Topic: Oct. 19, 2022 Monthly Meeting SnoKing Beekeepers Time: Oct 19, 2022 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87848771744?pwd=UHZmNktMM3lZeHBhZ1ZlMENuV3hJQT09 Meeting ID: 878 4877 1744 Passcode: 300126 One tap mobile +12532158782,,87848771744#,,,,*300126# US (Tacoma) Dial by your location +1 253 215 8782 US (Tacoma) Find your local number: https://us02web.zoom.us/u/kc3qm79bEU |
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Sign into the club monthly meeting to share what's going on in our hives and in our club. MEETING AGENDA: Outreach update: Return of Salmon (Sultan) and WASBA conference (Othello) Possible location for in person meetings in central Snohomish County Ideas needed for in-person meetings, particularly hands-on activities. Topics already suggested: Wax food wraps Pollen patties and fondant frames Frame and box assembly AZ hive presentation Short presentation on some topic - TBD! 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. |
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Also in this newsletter: WASBA 2022 Conference ASK A BEEKEEPER Q&A sessions - next one tomorrow Tues Oct. 18 TO DO LIST OCTOBER HIVESIDES: on hold until spring due to weather QUEEN REARING PROJECT MEMBERSHIP DRIVE DRAWING CLASSES: MEMBERSHIP DRAWING for prizes. Join/renew by 10/31 for a chance to win. |
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Above is pictured the SnoKing Beekeepers contingent at the WASBA 2022 Annual Conference, the first hybrid (in person and virtual) state conference. Left to right: Tammy Korolis, Pumpkinhead, Eli Ocheltree, Becky Glaze & Honey Bandit. Conference attendance was lower than hoped but we were glad to see WASBA get the annual conferences going again after the disappointing 2021 cancellation. Word is that the 2023 conference will be on the west side of the Cascades with presentations and topics focused on the hobbyist and small scale beekeeper. |
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ASK A BEEKEEPER sessions We are scheduling extra Zoom Q&As this fall. The next one scheduled is the day after this newsletter arrives, Tuesday October 18th 6:30-8PM. The current Beginner class is the largest ever and in order to make sure that all students get a chance to ask questions and get answers, we are offering these sessions weekly until interest drops. Last Wednesday about 10 beekeepers logged in with questions and answers. Please note that this is NOT the meeting zoom link, but a special link for this extra Q&A: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/8290451990?pwd=eGdSR2FYdHd3WlNvcGZFWjlTUUN4UT09 Meeting ID: 829 045 1990 Passcode: 790170 |
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To Do List for October: Deter robbing. Feed. Keep treating for Varroa as needed. August is the normal month to plan winterization, so we already had a winterization meeting this year; the youtube url is given above. However, nothing about 2022 has been normal. Mid-October is not the usual time to be giving winterization advice in Western WA but here we are in mid-October and the bees are not ready to winterize. Sunny Octobers are not unknown, but this October is the warmest in my 8 years of beekeeping.
Beekeepers are facing 3 winterization problems unusually severe this year: fall dearth, robbing, and the annual peak varroa population. |
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This fall dearth is drier and warmer than usual and it’s confusing the bees, and us beekeepers. We are used to rain dearth in spring and in fall; we know our bees can’t fly in rain! The spring rain continuing up to the blackberry flow was more persistent than usual. In the same way, we are used to sunny dearth in late July August while waiting for the Japanese knotweed flow. We were grateful for the extended knotweed flow in this year’s warm, dry August/September. That should have increased hive stores for winter, giving our bees food security and giving us beekeepers peace of mind. |
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Instead, we are at this moment in an extended DRY warm fall. We are still juggling the “switch from liquid to dry feed” and other winterizing decisions usually settled weeks ago! In anticipation of the usual temperature drop and rain, I put dry feed on some hives. The bees’ response was the pile of sugar on the slideout (recycled campaign sign) below the screen board you can see in the picture below. So, I’m still feeding liquid to keep them from using their winter stores up before the coldest part of the winter. That would usually be December and January but I’m no longer assuming anything will be normal this winter. |
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Today at 88 degrees F (Sunday, Oct. 16th) the loose cloud of bees over and around my apiary tells me that bees are scouting hopelessly for a nectar source. As always when weather is dry enough for bees to fly, some foragers are bringing back pollen. However, the only significant nectar sources imaginable are the honey stores or feeders of neighboring hives. It may be the wildfire smoke keeping that cloud of bees over my hives, but defense and offense playing out at each hive seems more likely. No robbing is visible within my apiary and all possible robbing screens are in place. I hope all hives within a couple miles of mine have their robbing screens on and their feeders enclosed within the hives. Nature is all about survival of the fittest; strongest hives will survive. Despite the sunny, warm weather, winter stores are actually shrinking in each hive. Picture of ragged edges of robbed-out comb: |
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In addition to temperatures so warm that each hive needs more carbs for its all too active members, the presence of increased amounts of capped brood means increased varroa reproductive potential at the time of year that varroa reaches its population peak. Varroa load must be increasing at the same time of the year that many beekeepers already fear “mite bombing” from insufficiently treated neighboring hives! The fall peak in varroa population in the HBHC graph pictured above was already scary, worse than Halloween horror movies to a beekeeper! |
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Low temperatures limit varroa treatments to only one organic (oxalic acid vaporization - OAV) or one of the 3 synthetic molecules (ApiVar, Apistan, CheckMite+). So far this far, higher temps have allowed the use of other organic methods, but with temps falling very soon, beware of any requiring daytime minimums of 50 to 60 degrees F. |
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On a positive note, this false summer has allowed the new queens emerged at the end of July to build a brood nest although decreasing daylength and night lows in the low 40s and high 30s seem to be limiting the willingness of workers to raise out too many brood. The laying patterns of these queens are compact but even their broodnests are shrinking in line with the season. The final step of the queen grafting and proofing plan was .to test overwintering them as smaller colonies in double nuclei stacks That now appears the most likely method to successfully overwinter them. |
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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? |
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HIVESIDES: Hivesides are on hold until April or when the weather permits inspection. In the spring, beginners are often most interested in nuc/package installations. Any member in Snohomish County or North King County ordering a nuc or package who would be willing to host a Saturday or Sunday nuc or package, please call Eli 206-859-7392 or email eliochel@snoking bka.org. It is a good way to meet several other beekeepers, often in your neighborhood. HiveSide Managers: Granite Falls - Ron - beebuddy.skba@gmail.com 206-719-3604 Maltby - Eli - eliochel@snokingbka.org 206-859-7392 |
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QUEEN REARING 2023 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 that the procedure works. Based on that, we will plan a formal queen rearing workshop for next year. Watch for workshop dates and times to be set early in 2023. 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. |
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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. |
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CLASSES Beginner & Apprentice are already in session. Next sessions will start in January/February. Class dates and times will be available soon at www.snokingbka.org/classes . Journeyman will start 2nd week of Jan. 2023. Please register early so that manuals can be delivered before the start of the 2023 session. 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 . |
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MASTER BEEKEEPER program changes are coming! WASBA curriculum major changes in 2023 appear to be limited to development of an academic core for Master Beekeeper by WSU Agricultural Extension through Dr. Kelly Kulhanek, assistant professor. WASBA asked for input via a survey in its last newsletter, so if you wish input into the future Master Beekeeper program, watch for those opportunities to be offered by WASBA. |
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Hope to see you at the 6:30PM Wednesday Oct. 19. Just as our bees will do this winter, it is important for us beekeepers to winter together, cluster, network and pass items to each other! Looking forward to talking bees with you, SnoKing Beekeepers Association. Time: Oct 19, 2022 06:30 PM Pacific Time (US and Canada) https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87848771744?pwd=UHZmNktMM3lZeHBhZ1ZlMENuV3hJQT09 Meeting ID: 878 4877 1744 Passcode: 300126 |
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