BEELINES September, 2004

Regularly scheduled meetings are on the 2^nd Tuesday of each month. 7 p.m.
Meetings at 1305 Pine Avenue in Snohomish in the Christ the King Lutheran Church building.

Next Meeting: Tuesday September 13

Dates to Remember
Sept 14: NWDBA Meeting
Oct 12: NWDBA Meeting
Oct 14-16: WSBA Fall Conference in Spokane

My apologies for the late and short edition of Beelines but it seems that time has really accelerated the last month with all sorts of kids activities, vacations, business trips and so forth.

Please plan on coming to our September meeting to get a recap on Fair events, Beekeeping news, and arrange car pooling to the Fall Conference in Spokane.

August Meeting
At our August meeting we set up the Evergreen fair tents to test them out and Jean gave us a demonstration of how to prepare wax and honey entries for the fair which included melting wax, filtering it and pouring into molds - all in Lawrences' driveway!

Evergreen State Fair
Honey entries were down this year compared to last year but we still had a very good showing.  If you can, please plan on making a fair entry next year to help advertise beekeeping!  Any honey extracted after the fair entries were due can be used for next years entry so you can start preparing your entries now!

This year the bee booth was painted with a fantastic mural by our very own Jessica Jamsgard.  She did a really nice job.  Thanks Jessica!

(click here for larger image)

The bee tent with a real hive to show how a beekeeper works a hive  went over very well with lots of interest in the twice daily demonstrations.   Lighting up a smoker sure draws a crowd fast!

It's been pointed out that our beekeeping calendar makes no mention of IPM (Integrated Pest Management) techniques and could use an update to reflect IPM practices.  If you are actively using IPM or have an interest in updating the calendar please volunteer your expertise!

September Beekeeping
You may re-queen your colonies now if you did not do so in the spring.  Unite weak colonies.  To winter successfully, each colony must have the equivalent of ten fully capped frames of honey in the second hive body plus honey arches in the lower hive body, and two or more deep brood combs of pollen.  If stores are insufficient, colonies should be fed a 2:1 sugar syrup mixture.  Use top feeders to prevent robbing.  Start feeding early in the month, because the bees will not store the syrup and cap the cells when the weather turns cool. Feed one gallon for each deep comb of needed stores.  The last gallon should contain Fumidil-B.  Feed pollen supplement as needed.  Extract honey now and give the wet combs back to the bees to lick clean.