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March Potluck and Auction Event
Thursday, March 14
Sedro-Woolley Senior Center
6-8 PM, setup at 5 PM
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Every March features our annual potluck
dinner and auction event, and 2024 is no exception. Bring food to
share, items for sale, a healthy appetite - and a pocketful of cash to
spend on cool items in our silent auction.
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We will be setting up the display tables
beginning at 5 PM, so come a little early to lay out your donated items
to contribute to making the evening fun and profitable for the SVBA.
That will also give you more time to look at all of the other assembled
items, and build a winning strategy to acquire your favorites.
The SVBA provides a main dish, but we look forward to your inspired accompaniments that make our potlucks so satisfying.
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The Senior Center is at 715 Pacific Street, so don't go to the library by mistake!
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The Ins and Outs of Deadouts
Thursday, April 11th at our monthly meeting
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Dewey Caron will be the
guest speaker at April's SVBA meeting at the Library in Sedro-Woolley
and will discuss the problems and mechanisms that create "deadouts" in
honeybee colonies. A nationally-known entomologist and beekeeping guru,
he is the author of The Complete Bee Handbook. The timing for
this will be beneficial for those among us who will be scratching our
heads as we grapple with the non-surviving colonies after a long winter.
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Watching WASBA
Look out for events and programs
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The Washington State Beekeepers Association
(WASBA) is a consistent source of interesting programs and conferences
that is well worth keeping an eye on. For example, they now have a
special training program for beekeeping instructors focusing on
anaphylaxis. Looking way down the road, WASBA is holding its annual
October conference in Lynnwood this year, an easy jaunt for SVBA members
this time around. Their website is at https://wasba.org |
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What do bees do when lots of their friends move into a new hive?
They throw them a house swarming party.
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February Beekeeping Courses
Fantastic Participation
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February's online beekeeping courses were a
great success with participants drawn from the entire region. They were
taught by Master Beekeeper Dawn Beck with supporting assistance by Brett DeLawter, Les Scott, and Jon Moore.
As a joint program of the SVBA and the Mt. Baker Beekeeping Association
(MBBA), the online approach dissolved the distance between Whatcom and
Skagit Counties.
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Participants attended a pair of 4-hour
sessions during weekend mornings. Of the 46 participants, 26 came from
our area and 20 came through the Mt. Baker connections. Fully 14
students advanced to Beginner Beekeeper status with certificates, and 7
took the next step to achieve Apprentice status.
Congratulations to everyone involved!
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Fat Bees and Bees in a Box
Takeaways from two talks
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February's SVBA meeting featured a double header with presentations by Vice President Dawn Beck and David Schiefelbein.
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Dawn's talk was eye-opening: she has researched the anatomical feature
known as "fat bodies" in honey bee abdomens. They serve vital roles in
energy storage and use during the life cycle of a bee - and are
fundamentally linked to bee longevity.
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The fat bodies produce a protein -
vitellogenin - that facilitates protein transfer to larvae by nurse
bees. The non-renewable supply of protein then provides the energy
needed to support their subsequent foraging until it is depleted and the
bees die. If bees have healthy supplies of vitellogenin, they will
produce healthy brood and endure for an extended period gathering honey
(or surviving the winter).
But here's the rub - varroa mites damage the fat bodies. This
compromises bees and results in short-lived summer bees. But more
disastrously, it can shrink the number of bees overwintering to
unsustainable levels, weakening immunity, and reducing nurse bees when
they are most needed.
Lesson learned (again)? Manage mites!
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David Schiefelbein took us
on an amazing photo tour of the process used to assemble packages of
bees with caged queens for sale. He makes an annual trek to California
to assemble packages and add queens that are purposefully bred,
originating from the apiculture program at Washington State University.
Most astounding was the incremental process of gathering, weighing, and
boxing exactly 3-pounds of frantic bees. Through a sequence of bizarre
cages, funnels, and a custom-made scale, teams of workers rustle up the
bees while surrounded by a cloud of escapees. They then staple boxes
into well-spaced groups of packages so that they can make a rapid and
well-ventilated trip up I-5 in specially modified trucks.
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March has been more lion-like than lamb-like so far, but several weeks
remain. Here is this month's activity checklist drawn from Brad Raspet's
schedule of beekeeping practices.
- Gently lift hives to check and record their weight to determine if the honey reserves are still significant.
- Provide or supplement their stores with feed honey (stored capped frames that you didn't extract), bee candy, or raw sugar.
- Check for dead hives and try to determine the cause of their demise.
- Clean "dead outs", supers, equipment and bee yard areas.
- If
you need to replace or add colonies, order your nucs or packages right
away (see the Trading Post for good sources, below).
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Where to get spring bees - Both Les Scott in Bellingham (see below) and David Schiefelbein at Elite Honey & Bee are
potential sources for packages of bees, nucs, and queens. If you need
to replace deadouts or expand your beeyard, you can get more information
at their websites: leszbees.com and https://www.elitehoneyandbee.com
Les's Bees always has a range of beekeeping supplies in
his Bellingham supply house, and owner Les Scott might even arrange to
drop off on-line purchases for SVBA members at our meetings if you get
in touch in advance . Go to leszbees.com. Or you can contact Les Scott directly by e-mail, call, or text: 360-303-0396.
If you have supplies and equipment that you may be interested in
swapping, selling, or just plain giving to other interested members of
the SVBA, send a brief description, price, and contact information to
your editor, cecilbees121@gmail.com.
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Membership in the SVBA
SVBA: Join or Renew
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Annual membership dues are for a calendar
year and there is still plenty of time to renew, join or rejoin your
SVBA membership. Annual dues are only $12 (or $13 using our online
payment system). 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 HERE.
The online payment option can be accessed by clicking HERE. |
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Skagit Valley Beekeepers Association
Brett DeLawter, President
818-416-2208
Dawn Beck, Vice President
206-719-3666 , dawnrunner@live.com
Domie Bourgeois, Treasurer
domie.bourgeois@gmail.com
Brenda Crossley Secretary
brendacrossley49@gmail.com
Steve Cecil, Newsletter
617-719-7870, cecilbees121@gmail.com
Don Johnson, Board
homebrewtwo@gmail.com
Jim Kohl, Board
Heather Oates, Board
360-391-7357, hoates@gmail.com
Seth Smith, Board
360-770-0481, seth_smith@live.com
Chris Zimmerman, Board
gocougs87@gmail.com
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