Please note we are meeting on the 3rd Thursday of the month, 1:30 p.m. at the OSU Extension office, 1211 SE Bay Blvd, Newport, OR, unless there are exceptions such as our June meeting (in Waldport) are listed. Our next meeting will be May 15th.
See our newsletter for the updated calendar and schedule or our full list of presenters and topics for 2025.
This month’s meeting features Dewey Caron speaking on the important subject of “Swarming and Supering.” He will also present the Central Coast results of the annual colony loss survey (hint: we had another tough year – his report is attached) and also discuss the proposed ban on backyard beekeeping in Portland.
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
By Jeremy Egolf
The weather is a perennially dull subject of barber shop conversation, but a matter of (well, near) life and death for gardeners, beekeepers, and all those folks involved with allied human outdoor activities, be it excavating, logging, fishing, guiding old growth nature walks, campsite hosting, and here on the Central Coast, the farmer here and there. At our place, we installed a few packages from Henry Storch May 7th and the kids we’ve seen performing their orientation dances have their choice of nectar from the flourishing apple blossoms and the overwintered brassicas in full bloom their indoor buddies are building up comb with alacrity.
A reminder that Henry’s nucs are expected Friday, May 16th, the day after our CCBA meeting. As always, we welcome feedback on your new colonies, since quality of the product is important to us all.
On the perennial subjects of the tropilaelaps mite and the heavy losses of colonies since last spring, we’ve seen no recent solid news or insights on how to handle these challenges. However, we note that BeeFit Beekeeping has a good overview of the problem, including the possibility that the growers will find other processors for pollinating; also, for those who lack ready access to the American Bee Journal, there is a good description of the hypothesis that a “New” virus is responsible. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eelf07i3ESA Dewey Caron will be reporting what is known of local bee losses at this week’s meeting.
Regarding the Oregon neonicotinoid bill, HB 2679: The original bill would have banned neonics for residential use, but allowed it for licensed agricultural uses. An amendment proposed by the Oregon Farm Bureau would have restricted residential use but not required licenses for agriculture. The bill did not find enough support in the House committee, and we are now past the deadline for bills to advance.
Finally, in the world of urban beekeeping, we have this from Len Larsen of the Oregon Master Beekeeping Program:
Some of you may have seen the recent article in the Willamette Week titled Should Portland Ban Beekeeping: Adding hundreds of thousands of honeybees into a previously balanced residential environment disrupts it substantially. Although the article focuses on Portland, this is a topic that affects all of us as beekeepers. Many people have questions about how honey bees interact with our native bee population. This is a complex and tricky topic, and a lot of claims are made without conclusive evidence. OSU will be submitting an article in response.
For some background on this topic, you can check out Two Bees in a Podcast: Episode 198: Honey Bees, Native Bees, and Updates with Dr. Melathopoulos
CCBA’s Queens for sale:
We have been in touch with Heitkam’s and the queens we purchased at the OSBA conference queens should ship next Monday, May 19th. They will be sending Carniolans. There are still several queens available if anyone needs to re-queen a colony or do a split. The queens are $40 each.
We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting of the year, Thursday, May 15.
You will never be solicited by the club or asked for payment (other than annual dues). Be aware of scam emails.
Typical bee friendly plants of the central Oregon coast.
Honey Bee Videos from OSU
Carolyn Breece of OSU Oak Creek Apiary fame has put together a video channel with some great stuff on many aspects of the honey bee world. Check it out.
In the Bees with the OSU Honey Bee Lab