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I trust you all had a great Holiday
break and rang in the new year with much cheer and toasting! It's
hard to believe another year has gone by but our new roster of officers
will be shepherding us thru 2004:
Pres: Val Schick
VP: Laurence Oberholtzer
Treasurer: Karen Johns
Secretary: John Bryant
Please bring your suggestions for
meeting topics to the January meeting.
Dates to Remember
Jan 13: January NWDBA Meeting
Feb 10: February NWDBA Meeting
Holiday Party
The holiday party this year was a great success.
Attendance was good and there was tons of food with so many
deserts I didn't know where to start! My two sons Alex and Eric
entertained us with Christmas tunes on the piano and got some good
practice in for their recital the following week. We even had door
prized for everyone thanks in great part to Val and others for thinking
of us.
WSBA Update
Attached to this newsletter is a WSBA update from Tim Bueler.
Please check the email for an attachment named 2003.pdf to read the
interesting details. Did you know the fair them next year involves
bees? Read the update from Tim for details!
Notebook
I see the January Beekeeping suggests that we record bee loss in
our apiary notebooks. I mentioned in last month's newsletter I
started a new website
www.mybeehives.com to help beekeepers keep an online notebook.
I hope over time to get enough information to allow some statistical
analysis of the data to identify patterns of note to beekeepers.
In the month of December the website had over 24000 hits and almost 3000
'visits'! I've had 50 users sign up and there are now 77 hives
being logged in the database. Let me know what you think!
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2004 Dues
Please bring a check to the January meeting or send dues to our
treasurer payable to NWDBA.
Karen Johns
33825 NE 60th Street
Carnation, WA 98014
| Individual Membership |
$7.50 |
| Family Membership |
$10.00 |
| WSBA
Member Credit |
($1)
individual, ($2) family |
| ABJ |
1 year $14.96, 2 year $28.46, 3 year $40.13 |
| Bee Culture |
1
year $17.00, 2 year $32.00 |
December Beekeeping
Keep the entrances free
of dead bees. This is a good time to go to beekeeper meetings and read all the
beekeeping magazines that have been stacking up all year. Repair old equipment,
assemble all the new frames and supers you will need next year. If you need
apiary permits for outyards, apply for them now.
January Beekeeping
Make or order spare hives and other equipment
required for the coming season. See that hive entrances are kept clear of dead
bees. Note the amount of bee loss in your apiary notebook. Order queens and
package bees now to avoid the last minute rush.
February Beekeeping
See that hive entrances are kept clear of
dead bees. If you have not done so already, order your package bees or queens.
Lift the hives from the front to determine an estimate of colony honey stores –
you should be lifting 45 to 50 pounds. If they are light (or near starving),
place two cups drivert sugar on the back end of the top bars above the bee
cluster, or feed 2-4 quarts syrup in a four-hole top-feeder a using two
parts sugar to one part water.
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