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Beeline Newsletter

February 4, 2025

Next apprentice level beekeeping course starts March 8th!

A comic with two bees sitting around; one on a couch and the other at a record player with speakers flanking either side. The bee at the record player says, "Wanna listen to some music? I've got bee-bop, bee-thoven, bee-yonce, the bee-tles, bee-stie boys, cros-bee stills and nash, justin bee-ber." The bee on the couch says, "Do you have anything from Sting?"

Apprentice Level Beekeeping Course - Become an apprentice beekeeper in six weeks! Saturdays 10am to 12pm March 8th through April 12th In person at Swantown Inn’s Grand Victorian Ballroom, Olympia, WA - WASBA curriculum - Teachers: Gail Booth, Nathan Allan, and Bryan Henn

We teach a state certified apprentice level curriculum and completion of our course will earn you an apprentice beekeeping certificate, as well as access to the OBA mentorship program.

The apprentice level course is for beekeepers who are ready to take the first big step in their beekeeping journey or want to refresh their knowledge and skills about beekeeping. (If you are brand new to beekeeping, we highly recommend that you take the beginning beekeeping class first.)

This course is six 2-hour classes, held weekly on Saturdays from 10:00am to 12:00pm. It is in-person at the Swantown Inn Grand Victorian Ballroom. One class will be held at the club apiary at the Freedom Farmers.

Course fee and registration

The course is $50 and you must be a current member in the Olympia Beekeepers Association to register (Membership is $25 per household).

To register for the course, go to this registration page on our website and log in. (If you are not logged in, it will first ask you to become a member.)

Want to learn as a family?

Multiple people from a family are welcome to sit in on a class (our association membership covers a household with the right for one vote), but the fee structure only covers one person being certified as an apprentice. If there are multiple people in a family wanting to be certified there is an additional admin fee of $25 ($10 for the certificate, $15 for the class fee = $25).

Next Meeting
Monday, February 10th, 2025, 6pm to 8pm
Get details to attend the meeting in person or online

Special guest: Brian Fackler, Cornell University Master Beekeeper & Washington State Master Beekeeper
Topic: “Nosema”

Meeting raffle! Please bring raffle donations and $1 bills to the monthly meeting.

We will be selling raffle tickets for $1 each (cash only) at the beginning of meetings and during breaks. At the end, we will draw winning tickets. Winners will select a donated item until all the donated items are claimed. Past raffle donations have included:

small bee-related gifts
honey
extra chicken eggs from the backyard flock
plants grown at home
extra fruit or vegetables from the garden
old, clean bee equipment
bee magazines

Bee creative!

Don't forget to renew your membership for 2025!

OBA annual membership is still a bargain at only $25 per household and good from January 1st through December 31st.

Benefits of being an OBA member:

Supporting an association that advocates for honey bees and beekeepers
Networking and learning opportunities at monthly association meetings
Access to our library of beekeeping books
Use of extractors, OA vaporizers, and other equipment
Access to mentors and group mentorship opportunities
Access to our club apiary for hands-on learning and to purchase local bees

Announcing the new apiary committee! Committee chair is Bryan Henn, Apiary Manager is Jordan Bramwell, and our Grant Funding Manager is Nathan Allan

Member Spotlight

Jordan Bramwell
OBA Apiary Manager

“I never get bored. When I feel like I have it sorted out,
they show me what I don’t know.”

How long have you been an OBA member?
2.5 years

How long have you been a beekeeper?
13 years

Why did you became a beekeeper and what is your overall beekeeping strategy?
My ex-wife got bees and discovered she didn’t like getting stung. I took over and it grabbed me.

What do you love most about bees / beekeeping?
I like tricky problems. I’m constantly problem-solving. Keeping bees keeps me calm while I work with bees at their own pace.

What kind of hives do you use and how many do you keep?
All 10-frame mediums. This is useful because all equipment is interchangeable, and I don’t have to lift deeps full of honey.
(Jordan has 45 hives of his own and manages the club apiary which has 9 hives.)

What is your biggest beekeeping challenge you have overcome and how did you overcome it?
Overwintering successfully, which has improved with time. Priorities for success: Manage mites, feed, requeen when appropriate. Distance fourth priority is moisture management.

What are your biggest beekeeping accomplishments or successes?
I am self-taught through reading books and watching videos. Taught myself how to graph queens. I learn more each year.

How have you benefited from being a member of OBA?
I appreciate connections with people. Helping other people – makes it clearer about keeping bees.

Any tips or advice for new beekeepers?

Start with standard gear. This would be Langstroth 8 or 10- frame hives.
Get as much time with your nose in a colony as you develop intuition.
Focus on how to overwinter successfully. Again, priorities are mites, feeding, queens, and moisture. Then, focus on honey production or splits.
Don’t be afraid to talk about your mistakes so we can all learn and grow.

Why Honey Bee is Two Words. Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; "honeybee" is equivalent to "johnsmith." --From Anatomy of a Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass

Beekeeping in February

By: Brian Fackler – Cornell University Master Beekeeper
(and our February meeting speaker!!)

February: This month is often the coldest month of winter, with days of cold snaps in the teens or lower, with possible ice and snow. The only reason to open your hive is to very briefly add emergency feed.

Starvation: The food consumption increases with brood rearing in progress and the danger of starvation increases. Bees will break the cluster for the worker bees to move into areas where honey and pollen is stored. The bees will starve if they do not have access to the resources or are too cold to break the cluster. You can get an idea of how much resources the hive has stored by hefting the hive and comparing it to previous monitoring. If you suspect or are in doubt, feed the bees with fondant, sugar patties, or 100% plain white granulated sugar and not organic or brown sugar. Make fondant and or sugar patties with recipes from Oregon’s Lane County Beekeepers (https://www.lcbaor.org). Checking for starvation or adding emergency feed can be done from the hive top as close to the cluster as possible. Do not feed pollen or sugar syrup.

The Bee Cluster: The bees are in a compact cluster since the ambient temperature dropped below 57F. As the temperature lowers to freezing the bees generate heat with heads facing inward and consume water diluted honey also give off of moisture. The bees rotate positions and are active in the cluster center. The colony will be rearing brood and maintaining the brood-rearing temperature in the brood area of 92F. This area must be dry, and an efficient ventilating or condensing hive must be maintained to control moisture. The bees will leave the hive for short cleansing flights on warm days.

Hive Entrance: The hive entrance needs to be open as bees will take a short cleaning flight to void fecal matter on a sunny calm day. Clear your hive entrance of blockages by snow, ice, and or dead bees. Keep the entrance reducer and mouse guard installed.

Dead Bees: You might notice dead bees as well as brown spots of fecal matter in front of the hive. This is typically not a concern. The bees may have frayed wings and hair loss, which are indications of old age and desire to die outside the hive. Monitor the bottom and landing board for excessive dead bees as the undertaker worker bees may not be able to remove.

Varroa: Monitor the sampling board for dropped dead mites and consider multiple applications of oxalic acid vapor following the guidelines of Honey Bee Health Coalition Tools for Varroa Management. I do not recommend opening the hive and breaking the cluster as well as chilling the brood to treat with Apivar or Oxalic Acid dribble.

Reflection and Preparation: This is the time to reflect on last year’s success and failure and consider your 2025 bee year. Make a plan to control varroa mites and now is the time to order cultural and miticides to have them on-hand. Take inventory of wooden ware and frames and repair, paint, and replace as needed. If you anticipate needing new bees place your order for NUCs and or packages, as later this spring they often are unavailable.

Image of the top of a corkboard with a sign that says "Bulletin Board"

New offering in the Marketplace! I’m wondering if any association members are looking for a location for hives, we’re looking to get more bees around our 7 acre property in NE Olympia Please contact secretary@olympiabeekeepers.org to add an offering to the Marketplace and get connected to offerors

How to check out a book from the OBA library: 1. Check out during meetings & weekends 8-noon 2. Put name and number on card 3. OK to keep 2-3 months 4. Return to Nathan

"Ask a WA Beekeeper" Livestream - programs are each month on the third Thursday starting at 6:30pm. Here's the link: https://www.facebook.com/AskaWABeekeeper

Beekeeping Today podcast - Check out recent and past episodes with tons of information about beekeeping in our area. We’re lucky to have this resource! https://www.beekeepingtodaypodcast.com/

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Olympia Beekeepers Association · P.O. Box 732 · Olympia, WA 98507 · USA