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WILLAMETTE VALLEY BEEKEEPERS ASSOCIATION 2023 Bee School What: The WVBA is offering an introduction to beekeeping course in February 2023. We will cover equipment needed, where to obtain bees, how to “work” bees, pests and diseases, and much more. When: Monday evenings February 6, 13, 20, and 27 from 7:00 - 9:00 pm. Plus in April we host a “bee day” where we actually inspect colonies of bees. Place and time TBD. Where: Salem Evangelical Church, 455 Locust St, NE, Salem. R

Well winter finally caught up to us after milder than normal summer and fall months. Our bees were winding down but it became serious business for them after mid-October now into November rain and colder nighttime temperatures. We should now shut down for any further manipulations with a couple of exceptions. We can still arrange to put winter “emergency” feed on our colonies. That would be a sugar brick, fondant sugar or dry sugar. These should be fed at the top of the co

August was definitely NOT  a month for much hive examining. Temperatures were hot and hives full of bees (and maybe supers had some honey).  September is a critical juncture in our annual mite fight - take samples NOW. A nice resource is the August BetterBEE Buzz (a bee supply newsletter) “Winter Bees and Varroa Mites”. As you watch bees coming and going, do you see bees coming in with balls of pollen on their hind legs? This is good. It means the bees are foraging well. C

We typically think of honey bee foraging as gathering pollen and nectar from flowers. However, they also forge for propolis and water. As the bee nutrition studies at OSU by Ramesh Sagili and postdoc Priya Charkrabarti demonstrate, the nutritional requirements of honey bees are quite complex. It turns out that maybe nectar and pollen doesn’t supply everything bees need - water might also be important. See Flickr photo. PhD studies by Dr. Rachael Bonoan, at Tufts University

Spring is the busiest time of the year for the beekeeper. Bee populations develop rapidly and changes happen very quickly in the beehive.  It is a challenge for the beekeeper to stay ahead — to anticipate, not merely re-act.  We often have to make decisions based on relatively little information. It is probably  the toughest management season during the year. Timing is everything. This is the opening for my March 2022 Beekeeping Basics column for the American Bee Journal (pa