presentation

Thank you for everyone who braved the heat to join us this past Wednesday for our monthly membership meeting! For those of you who were unable to attend or need a recap, here are the highlights:

Glen Andresen of Bridgetown Bees gave us our monthly Pollen & Nectar Report, along with some Portland trivia! Did you know that Glen also hosts a radio show about gardening called The Dirtbag? You can listen to it on KBOO Radio.

As we turn the corner from swarm season & nectar flow to summer dearth and preparation for autumn, we also need to be considering Varroa management.

This month our featured speaker was Dr. Brandon Hopkins from WSU. He shared his research and data on using a forced brood break to enhance Varroa control. If you are treatment free, working towards treatment free, or are seeking ways to use less chemical treatments this is an excellent method! You can purchase the queen cages used in this research here (note – it is important that what ever cage is used for this method, the workers are still able to access the queen in order to spread her pheromones through the hive, otherwise you may be left with a colony trying to requeen itself). Other considerations for this method include: Does the colony have the population to support a brood break? Time of year – it is not recommended to use this method late in the summer. Before or just after the nectar flow is ideal.

PUB members reported higher levels of loss than the rest of the state (according to the results of the PNW Honeybee Survey). It is important that we be proactive in Varroa monitoring and control. If you are unsure about how to collect mite samples from your hive, please contact us to get connected with a Bee Buddy, or come to one of our apiary work parties at Zenger Farm on the 1st and 3rd Sunday of each month from 10-12. We will teach you how to collect mite samples!

Until next time, happy beekeeping!

Thanks to everyone that joined us for our June member meeting!

This month’s meeting featured Glen Andresen’s pollen and nectar report which can be found here. We also heard from our treasurer, Cheryl Wright who shared her experiences with the Oregon Master Beekeeping program. If you are interested in learning more about OMB, you can visit their website here. If you wish to join the program, now is the time to get on the 2019 wait list!

We also had the pleasure of listening and learning from honorary PUB member, Dr. Dewey Caron. He shared his results and insights from the PNW loss report which indicated that PUB participants had a higher loss rate than the overall Oregon loss. He provided guidance on IMP and moving towards treatment free beekeeping methods. You can view his presentation below:

Until next time, happy beekeeping!

Spring is here and the apiary to-do list is ready to go! We had a full house at this months meeting and are grateful for everyone who came. BeSpoke Bee Supply donated a swarm box and PUB member Steve Niles shared milkweed seeds for our raffle.

Glen Andresen kicked off our meeting with the monthly pollen and nectar report complete with some much enjoyed Oregon triva!

Dewey Caron returned from his winter travels and shared tips for what to do in the apiary this month, as well as an update on the PNW Honeybee Survey. The success of the survey is dependent on participation! You can take the survey by clicking here. We were also pleased to present Dewey with a lifetime honorary membership to Portland Urban Beekeepers!

Yellow jackets are a problematic and sometimes devastating visitor in our bee yards. Being ahead of the yellow jackets can give your bees a much needed break from these predators as bee colonies wind down brood and honey production for the season. Robert Leger gave us some valuable identification tips, as well as insight on the yellow jacket life cycle. He gave us strategies for baiting and catching queens (keeps some rocks handy!) and how to deal with the workers. Did you know that yellow jackets orient themselves to the food source? You can check out Robert’s presentation here: The Yellow Jacket-free Home

The beekeeping community has been buzzing about the new Best Practices in Residential Beekeeping guidelines. Mike Rodia shared the document with us and gave an overview of why this is so important. “The best practices guidelines would make it possible to use existing local nuisance ordinances instead of new legal restrictions for managing conflicts that arise from beekeeping in residential areas.”

Just like generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) were developed as a means to use common sense widely & recognized principles in accounting, these guidelines for residential beekeeping are put into place so that beekeepers, our neighbors, and local/state government have some basic principles to refer to that demonstrate that we are keeping our bees in nuisance free manner.

If you live in Portland, you will still need to obtain a permit for keeping bees. More information on that can be found here. If you are unsure if your city of residence requires permits or has limitations on residential beekeeping, please check your city government website.

Until next time beekeepers, bee well!

Thank you to all who attended our March membership meeting! This time of year is full of promise as we gear up for the bee season ahead. If you have suffered bee loss over the winter, this is also a time to take a look at the previous season as a whole and consider what may have led to the demise of your colony. Rebekah Golden, our education director and partner in Bee & Bloom gave us a detailed presentation on things to look for during a postmortem hive exam. She also gave important direction on how to approach your surviving colonies to give them the best support as they move into spring. This is such an exhilarating time in the beekeepers year and we are glad to share that excitement with all of you!

For our October 2017 meeting, Dewey Caron gave us a great presentation on why we want and how to get FAT winter bees. In addition to the presentation below, there is also a handout.