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The PNW honey bee survey is now open, extending to end of April. Survey can be completed in only 5-10 minutes. Go to: https://pnwhoneybeesurvey.com/survey  To examine past survey results look for WVBA survey report on same site under survey results. I ASK WVBA members to complete a survey again this year. Last year, the 22 WVBA survey respondents (168 fall colonies) reported a  29% loss, second best survival of all the bee clubs; statewide average loss was 35%.  The level i

Dr Marla Spivek in October American Bee Journal discussed  some examples of “double-edged swords” beekeepers are facing. One was the conundrum of individuals starting beekeeping to save the bees  but then they don’t properly  care for their bees. New beekeepers don’t initially know how to care for their bees but also some individuals who start a bee hive have the mistaken belief by not treating or feeding colonies their bees will be more hardy by building resistance to mites/

The more I study beekeeping, the less I know, until, finally, I arrived – I know pretty much nothing. But, even though I know nothing, I still have plenty to unlearn. Okay, as one or two of my beekeeping friends might remember (and facebook  reminded you), I share a December 25 th birthday with L.L. Langstroth (1810). So, for a chuckle, I decided to answer to, and identify myself as, “Lorenzo” to spam callers, Jersey Mike’s calls- about the only place I eat out – love their

Conventional wisdom has been that beekeepers should avoid the accumulation of moisture at the colony top during winter. We need prevent droplets of condensate moisture accumulating at top of the colony. This can rain back down on the bee cluster creating a cycle of bees getting wet, the bees then needing to move to dry off, resulting in yet more warm air rising, more droplets forming at top and even more moisture raining back on the bees. Like bees in bee tress or us in our h

Twenty -two WVBA PNWhoneybeesurvey respondents supplied information about some managements they utilize for the PNW loss survey www.pnwhoneybeesurvey.com Respondents could select multiple options and there was always a none and other selection possible. One of the 22 survey respondents had over 20 colonies and had a heavy loss (68%) and as an outlier was removed from the analysis. This reduced average loss to 22% for analysis. Feeding The remaining 21 checked 59 feeding op