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Attention!
OBA mentorship services are only available to members with at least apprentice level certification.
We appreciate your understanding as we share the load with a small group of volunteer mentors. If you are new to beekeeping, we highly recommend the beginner and apprentice level classes before investing in an apiary.
We also hope you take advantage of the many other resources we have available to answer your questions, like the OBA Facebook page, our new OBA Discussions email group, our library, and our monthly meetings.
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Next Meeting
Monday, October 14th, 2024, 6pm to 8pm
Get details to attend the meeting in person or online
Special guest: Penny Longwell, Master Gardener, who co-developed the Pollinator Demonstration Garden at the Thurston County Fairgrounds, will be teaching us about pollinator gardens!
Check out the WSU Thurston County Extension Agroecology page for many awesome resources to garden and farm with bees.
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Meeting raffle! Please bring raffle items to donate 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!
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Fire in the Hive
An OBA member’s story of good intentions and lessons learned
September 9, 2024
It all started when I was treating my two backyard hives for mites. While my vaporizer, situated under the screen bottom board, worked fine for Hive #1, it did not work for Hive #2. I typically use a motorcycle battery to run my vaporizer, but this time, there was not enough charge in the battery to run the the vaporizer for a second time, so I put the battery on the charger and began to wait.
First mistake: I was made aware that we had a car battery available, so I hooked it up, and things began rolling. I then left the hive to attend to other matters – fixing and eating dinner, catching up on the evening news, etc., confident I had done the mite treatment.
Second mistake: I left the vaporizer running, long enough to burn a silver-dollar sized hole in the base under the hive. When I found that, I ran for the garden hose, only to find that it didn’t reach to the hive, so I found a garden sprayer, filled it halfway and pumped it up. The sprayer put out a dismal stream of water but I tried to get as much water on the smoldering hole as I could, then packed up the gear and reinserted the slider. I went back to whatever I was doing.
Third mistake: Later that evening, as I was about to lock up the garage, I noticed a bright orange glow under the hive. I turned the hose on full, set the nozzle to the strongest stream, and manage to get water on the hive stand. I managed to get the smoldering out, but the fire had left a hole about a foot in diameter in the otherwise solid plywood, and melted half of the plastic slider. I felt around the burnt area with my hand, and found no more hot spots. Fire out.
Fourth mistake: In the wee hours of the morning, while lying in bed wondering, I decided to take another look at the hive. Not bothering with my slippers, I went out barefoot. Running my hands over the hive, I found a hot spot on one side of the top honey super, right at the quilt tray, so I took the top off and began spraying the quilt tray. I kept at it, until I could no longer feel heat. Feeling satisfied, I turned from the hive, only to step on a bee, who promptly stung me on the foot, right between the second and third toes.
So if I had waited for the smaller battery to charge up, if I had paid more attention to the vaporizer and taken it off when the oxalic acid had sublimated, if I had suited up and taken off the top super and quilt tray, and if I had taken time to put on foot gear, I would not be walking dejectedly with a slight limp.
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