". To counteract the initial allergic reaction, the drug epinephrine can be administered, immediately followed with a visit to an emergency medical care provider for potential delayed reactions that can sometimes occur. The Epipen® auto injector is a readily available resource for administering a rapid dose of epinephrine that is a fundamental part of beekeeping supplies to reduce risks and concerns for beekeepers and visitors to beeyards.
 
WASBA provides this instructional and informational video about how to properly use this device so that you can be ready if the need arises.

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

Bri Price is the Honey Bee Program Extension Coordinator at Washington State's Puyallup Research and Extension Center. An entomologist, her areas of expertise include integrated pest management. Committed to outreach and education, she will bring her scientific knowledge and advice to the SVBA. 
 
Her topics will include the challenges associated with the small hive beetle (SHB) that has begun to appear in our region. Infestations of SHB have caused enormous problems in other parts of the U.S., and have been the subject of recent studies to gauge their presence and trends here. 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.

SVBA Apiary
First year in review

This was the first season for the SVBA Apiary in Bow, and Brett DeLawter noted some of the highlights in a recent discussion. It has been a great success as an instructional resource, with many members joining in the weekly sessions of hands-on installations, inspections, treatments and management. 

• Right-sized - At its peak, 6 hives were in place in the field behind Terramar Brewing that hosts our demonstration apiary. This has been winnowed to 4 hives, which allows inspections and management in a timely manner scaled to the attendance and participation of observers.
• Healthy and populous - The bees have been well-treated and are populous. The honey they produced this year has been left unharvested, to serve as overwintering reserves for these first-year colonies.
• Hunkered down in style - The colonies have been well-prepared for the winter, treated early with oxalic acid fumes, and wrapped in insulation using the method that Dawn described in her October presentation at the SVBA meeting. They have been fed granulated grain sugar since early September, and have consumed great quantities as a measure that will reduce the draw on stored honey until later in the winter.

Special thanks go out to Dawn Beck as a hive-donator and demonstrator, and to the family of Mike Young who donated his unusual hive to the Apiary's inventory. The apiary relied on other volunteers at each step of the installation and management process, among them Dewey, Matt, Nicki, Norma, Kevin, Marie and Ray from our membership.

Bees and H2O
Professor Tom Seeley
November SVBA presentation

Thomas Seeley joined us with a Zoomed presentation last month from his home. Tom is a Professor in Biology at Cornell University back East. He filled us in on the findings from his research on how bee colonies manage their critical need for the proper amount of water in their hives. 
 
Tom and his assistants undertook painstaking methods to observe and measure the amount of water being brought into hives. This included identifying and tracking individual, specialized bees in observation colonies that gathered water outside of the hives and those that then transferred and delivered water where it is most needed inside the hives.

There were some amazing details:

• Colonies don't store water, but have an "on demand" system - There are no reservoirs of water in the hive. If additional moisture is needed for the many uses within the hive, specialized bees are triggered to leave the colony, forage and collect water, and bring it back.
• Two types of water specialists - Some middle-aged worker bees take on one of two specialized roles. In addition to water collectors, there are transfer specialists who receive the water deliveries and then distribute them within the hive to where it is needed - for consumption, to moisten bee bread, to help cool the colony, or other purposes. These collector and receiver bees have no other role, and appear to hang around the hive until called into action. 
• Lots of water - Over the course of a season, a healthy hive consumes many gallons of water in micro increments. A fully loaded water collector provides about 1/250th of a teaspoon of water with each trip.

Re-elected
Officers and Board Members

The existing lineup of SVBA officers and Board members was formally approved - and applauded - at the November meeting. All candidates had volunteered to continue in their roles and with the many contributions that they make to our organization. Thanks and congratulations to:

• Brett DeLawter,  President 
• Dawn Beck, Vice President 
• Domie Bourgeois, Treasurer 
• Brenda Crossley, Secretary 
• Don Johnson,  Board
• Heather Oates, Board

It may be dark and gloomy, but there are always things to do for your colonies and equipment. Here is a December checklist drawn from Brad Raspet's monthly schedule of activities:

• Treat - If you use an oxalic acid vaporizer, now is a good time for a treatment. Follow the instructions - temperatures should be above 37 degrees, and best if above 50 degrees.
• Check - Check hives for damage, keep the entrance unblocked, and fend off any pests.
• Check - Check the hive weight to measure honey supplies; add bee patties or sugar if warranted.
• Think - Start thinking about next year, and obtaining the new gear you will need.

Membership in the SVBA
Join or Renew

Annual membership dues are for a calendar year. Membership renewal (or new memberships) begin in January. 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. 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