Some Orders Cancelled for Nucs & Packages

It has been reported that some orders for honeybee packages and nucs have been cancelled by the suppliers and/or by the person ordering.  Please check with your supplier if you are expecting delivery this spring.  It may still be possible to order packages from other sources if yours have been cancelled.  If you have packages that are confirmed and you need some assistance installing your bees or performing first inspections please contact info@nopba.org as soon as possible.  We need to know who, where, and when. 

On-line Beginning Beekeeper class, April 19th

Beginning beekeeper classes will continue online via Zoom Meetings at noon on the original General Meeting dates to allow new students and any members to participate without interruption.  

The on-line beginning beekeeper class for April 19th will begin at noon.  Topics will include:

1. Installation of Bees (30 minutes, targeting first time beekeepers)

2. Feeding & Nutrition (15-20 minutes).

Login to https://zoom.us/signin and look near the top of the page for “Join A Meeting”.  You will not need to register an account to participate.

When prompted use Meeting ID:  447-370-561 with Password 043348

Stay at Home Beekeeping Series! April 30th & May 15th

NOPBA Members:

These seminars might be interesting.

Stay at Home Beekeeping Series! A FREE online alternative to club meeting. 

Experts will present on timely topics & presentations will be followed by Q&A.

This series was created by the apiculture research/extension programs at various SEC Universities including Alabama Extension, Auburn University, University of Florida, University of Georgia, The University of Tennessee Knoxville, and Texas A&M University.

Link for Registration: https://auburn.zoom.us/meeting/register/vJ0lcu6prjkt_Px1BsAR8Gf-2dY_FolvJQ?timezone_id=America%2FNew_York

Bee Safe,

Greg

USDA Guidelines for Asian Giant Hornet

On December 8, 2019, a Blaine, Washington resident reported finding a large, dead hornet on his property. The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA) identified this specimen as Vespa mandarinia, the Asian giant hornet, and the National Identification Services (NIS) confirmed the identification. The Washington detection followed the eradication of a V. mandarinia nest in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada on September 18, 2019. These were the first detections of the Asian giant hornet in North America. Beekeepers have reported other observations dating back to October through public outreach campaigns by Washington State and British Columbia. 

Vespa mandarinia Smith (Hymenoptera: Vespidae), the Asian giant hornet, is the world’s largest hornet and is a social insect native to Asia. The hornet is a pest of Apis mellifera L., the European honey bee, and causes losses to beekeepers in its native range. Vespa mandarinia is a social insect, with a large colony containing one queen and many workers. 

  • Vespa mandarinia is a large hornet that is primarily a pest of honey bees. 

  • Population dispersal is restricted to the spread of queens. 

  • Eradication of this species focuses on eliminating queens. Strategies to achieve this vary depending on the time of season. Queens can be directly trapped and killed in the early spring and late fall. During the summer, nests can be located and destroyed. 

  • Nests are formed in the ground and are challenging to locate. Methods for locating nests involve labor intensive strategies. 

  • Some traps and baits for surveying V. mandarinia already exist. Other traps and baits have been used for closely related species. We recommend using traps and baits that have been previously successful for trapping V. mandarinia. However, we anticipate that resource constraints might dictate the best trap and bait combination. 

  • Typical protective clothing worn by beekeepers will not prevent V. mandarinia sting injuries. The material must be much thicker to protect the wearer from V. mandarinia stings. 

Beekeepers in the Bellingham area (Whatcom County - ground zero) have begun coordinating with WSDA to distribute traps in a grid pattern they are developing. 

For those of you who want to put out traps (which may also work well for our native yellowjackets) the publication "USDA Pest Response Guidelines for Vespa mandarinia” has some diagrams of home-made traps that have been used successfully in Japan to help control the pest. The link to this document is shown below:

https://cms.agr.wa.gov/WSDAKentico/Documents/PP/PestProgram/Vespa_mandarinia_NPRG_10Feb2020-(002).pdf

Meeting Change Information for April and May

PLEASE NOTE:  Due to Easter in April, and Mother’s Day in May, we have changed the dates for our meetings:

Our April meeting date has moved to the THIRD Sunday of the month, now APRIL 19th.

  • Noon - Beginning Beekeepers Class, Installation of Packages and Feeding your Bees.

  • 1:00 -   Business meeting / Announcements / July Event Signups

  • 1:30 -   Presentation:  Splitting a Colony

Our May meeting date has moved to the FIRST Sunday of the month, now May 3.

Celebration of Science & Technology Day, March 14th.

What: Science Day:  
When: Saturday, March 14 from 10:00 AM to 4:00 PM.
Where: Vern Burton Community Center in Port Angeles

Once again, the Feiro Marine Life Center will be hosting their annual Celebration of Science & Technology Day and have invited us to participate.  This is our first public event of the year where we highlight local beekeeping (which is actually applied biology) and answer general questions.  If you might be interested in helping out, we will appreciate it.  At any rate, stop by and say hi.  This year, the event will be held inside which will be much better than standing out on the pier.

March Meeting on March 8th

Our March meeting date will meet on the second Sunday of the month, March 8 at the Port Angeles Library in the Carver Room:

  • Noon - Beginning Beekeepers Series continues with "Preparing for Your Bees & Honey Bee Biology"

  • 1:00 -   Business meeting / Announcements / July Event Signups

  • 1:30 -   Presentation:  Prepping for splits, short refresher on colony reproduction and spring swarm behavior.

Intro to Beekeeping Presentation at Sunny Farms

Mark Urnes will be presenting his annual Introduction to Beekeeping presentation, this weekend :

Saturday, February 29 from 9-12 at Sunny Farms (in the Plant Building).  

If you are starting out, or know someone who is, Mark provides a great overview of the basics in order to get things off to good start.  Usually a popular event, the seating is limited, so plan on arriving a little early.  Also, Gee confirmed that they will be selling 3 lb. packages again this year but didn't know the cost yet.

New Book for our NOPBA Members' Library!

Raising Honeybee Queens
An Illustrated Guide to Success

Author: Gilles Fert
Publisher: Deep Snow Press, Ithaca NY, 2020

“Raise your own superior queens and you will never have to buy bees again! I was told this is the best queen-rearing book in the world, so I spent two years preparing the English edition, and it turned out awesome. I was able to triple the size of my apiaries in one season by following Fert’s invaluable guidance.” - Dr. Leo Sharashkin, Editor.

Detailed, easy to understand practical advice. Simple techniques clearly explained and illustrated. Multiple methods to choose from, whether you raise one queen or a thousand. Successful breeding, mating, and introduction. Multiply your honeybee colonies and overwinter them successfully in any climate. Make bee packages, and produce royal jelly.

Over 150 full-color photos, drawings, and diagrams. Internationally renowned author with over 30 years experience. Your beekeeping will never be the same after reading this book.

NOPBA Summer Event Preview

Later this summer, apiarist Dave Noble will returning to provide a full one day Saturday beekeeping workshop for us.  In the morning classroom session, Dave will continue where he left off last year with a discussion of fall season beekeeping management tasks.  Dave has also developed a very popular “Queen Finding” class he teaches at his local apiary.  For our group, the afternoon Queen Finding session will accommodate up to 30 students who will work in pairs to practice skills, techniques, and protocols needed to become fast and efficient at finding the queen.  

Costs for the field day event are included with your 2020 membership in good standing.  Dave will be donating 15 queens, our beekeepers will provide the bees.  Fifteen participants who volunteer to provide queenless nucs, will go home after the class with new queenright colonies.  Dave’s queens will be arriving about 3 weeks prior to the event in mid-July, so if you want to participate by providing bees, you will have to plan ahead.  You will provide a queenless nuc (either from a mid-summer split, or a colony you want to re-queen).  If it’s been awhile, or you’ve never done a split before, we will have a refresher class at our April meeting.  

Dave needs to limit the afternoon class size to 30, so if you want to attend, (or provide bees), we will have more details and sign-ups available at the MARCH meeting on March 8.  

Ordering Bees

Ordering Bees:

If you need bees and haven’t ordered them yet, you will need to get this done very soon !!  There are a few listings below:

http://wildernessbees.com/prices/   < These bees are produced locally.

http://www.tarboovalleywoodenware.com/home.html

https://snohobeeco.com/collections/bees

https://woodsbeeco.com/2020-nucs/

Mann Lake has bees for delivery as well:  https://www.mannlakeltd.com/shop-all-categories/hive-components/bees

I have no idea if Mike Radford (Northwest Bee Supply) is providing bees again.  He hasn’t said, and I haven't checked …