Topic: Winter Preparations SnoKing Beekeepers Sept 21, 2022 meeting

Time: Sep 21, 2022 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83978349299?pwd=aVhWaGd2RXV6TG5HS0RMdWhWbHJ3dz09

Meeting ID: 839 7834 9299

Passcode: 393597

     Sign into the club monthly meeting to share what's going on in our hives and what we are doing. Knotweed is still blooming in many locations! However, our bees are starting to respond to the colder nights and wind we are experiencing.

So come indoors this Thursday 6:30PM to meet fellow keepers to talk about our bees, what they are doing or not doing and how we can help them through the winter. Eli Ocheltree will have some winter concept powerpoint slides and do a short presentation on winterizing and then we will discuss bees as long as we want. Any formal presentation will end by or before 8pm, but all are welcome to stay and talk bees until the last person falls asleep.

We will cover winter management from basic to theoretical. The picture above was intended to focus us on the goal of winter survival. Following are a few additional pictures to think about.

Remember that we can each share screen, one at a time, so have any pictures of your setup ready to show after the short presentation. Hoping to talk bees with you all 6:30PM!

Looking forward to talking bees with you.

 Topic: Winter Preparations SnoKing Beekeepers Sept 21, 2022 meeting

Time: Sep 21, 2022 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83978349299?pwd=aVhWaGd2RXV6TG5HS0RMdWhWbHJ3dz09

Meeting ID: 839 7834 9299

Passcode: 393597

CONTENTS:

Also in this newsletter:

EVERGREEN STATE FAIR, Monroe, was a fun success.

HIVESIDES: outdoors in person mini-classes from April - August. None are scheduled at this time because weather will not permit more than cursory inspections.

QUEEN REARING PROJECT update

CLASSES starting:

Beginner 10/3 Mondays

Apprentice 9/15 Thursdays - already started

Journeyman 2nd week of Jan. 2023

EVENTS:

SnoKing Beekeepers booths can be found at:

RETURN OF THE SALMON, Sultan, WA, this Saturday 9/24

WASBA 2022 CONFERENCE 10/1 & 10/2, Othello, WA

MEMBERSHIP drawing prizes. Join/renew by 10/31 for a chance to win.

Fair – We hope you stopped by and saw in “living color” and in 3D those beekeepers you may only have met before online. If you missed the fair, here’s some pictures to show you what you missed.

    If SnoKing Beekeepers is not your primary local bee club, we hope you had as much fun at your local fair, and you are welcome to try out some of the fun ideas we had.

     One fun idea was giving away smoker fuel kits. The kits were put together by Rae Shepherd, with a 5-minute youtube video “How to light a smoker” created by Joe Dunsire, and were demoed by Walt Filson at the fair.

Joe's Youtube video can be viewed at:

https://youtu.be/tbzBOLVJNpw .

     Here are our award-winning mascot scarecrows, by Jo & Dennis Dietzel and Becky Glaze. Becky also made T-shirts for the Fair Booth Team below. We couldn’t get all the people who volunteered in a single picture because the fair runs for 12 days. We also can’t begin to recognize and sufficiently thank all those who worked behind the scenes.

Of course, no fair is complete without a Queen of the Fair holding audience in an observation hive:

WASBA 2022 ANNUAL CONFERENCE, Othello, WA October 1-2, 2022. Don't miss this great opportunity to meet fellow beekeepers! SnoKing Beekeepers will staff a vendor booth there at the in-person part of this hybrid (online & in person) conference. We still need volunteers to manage the booth. This is a fun opportunity to earn Journeyman service points. Contact Eli 206-895-7392 snokingbka.org or sign up for 2-hour shifts, 2 openings per shift at https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4DAEAD2FA0FAC07-wasba

Saturday Oct 1, 2022, 8AM – 6:30PM

Sunday Oct 2, 2022, 8AM – 1PM

     We are allowed to sell items at the conference vendor booth; any monies collected are donations to our club’s efforts. Our members are supplying the following: smoker fuel kits, official Government Issue survival cans of water, and 100s of burlap sacks for smoker fuel.

Smoker fuel kits $1

Survival water $5

burlap sacks 25 cents each or 4 for $1; 100s available

Fuel kits and survival water are perfect gifts for beekeepers you know. The holiday season is approaching fast! 

We hope to meet you at the workshops or events, or please stop by our vendor booth to say hi. Meeting in person is great, even more so if we have already met online. The booth will be wherever the vendor booths are that WASBA provides free to each member club. As we did at the fair, we will have free literature from the National Honey Board, the Washington Noxious Weed board, and free past copies of American Bee Journal and Bee Culture, along with catalogs from the bee suppliers that sponsor them – Dadant and Mann Lake.

Also not to be missed:

Bee Punny! continues with a different Bee Joke each day of the year. Don’t miss the 365 bee jokes, posted one per each day of 2022! Guaranteed “groanworthy.” Bee sure to share them; why groan alone when we can groan together?

HIVESIDES: the only Hiveside possible when weather will not permit opening hives for inspection, is an OAV demonstration and a general discussion of winterization and reconsidering hive placement for the winter. The earliest date we can offer this is Oct. 8. If interested, contact Eli at the Maltby location. The picture above is from a WASBA curriculum manual.

     Otherwise, Hivesides are on hold until April or when the weather permits inspection. Any member willing to host a Saturday or Sunday nuc or package installation at their house once those start arriving, please contact Eli, 206-859-7392 or email eliochel@snoking bka.org.

HiveSide Managers:

Granite Falls - Ron - beebuddy.skba@gmail.com 206-719-3604

Maltby - Eli - eliochel@snokingbka.org  206-859-7392

      Queenraising from grafts workshop update: We got decent results – 9 new proven queens -- despite starting a month late. We knew this year would only be what researchers call a “proof of concept”. That means we demonstrated only thatthe procedure works. Based on that, we will plan a formal queen rearing workshop for next year. It will run at least 3 consecutive Saturdays in early summer with optional attendance for the mid-week steps necessary, and the followup weekly checks to verify the queen is laying worker brood in a compact pattern. The goal would be that each attendee participates in as many of the steps in prepping, grafting, and proving queens as possible, and takes home a proven queen on a frame of her own brood. Details will be provided Spring 2023, when we hope for better weather than we saw in 2022. 

QUEEN REARING PROJECT update

A number of club members made this “proof of concept” happen. Pictured and named below are a few. (Ed. note: If I try to name everyone, I know that I would be missing someone.)

      Making up mating nucs photo: Minh Cao, Joe Dunsmire, Carol Moore.

      Weekly inspections and proving queens for the weeks following the actual grafting: special thanks to Joe Dunsmire, Becky Glaze, Minh Cao.

MEMBERSHIP DRIVE drawing: Still time to pay the Oct. 1, 2022 - Sept. 30, 2023 dues by October 31st and be automatically entered in the drawing for 2 great prizes pictured here: above, the quilt handcrafted by Anna Filson and below, a Guardian jacket and veil donated by Guardian Bee Apparel. First name drawn can pick either of the 2 prizes and the runner-up gets the remaining prize.

PROMO CODE:

     In addition to donating the jacket and veil, Guardian Bee Apparel says our members can use the following promo code for 10% off until the end of the year: Code SnoKing10

CLASSES

Register at www.snokingbka.org/classes .

Next Beginner class starts Monday, October 3. Apprentice started Thursday, September 15, but let us know if you wish to join us. Journeyman class will start 2nd week of January, 2023.

Classes are offered at cost because supporting beekeepers is our mission.

If you wish to challenge Beginner or have other questions about classes, please contact Eli, 206-859-7392, eliochel@snokingbka.org .

RETURN OF THE SALMON celebration, Sultan, WA, 9/24 Return of the Salmon

Sign up for this service opportunity at:

https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0F4DAEAD2FA0FAC07-return

Hope to see you at the 6:30PM Thursday 9/21 meeting, the 9/24 Return of the Salmon, Sultan, WA or at the Oct. 1 & 2, 2022 WASBA conference, Othello, WA. Like our bees, it is important for us beekeepers to hang out together, cluster, network and pass items to each other!

Looking forward to talking bees with you,

SnoKing Beekeepers Association.