Rainy Season Faves: URLs, Podcasts, Videos, Books, Ideas, etc.

SnoKing Beekeepers Dec. 13, 2023 monthly meeting

Time: Dec 13, 2023 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86429998390?pwd=RjlzMWtlQTNwd0hpSHlWY0FGdWNqQT09

Meeting ID: 864 2999 8390

Passcode: 734309

One tap mobile

+12532050468,,86429998390#,,,,*734309# US

+12532158782,,86429998390#,,,,*734309# US (Tacoma)

Dial by your location

• +1 253 205 0468 US

• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

Photo above is slightly out of focus, which is understandable because it was taken by Granite Falls beekeeper Ron Robinson waking up to see one of his hives floating off to join the Stillaguamish River. No worries, he waded out and caught it.

Meeting Topic: Rainy Season Faves: URLs, Podcasts, Videos, Books, Ideas, etc.

How are you planning to spend the rainy season? Catching up on all the beekeeping trends and developments, or reading, watching, or listening to all those sources for which you had no time this summer. Now you are home, inside more often, staying dry (we hope!) and have time to catch up. Let's put together a list of our faves to share and publish it on the Facebook Group Discussion Page and on the Link and Resources Page of our website. Remember you can share via screen or if you send the title or a screenshot, we can put it up for you. Eli Ocheltree is offering to kickstart discussion with screenshots of book covers, youtube videos, etc. and will add yours to the slideshow if you send them to eliochel@snokingbka.org.

Looking forward to talking bees with you 6:30PM this Wed. on Zoom.

CONTENTS:

State of the Hive

Feature Article: Pesticide Poisoning Act III

Journeyman Opportunities

Discussion groups

   The Hive Mind 2nd Thursdays - Jan. 14 7PM

   Facebook closed discussion group

   Trophallaxis 1st Wednesdays, started Nov. 1st

Membership/Fair Volunteers Drawing

Classes

"Auditing" classes - free for members

Beginner starts Jan. 11, 2024

Journeyman starts Jan. 14, 2024

   Apprentice started Oct. 17

Club Apiaries - closed for the season until further notice

FUTURE SNOKING MEETING TOPICS:

We are still hoping to have further detailed summary and analysis of the WASBA October 7 & 8 Conference talks; however, the release of the conference recordings has been delayed. Fortunately, Journeyman Michael Duncan covered quite a few of the presentations on which he took detailed notes at SnoKing's October meeting. The meeting recording can be found on our youtube channel at https://youtu.be/t35fW63Jpq4?si=TCqKI3NS0xOcdJ_g .

STATE OF THE HIVE

Hi, beekeepers! We need to have done our best and relax. Remember beekeeping is supposed to be simple: Keep the bees dry, fed, and treated for mites and “do no harm. Here’s hoping for a warmer drier 2024 spring than 2022 and 2023!

  Reports from beekeepers of their apiaries show a lot of variability in temperatures and sunbreaks. Clearing entrances may still show a few bees at a time expiring, of old age we hope. Although some beekeepers keep hives with no upper vent, if you can't check and clear entrances frequently, consider that a colony may need that small upper entrance for cleansing flights.

Some report still seeing yellow jackets and a few have even seen smaller ones showing up again, after we were relaxing thinking that the YJ hives must be dying down to the mated queens who we expect to overwinter. However, seeing more YJs making 'meatballs' of our bees, apparently to feed larvae, is cause for concern.

Remember dim, diffused red light attracts less attention if you must disturb or move bees at night, which increases in probability as day length is less than 8 1/2 hours for the next 3 weeks.

Also, although you feel cold when checking the bees, you are still warmer than ambient temperature, so wear veil & PPE to avoid "incoming heat-seeking fuzzy little missiles," aka defensive honey bees. Just leave the smallest gap between sleeve and glove if you doubt their pinpoint infrared detection ability! Human skin temperature ~70 degrees F vs. ambient temperature in 30s F or 40s F is a significant difference!

Here's hoping for early spring in 2024. May your mite counts be low!

FEATURE ARTICLE:

The following is one of a series of articles journalling the trials and tribulations of a beekeeper dealing with colonies exposed to pesticides. Journeyman Sandy Pruett has been researching what beekeepers can do when a hive is poisoned after it happened to her hives.

Pesticides Part III, Sandy Pruett, Journeyman

Our speaker from the Nov. 15 SnoKing Meeting, Bri Price, has responded to my pesticide exposure questions and here is for you to read. I appreciate the time and depth of Bri's response. After reading her response, please continue on to read my followup and further research on pesticide exposure and how to handle it in our apiaries.

Response from Bri Price, Honey Bee Outreach Coordinator, WSU Extension:

"Hi Sandy and Eli,

As promised, I talked with the WSU bee program and a few other contacts to give you solid information about Sandy’s questions last week. Feel free to pass along to others.

    If you feel that the symptoms you are seeing with your bee die offs are due to pesticide exposure instead of starvation or disease, you can confirm it by sending bee samples to a place in Portland, OR called Synergistic Pesticide Lab. It helps if you know there was a recent exposure, and you know what was applied. I’m copying and pasting what their director, Camille Holladay, sent to me about this and attaching the resources she provided in a zip folder:

“Each situation is different, sometimes there is a suspected active ingredient and we can narrow down the focus of testing, which saves folks money.  If the pesticide exposure is a mystery, we try to at least narrow it down to class based on the application/target pest/crop.  Many insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides (plus some growth regulators and synergists!) can be extracted and analyzed together in our Multiresidue Screen, however several classes of herbicides require a pH adjustment and must be tested separately. 

As far as pricing, we try to keep the cost down as much as possible.  We’re dealing with people (and bees) in crisis and so we’re not looking to make a big profit.  Rather, we want to provide folks with helpful information as quickly as possible at a reasonable cost.  If someone suspects a specific active ingredient, one analyte would cost $160/sample.  The Multiresidue Screen is $365/sample and an Acid Herbicide Screen (2,4-D, dicamba, triclopyr, etc.) is $210/sample.  If we’re looking for a class, the cost depends on the number of analytes and if they’re on one or more instruments, so that’s hard to estimate.  We generally don’t charge rush fees.

We consider these situations to be emergencies, the clock is ticking on pesticide metabolism and degradation by the time someone reaches out to us.  I like to talk with folks to help figure out what is going on and what is the most cost-effective way to help.  Of course, if you can help with some of that legwork, that is much appreciated! “ Camille Holladay, Synergistic Pesticide Lab

Bri Price continues:

Note: The WSDA has a lab that does pesticide residue testing, but they only use it for WSDA investigations and don’t take samples from the general public.

2. The WSDA currently investigates bee kills. The Pollinator Program Coordinator, Katie Buckley, gave me information about this.   They don’t currently have the capacity to do this for most hobbyists, but if something happens to a larger number of hives, then they investigate. People can either get in touch with Katie (kbuckley@agr.wa.gov)  -- photos are a plus if you aren’t sure of the cause -- or contact the Pesticide Compliance directly here: https://agr.wa.gov/departments/pesticides-and-fertilizers/pesticides/compliance

3. Who can you give your bees to, to see how they died? There is a free resource in Maryland, the Beltsville Bee Lab: You can send adult bees and beeswax comb. That bee lab does not test for viruses or pesticides and does not distinguish between nosema strains, but only identifies if nosema is present in your sample. They do test for is bacterial, fungal and microsporidian diseases, two species of parasitic mites and other honey bee pests. They also test for American Foulbrood when requested.

Here is a website with other diagnostic labs in the U.S.: https://apiaryinspectors.org/page-18060

    Can you reuse your hive equipment after you know pesticides were present and caused your hive(s) to die? Absolutely, yes because pesticides degrade to less than a lethal dose after time and the residues in hive should not endanger your bees.

There is such thing as microencapsulated methyl parathion, and since the pesticide is encapsulated in a covering to protect it, bees have collected it as pollen revisions. In that case, the pesticide is more conserved in the pollen stores and could endanger your bees BUT this pesticide was cancelled in 2012 and use is prohibited. 

Please let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks for inviting me to your SnoKing Beekeepers Association meeting. It’s great to connect with more WA beekeepers.

Cheers,

BRI PRICE

HONEY BEE PROGRAM EXTENSION COORDINATOR

Department of Entomology

WSU Puyallup Research and Extension Center

Email: briana.price@wsu.edu

WSU Honey Bee + Pollinators Program

Sandy Pruett’s further research:

Due to me living so far out, I called a guy I know just down under the hill from me, approximately 2 miles away. He has a Christmas tree farm at least 40 acres worth on his 80 acre farm. Art has 80 hives that are placed on his property during the nice weather and during this time he sprays his trees for bugs. He works with the bees and makes sure to spray early in the morning. Art knows everybody I think, so I asked him If he knew anyone spraying chemicals up here on the Hill. And he said there are no crops up here to spray. Too many trees, more forest land, maybe a few fields. There used to be three Christmas tree farms up here but they have been out of business for some time. He agreed with me, someone close is trying to kill yellowjackets and has been spraying or putting down pesticides. He also told me a Forestry guy told him mixing Sevin in tuna fish would kill the yellowjackets. That would be some bad stuff; I hadn't heard of that one.

 I called Blue Ridge Honey Company, talked with Bob Binnie about the pesticide die off of honey bees. Bob was saying most pesticides should dissipate off and he didn’t think there would be a problem using the drawn-out waxed frames with the next bee season.

He asked the age of the drawn-out frames, if they were over 10 years old. No, majority of frames are from this year or last year. He was saying it’s a good practice to cull old frames as they will build up with pesticides in the wax.

He asked what I had done for Varroa Mite management. Fourteen days of Apiguard, OA Pig pads started in the spring and OA Vapors three times, and caged the queens for 7-day brood break.

 I asked if it was practical to have the bees tested to find out what had killed them.  He said it wouldn’t be practical but would be fun to find out what killed them. However, it would cost a lot but would be fun.

 He also said that out of 11 hives, if I only had two die offs and one more possible affected, he didn’t see any need to move the apiary to a different location.

I told Bob the Cedar Hive was just airing out for the winter months with a screen across the entrance so nothing could get in. Bob was saying I would have to watch out for wax moths; we have had temps down into the 20’s. He suggested moving deeps with frames setting them on their side to air out somewhere out of any rain.

He agreed with me as well, someone is putting out pesticides to kill yellowjackets. Or, he said some people don’t like bees of any kind coming around and would poison water and set out for the bees.

A very gracious man, he talked to me at length and about all the possibles.

Another Hive Die Off

As I expected my Blue Hive has died off, too. The reasons being, they were not acting right at all.  Number one, they should have been in a cluster dying out. Instead, it was like they were just hanging out and the temperature dropped and got them.  Then look at the Screened Bottom Board; all that sugar laying there. Why did the bees not eat it?? If you look at the frame, there are bees stuck inside several cells; they shouldn’t be hungry, what are they doing?? It’s like they lost all sense of how they were supposed to work as a nucleus hive, very strange. By Sandy Pruett

Every bee we lose may seem important, but until weather improves, we are at "wait and see", so no point agonizing over each dead bee. Sometimes we retain perspective by actually measuring the number of dead bees, ~300 to a half-cup, a very small fraction of the bees entering winter in each hive. Remember to relax. Repeat to self: "2024 will be the best beekeeping year ever!"

Honey Bee Trophallaxis Photo Credit: Michael Hill

TROPHALLAXIS, next meeting Jan. 3, 2024

Masters, Journeymen and Journeyman candidates:

     Trophallaxis, a Journeyman and Beyond online networking and sharing group for all who have taken or are taking the academic portion of the WASBA Journeyman, is meeting by zoom on first Wednesdays. Although hosted by SnoKing Beekeepers, this discussion group is open to all Washington State Beekeepers who are Journeyman or Masters, and those who are taking or have taken the academic course of WASBA Journeyman certification.

     The group has decided to continue meeting monthly on zoom. It's a format that enables to share verbally and via screen or chat. We can share our beekeeping journey, encourage and support each other, let each other know about business/service opportunities, give or practice giving presentations, explore research topics, etc.

Email invitations are being sent out each month to a large group of the Journeymen and Journeyman candidates for which SnoKing has an email address. In addition, those attending meetings are receiving emails with notes from the previous meeting and the topic for the next Trophallaxis.

The Jan. 3rd topic is pollen and each attendee is encouraged to contribute an article, paper, youtube video or other ideas/information such as pollen trapping, storage, processing and uses.

     For the zoom link or for more information, call or text Eli Ocheltree 206-859-7392 or email eliochel@snokingbka.org because we do need to limit this group to beekeepers in Washington State with Journeyman or Master Beekeeper certification or working on Journeyman certification. This group can concentrate on meeting the networking and information sharing needs of the intermediate to advanced beekeeper, because other groups such as The Hive Mind can meet the needs of beginners to intermediate.

If this is not the group for you, please remember we do support beekeepers at all levels. So, for a beginning to intermediate beekeeping discussion group, see the information below in this newsletter for The Hive Mind (2nd Thursdays) and the SnoKing Beekeepers Facebook Discussion Group. 

Notice: There will be one essential rule at Trophallaxis and at any meeting or activity hosted by SnoKing Beekeepers. Ron Robinson stated it best for our Facebook discussion group, when he said:

"SKBA prides itself on the fact we are not like other groups on Facebook. We have become known as a safe group for keepers of all levels to comfortably ask questions and opinions without being blasted or publicly humiliated for asking what may seem like a very basic question to others. Any harassing, bullying, demeaning behavior, or such will not be tolerated. We have a zero tolerance policy and such behavior will result in immediate removal from club and all club activities."

DISCUSSION GROUPS:

In addition to Trophallaxis,

ASK A BEEKEEPER sessions will pick up again in spring; dates and times TBA.

THE HIVE MIND networking group for beginning (and advanced!) beekeepers continues on 2nd Thursdays. Contact Gina Cuff ginacuff@gmail.com for information and zoom link.

SNOKING BEEKEEPERS Facebook discussion group is open to all Western Washington Beekeepers and continues throughout the year. Ask to join on Facebook or by emailing beebuddy.skba@gmail.com Ron Robinson with the email that you use on Facebook and he can invite you to join.

AUDITING CLASSES: SnoKing offers an unusual member benefit: a member can audit a class for free for any level already achieved. Email eliochel@snokingbkar.org to be placed on the weekly class email list at no cost for current members. This is of particular benefit to those who took classes pre-2019, before the major rewrite of the manuals. Any member who previously earned a certificate is welcome to join a current class and see that current level information presented.

In particular, some of you Journeymen might wish a review of academic material before applying for the new Master Beekeeper program expected to begin in June 2024.

Also, Journeyman is the most completely rewritten and improved of the course levels and of particular interest to experienced beekeepers. The easiest way to join as an “alumnus” is to email eliochel@snokingbka.org and ask to receive the weekly class emails with link, handouts and other information.

If you received your WASBA Journeyman certificate years ago, even a couple years ago, you may want an updated digital version, free to you because you already paid for your certificate. The newer print manuals can also be purchased if you have already earned Journeyman.

The next Journeyman 10-session course starts January 14, 2024. If you are a member and already have your Journeyman certificate, email us if you wish to "audit" for review.

JOURNEYMAN OPPORTUNITIES to earn service credit point during the winter can include writing articles of interest to beekeepers (2 service credits per article). For an example, see above the article by Journeyman Sandy Pruett.

Other suggested article topics:

-- personal evolution as a beekeeper

-- scaling up your beekeeping operation, or down, or both

-- review of a favorite speaker or research source/topic you have researched

-- summary of the beekeeping season just ending (your experience or a general perspective of 2023)

More journeyman service possibilities:

-- Teaching WASBA Beginner*

-- Moderating or presenting at discussion groups or meetings.

     *We are aware that WASBA allows anyone who has completed Apprentice with one year beekeeping experience to teach Beginner, as long as they are under the supervision of a Journeyman or Master, but SnoKing limits teaching to beekeepers that have completed at least the academic portion of WASBA Journeyman.

CLASSES Online with SnoKing Beekeepers Assn.

All classes include manual, online testing, and WASBA certificate plus WASBA 2024 membership upon course completion.

Next BEGINNER starts Thursday, January 11, 2024. Registration and more information at www.snokingbka.org/beginnerapplication

The first 2024 Apprentice will start late January or February 2024.

Questions? Call or text 206-859-7392 or email eliochel@snokingbka.org.

Next JOURNEYMAN starts January 14, 2024. Registration and more information can be found at www.snokingbka.org/journeymanapplication

     Although the academic course is only part of Journeyman certification, many Journeyman candidates find that it gives them knowledge and confidence to complete the other requirements, particularly the service hours requirement which may include mentoring, presentations, and other club & community service hours.

CLUB APIARIES:

Closed except by appointment

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

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

May your mite counts and flood levels be low, keep your hopes high!

Photo of beehives on knoll with rain shelter provided by Ron Robinson, Journeyman & Granite Falls Apiary Manager. No hives were harmed in the taking of this photo. The floating one in the top photo in this newsletter contained no live bees. See SnoKing Facebook Group discussion page for more details on this drama in the life of a beekeeper.

SnoKing Beekeepers Dec. 13, 2023 monthly meeting

Time: Dec 13, 2023 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada)

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86429998390?pwd=RjlzMWtlQTNwd0hpSHlWY0FGdWNqQT09

Meeting ID: 864 2999 8390

Passcode: 734309

One tap mobile

+12532050468,,86429998390#,,,,*734309# US

+12532158782,,86429998390#,,,,*734309# US (Tacoma)

Dial by your location

• +1 253 205 0468 US

• +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma)

We look forward to 'talking bees' with you at these 3rd Wednesday monthly meetings.

The mission of the SKBA, a 501c3 member club of WASBA, is to provide educational opportunities, networking and support to beekeepers and people interested in honey bees, particularly those involved in small-scale beekeeping in Washington State west of the Cascades.

"We talk bees!" at SnoKing Beekeepers Association.