BEELINES May, 2005

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 May 10, 2005

Dates to Remember
May 10: NWDBA Meeting
June 14: NWDBA Meetings
June 17-18 WSBA WSU Field Day at WSU
July 8-9 WSBA WSU Field day in Puyallup
Oct 28-29: Joint WSBA and OSBA meeting in Oregon.
November - testing for Journeyman Level

May  Meeting
At our May meeting Tim Bueler  Integrated Pest Management (IPM) for which I've included notes at the end of the newsletter.  Also in May we auctioned off a brand new screen bottom board and gave away three 1/2 gallon pails of high fructose corn syrup as door prizes.

Drop-in Class
This week Tim will be discussing swarming at his 6:30 drop-in class before the regular NWDBA meeting.

Correction - My apologies for mangling Bob Stump's name in the last newsletter.

WSU Field Days
The WSBA committee has finalized plans for two field days to be held this summer. The Pullman Field Day will be Friday and Saturday, June 17-18, and the Puyallup Field Day will be Friday and Saturday, July 8-9. 

The General Plan for both Field Days is a Friday evening Cheese and Wine (free), Saturday Field Day, and Sunday morning board meeting. Classroom instruction Saturday morning, followed by BBQ Luncheon, then field work Saturday afternoon with hives set up for inspections. 

Luncheon will be offered for $10 per person and will consist of grilled hamburgers with all the trimmings, three salads, soft drinks and ice cream. Registration fee is set at $10 for an individual and $20 for a family. Participants are strongly urged to pre-register as we want allow as much time for learning as possible (instead of standing in line to register Saturday morning).

Forms will be available at the Tuesday meeting or look at page 9 of the April 2005 WSBA newsletter: http://www.wasba.org/page10.html 

May Beekeeping
If you need more drawn comb, give the bees full sheets of foundation to draw out.  Add no more than two or three frames of foundation at a time to the center of the upper hive body.  Never divide the brood nest with foundation, alternate foundation between combs of brood.  Queens should now be laying at full capacity.  Honey yields will be greater if swarming is controlled by removing swarm cells that contain eggs or larvae on the bottom or any edges of the comb.

June Beekeeping
Blueberries are in bloom the first week; Blackberries in bloom the second week; Black Locust the last week.  Remove the queen excluder when there is one box (deep or western) mostly full of honey over the brood nest.  Continue to monitor brood nest crowding.  Bees sometimes store honey close to and in the brood nest causing crowding.  There should be one or two empty brood combs for the queen to lay in.

IPM: A Few Management Techniques.        Tim Beuler            Apr 2005

IPM is a strategy to maintain pest levels below economic thresholds. IPM does not mean organic. IPM is not a set philosophy or an established set of rules. IPM, like most of beekeeping today, is an experiment. It is trying different methods to figure out what works for you in your apiary.

Integrated;  Using multiple methods for managing pest populations.

• Physical

• Mechanical

• Cultural

• Genetic

• Biological

• Chemical

Pest;  Or whatever may cause harm to our bees.

• Pests

• Parasites

• Predators

• Disease

Management;  A long-term plan. Be Flexible.

These aren’t the only methods, just a few ideas.

1. Foulbrood(s) ---both European and American.
1. Rotate out old, black combs---no brood combs more than 4 years old
2. Use hygienic stock
3. Treat with Terramycin (oxytetracycline HCL)
2. Fungal diseases and viruses.
1. Use hygienic stock
2. Keep young, vibrant queens
3. Protozoa---Nosema
1. Can be treated with fumigilan. Economics.
2. Use hygienic stock
4. Parasitic mites
1. Varroa  
   • Freezing drone comb -- full frame drone comb
   • Cutting drone comb -- short frame method
   • Screened bottom boards
   • Sugar ester
   • Use chemical miticides
   • Mineral oil fogging - currently not approved for use in Washington State
   • Formic acid - approved as of 4/11/05
   • Api-life VAR
   • Use hygienic stock
2. Tracheal mite
   • Same as the last four from Varroa list
   • Vegetable grease patties
   • Shop towel treatment - currently not approved for use in Washington State
   • Menthol
5. Pests and Predators
1. Wax moth
   • Keep strong colonies (this also is good for most of the above)
   • Sort dark comb from light comb in storage
   • Fumigate with Para-dichlorobenzene (AKA Para-Moth)