June Meeting
Thursday, June 13
Central Skagit Valley Library in Sedro-Woolley |
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Our monthly meeting is on Thursday, June 13th at 7 PM. We will be meeting at the Central Skagit Valley Library in Sedro-Woolley.Here's what's up this month: - Beginning Beekeeper Q&A - Are you a beginning beekeeper and want some advice?
We will have an experienced beekeeper available for consultations and
inspirations in an adjacent room from 6:15 until the meeting starts at
7 PM.
- Bee chat - Come early if you can for our informal "bee chat" beginning at 6:30 PM with a few refreshments to which everyone is invited.
- Bee talk - Susan DeLawter will describe how to prepare your entries for the annual honey judging event at this summer's Skagit County Fair.
- 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.
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Apiary Field Day is Coming Up!!!
Sunday, June 9th from 10-noon at Terramar |
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Join
us for a beekeeping Field Day at the SVBA Apiary, which is located in a
field behind the Terramar Brewstillery on 5712 Gilkey Avenue in Edison,
which is a village in Bow. A Field Day is a wonderful introduction to
beekeeping for those who are curious, a hands-on demonstration for new
beekeepers, and a chance to learn new tricks for the experienced folks.
The
apiary is thriving, and each colony is developing its own patterns and
management issues that our master beekeepers are assessing and
addressing. |
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Hive-side Days at the Apiary
Every Wednesday in June, 10 AM to Noon |
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Regular
hive maintenance and an educational opportunity coincide every
Wednesday in the late morning at the apiary. Join us any time you would
like - it's interesting to watch the progression of these colonies. |
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Bee Talk at the June 13th Meeting
The path to the prizes |
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Susan DeLawter organizes
our now-annual honey judging event which takes place at our booth at
the Skagit County Fair in August. She will provide: - Information about
the different categories that you can enter (bottled honey, frames,
posters), how the rules and judging criteria work, and how the SVBA
will make standard glass bottles available
- Insights about how to best prepare your entries so that they look great and will catch the judges' eyes
- Inspiration for participating!
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The
Skagit County Fair runs for four days, August 8 to 11. We
have a popular booth with awesome displays that we staff with members.
Set aside the dates - it is a fantastic old-fashioned county fair -
where we display all the entries and the ribbons they earned. And think
about signing up for a shift at the SVBA booth. You can sign up
beginning at our June meeting, and there is free entry to the fair if
you are a volunteer at our booth. |
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WASBA Knowledge & Fun Fest
Visit the state-wide beekeeping event
Saturday, June 22nd |
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We hope you can join other SVBA beekeepers and travel down to the Medicine Creek Winery, 947 Old Pacific Highway in
Olympia for this free public event and statewide gathering. It is a
great chance to meet beekeeping folks from all around, sharing tails
and tips. The Washington State Beekeepers
Association is the umbrella group for all of the associations, and is
staging this fair-like festival. There will be vendor booths,
"knowledge booths" staffed by WASBA member clubs, games, raffles, mead
tasting, and a chance to meet the 2024 American Honey Princess. Check out the details at https://wasba.org/events/knowledge-fun-fest/ |
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July Potluck Picnic
Join us Sunday, July 14th, Sunday from noon to 3 |
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The
SVBA annual potluck and picnic will be at Mt. Vernon's Hillcrest Park
at the Gazebo. The SVBA will be providing the burgers and dogs, but
everything else will be potluck contributions. Bring your favorite
picnic dish along with a big appetite - it's always a mid-summer feast. |
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Not an Upcoming Event or Program
No monthly SVBA meeting in July |
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The potluck picnic takes the place of our monthly meeting, so do not show up at the Sedro Wooley Library - we won't be there! |
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Les Catches SwarmsMay SVBA bee talk #1 |
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At our May meeting, Les Scott shared
his experiences and methods that he has developed for capturing bee
swarms that are appearing in the region in late spring and early
summer. There are key tools that he uses, including a step ladder and
long extendable pole with a capture net that he has fashioned for
reaching far up into trees or other temporary perches where swarms may
land.
Sometimes it seems that they settle on places that are just out of reach, anyway. But he still gathers quite a few swarms. |
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Les Scott in action, with his Bee Vac and comb-cutting technique |
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He
also removes colonies that have settled into houses, barns and sheds.
He uses a fantastic contraption - a Bee Vac - that he has
created out of flexible hosing and a shop vacuum to suck a whole colony
into a plastic bucket. He can then transfer them into a waiting brood
super. He uses a fish fileting knife to cut out the comb that remains,
which is often filled with honey and makes a real mess. So come
prepared when you remove a hive. |
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Dawn Splits HivesMay SVBA bee talk #2 |
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Dawn Beck brought in boards, frames, and supers to demonstrate how to split colonies to avoid swarming and expand a bee yard. |
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Dawn beginning to build a Demaree split... |
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She also walked us through the related Demaree method which
is designed to keep the laying queen from swarming. This method works
by creating lots of room within the hive around the laying queen, but
still keeps the colony intact. You set it up by dividing the colony
into three different layers: - Bottom super - This holds the queen and empty comb, and some capped brood. It is topped by a queen excluder.
- Middle honey or brood super - This can be empty comb.
- Top super - All of the uncapped brood is placed here.
The
nurse bees migrate up to the uncapped brood, opening up lots of space
for the queen to keep laying as capped brood hatches. In the meantime,
the colony can continue to collect honey at a great rate, including in
the middle box. But you would need to check for - and remove - queen
cells that are likely to appear. Dawn has tried this, and it makes sense. |
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New Equipment Managers
Your link to the SVBA beekeeping equipment |
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New Equipment ManagersYour link to the SVBA equipment Matt and Nikki Jones have
stepped forwards to help us all out by managing the beekeeping
equipment that the SVBA owns, taking over from Diane Dong who took care
of this for many years. We have : - 2 honey extractors
- 2 applicator wands for vaporizing oxalic acid to help control varroa mites.
The
equipment can be borrowed for use by SVBA members by contacting Matt
and Nikki and making arrangements for picking up and returning it. You
can reach them through their e-mail address, lamesican@gmail.com |
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Arriving Soon Near You
It's the annual blackberry honey flow |
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Around
here, the prolific blackberry blooms provide an enormous proportion of
the nectar gathered by honeybees; it is important to have honey supers
on your strong colonies ready to go when the vines are flowering.
Depending on weather, the flow may last only a few short weeks and
typically is in full swing during the second half of June.
There is a native Trailing Blackberry, Rubus ursinus that
seems to have the most flavorful berries and are a favorite fruit of
out native bears. It is sometime called a "dewberry". Growing with
stems up to 20 feet in length, this blackberry clusters in curved
strands and mounds if they don't find adjacent plants to climb. These
native blackberries still predominate in our neck of the woods, but
they do not compete successfully with the invaders. |
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The non-native invasive version is the Himalayan Blackberry, Rubus armeniacus or Rubus discolor.
It is classified as a noxious weed by the State of Washington. The
State's Noxious Weed Control Board has a map that shows Skagit County
as "infested", but not at the high rates that it highlights in
Snohomish or Whatcom County. The spiny thickets of Himalayan
Blackberries can have over 500 canes per square meter, making the land
they takeover impassable. Physically eradicating them is a nice idea,
but practically impossible.
So we might as well enjoy the benefits that all of these blackberries provide for beekeepers. |
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A
bee walks into a bar and the friendly bartender says, "Hey gal, we've
got a fancy gin cocktail named after you!" The bee, looking surprised,
says, "Really? You've got a drink named 'Patricia'?" |
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It was a cold and gloomy late May, but June is looking up.
As we turn into the big honey flow periods, here are some tips offered by Brad Raspet and Dawn Beck. |
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- Add honey supers for full colonies now.
- Don't cramp their style. Check
for overcrowding and create more space as needed. You need to have some
extra space for brood on both sides of the brood nest, and enough
frames to be filled with honey and pollen.
- Add a second brood box for the healthy new hives.
- It is near the end of the split season, when both colonies have a good chance of succeeding.
- This is the peak period for the bees to create new wax, so get old frames out and keep moving undrawn foundation closer to center so that the bees building more new comb.
- Keep eye on your honey supers - they can fill up fast, and a new honey super should be added when a box is about 3/4 full.
- July is yellowjacket season, so if you want to protect colonies with a robbing screen, purchase or build them now.
- Continue feeding syrup (1:1 water to cane sugar) for new hives only, and for the last time - they should be on their own very soon.
If you use drone frames as a mite control method, it is time to remove the capped drone brood when it becomes prolific, and put the frames back to get a second round of comb-building and drone brood going. |
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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
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 brettdelawter@gmail.com
Dawn Beck Vice President dawnrunner@live.com
Domie Bourgeois Treasurer 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 |
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