Some links from the presentation:

Lincoln Best profile

oregonbeeplate.org

Oregon Bee Steward Program

Oregon Bee Project

Melittoflora app

Master Melitollogist Program

In October, the days will start to be colder and the bees will not fly as much. The queen now is
laying fewer eggs and the entire colony is preparing for the cold winter months. Be sure to set
up your hive for winter before the end of the month. The decision to overwinter with moisture
control by either using ventilation or condensing both can each lead to success. Starvation and
moisture are the major factors in winter hive failure.

Mouse Guards
 If you haven’t done so already, be sure to put your mouse guards on – but make sure a
mouse does not get trapped inside.  During a hive inspection, look inside the entrance
with a flashlight. If you do not see mouse nesting material on the bottom board, you’re
probably okay. If you do, you need to remove it otherwise the mouse could cause severe
damage over the winter.

Feeding
 A general guideline is that one colony will need approximately 60 to 70 pounds of honey
to make it through winter. Weigh or heft you hives to make a determination of honey
stores.
 During the cold winter months consider winter patties, fondant and candy boards.
 If you’re worried that your bees will not have enough stores going into winter, feed them
1:1 sugar syrup, which mimics the nectar flow.
 2:1 sugar syrup when the weather starts getting cooler or you notice the nectar flow
tapering off.
 In warm weather syrup ferments quickly and to prevent this add 1 tsp bleach per gallon of
syrup or one tablespoon each of white vinegar and lemon juice.
 Avoid adding Honey-B-Healthy or ProHealth as this encourages robbing. If you do use
Honey-B-Healthy or ProHealth only use it only with an internal feeder.
 In mixing 2:1 syrup boil water first and remove from heat before adding sugar as you
might scorch the sugar which possibly can form HMF (5-hydroxymethylfurfural), which is
toxic to honeybees.
 Stop feeding sugar syrup when daytime temperatures are below 57 F

Preparing Hives for Winter
 Wrap or close all air gaps between the supers
 Reduce to winter hive size – two deep or three medium supers or less
 Remove the queen excluder
 Lower entrance to be reduced to a minimum size
 Remove any left behind varroa mite treatment

Ventilating Hive
 Involves removing the hive moisture with ventilation or capture
 Vivaldi board or quilt box installed with moisture wicking materials
 Upper entrance closed or open
 Screen bottom board closed or open

Condensing Hive
 Mimics bee biology and what bees naturally create in a tree cavity
 The temperature above the bee cluster must be maintained below the dew point
 Less honey is needed stored in the hive by possibly 25 to 50%
 The winter lower metabolic rate is maintained by keeping CO2 in the hive
 Moisture is maintained in the hive as the bees consume only water diluted honey
 The concept includes: insulation between inner and outer cover, no upper entrance,
screen bottom board sample board fully inserted, wrapping and or sealing cracks and
openings

Top Bar Hives
 Now is the time to start moving your bars and reorganizing them for winter.
 If you have a center entrance hive, that means moving them toward the center with your
follower board on either side of the hive entrance with all stores down to one side.
 Think about what you will use as a windbreak and make sure your mouse guards are on.

Varroa Mites
 With temperatures getting colder, treatment options for varroa are limited.
 Results of the PNW Honey Survey show that treating for varroa during the year made a
significant difference in survival rates.
 Sample your colonies for varroa mites and apply treatment as needed. Honey Bee
Coalition Tools for Varroa Management is your best guidance on sampling technique and
treatment options.
 Make sure you follow the recommendations precisely for the treatment you choose. Some
treatments can only be applied when honey supers are off while others need a certain
outdoor temperature. Check the extended weather forecast.
 After treatment, re-sample to make sure the treatment was effective. This is very
important and should not be overlooked.
 Going into winter it is critical you have your varroa mite levels and the viruses they carry
low enough or your winter bees will not survive till next spring.
 At temperatures of 50 f or lower do not open your hive and consider if needed treatment
and sampling methods using oxalic acid vapor and screen board for mite sampling.
 Monitoring with a screen bottom board use a treatment threshold of five mites per day or
lower.

September is the time for beekeepers to focus on winter preparations. The queen will be laying “winter bees” eggs and the colony will need plenty of pollen to develop fat reserves these bees will need to survive the winter. The forage in our area is primarily finished by mid-October. Beekeepers should ensure that their bees have enough food to sustain them through the winter. Strong healthy hives are essential for winter survival, so take whatever action you can to prepare your hives.

Mouse Guards – by September 1

• Before installing a mouse guard, look inside the entrance with a flashlight to see if there’s any nesting material. If you see nesting material, you must get the mouse out before installing a mouse guard. 

Yellowjackets

• In late summer the yellowjacket population is large and their typical food supply is declining. This causes aggressive scavenging behavior and can become a threat to honey bee colonies when the yellow jackets rob a hive for both honey and larvae.
• If yellowjackets are noticed close upper entrance, reduce hive entrance and or install robbing screen.

Remove Honey Supers and Harvest “Surplus” Honey

• Keep in mind that one colony will need approximately 70 pounds of honey (that’s two medium supers full) to make it through winter.
• If you have extra honey, this is a good time to harvest it.
• Your honey frames are ready to extract when nearly all the cells (approx. 80%) are capped or the honey inside the uncapped or open cells is cured. To find out if it’s cured, you can shake the frame with the open cells facing down. If honey leaks from the cells, it’s not cured and should not be extracted. Uncured honey can ferment.
• First year beekeepers should not harvest honey the first year. That’s because the bees need the honey to make it through the winter. Of course, there are exceptions – but in general it’s solid advice to wait. 

Feeding

• If you’re worried that your bees will not have enough stores going into winter, feed them 1:1 sugar syrup (2:1 when the weather gets cooler).
• In warm weather syrup ferments quickly and to prevent this add 1 tsp bleach per gallon of syrup.
• Avoid adding Honey-B-Healthy as this encourages robbing and if you do use an internal feeder.

Combining Colonies

• It is generally better to take your losses in the fall and go into winter with stronger colonies. You might want to consider combining hives if: (1) you have a queen-less hive, (2) you have a weak hive, (3) you have two weak hives or (4) you have less than six full frames on both sides of bees.  You must do this carefully and systematically. 

Top Bar Hives

• Now is the time to start moving your bars and reorganizing them for winter.
• If you have a center entrance hive, that means moving them toward the center with your follower board on either side of the hive entrance with all stores down to one side.  
• Think about what you will use as a windbreak and make sure your mouse guards are on.  

Varroa Mites

• Results of the PNW Honey Survey show that treating for varroa during the year made a      significant difference in survival rates. 
• Sample your colonies for varroa mites and apply treatment as needed. Honey Bee Coalition Tools for Varroa Management is your best guidance on sampling technique and treatment options.
• Make sure you follow the recommendations precisely for the treatment you choose. Some treatments can only be applied when honey supers are off while others need a certain outdoor temperature. Check the extended weather forecast.
• After treatment, re-sample to make sure the treatment was effective. This is very important and should not be overlooked. 
• Going into winter it is critical you have your varroa mite levels and the viruses they carry low enough or your winter bees will not survive till next spring.  

Diana is at the Master Level of the Oregon Master Beekeeper program, and also a team member of PUB’s Beekeeping Task Force and we’re thrilled to host her this month!

During my presentation on small-batch honey harvesting, I mentioned a number of products that I use. Here are the requested links.

Slanted bottom honey tank with two filters, used for crush-and-strain and for a last filtering of honey press honey: 

Honey filters: 

https://a.co/d/09niBRlG

https://a.co/d/02YYqNJ7

Two-gallon honey bucket: 

https://a.co/d/02d04zjq

Refractometer: 

https://a.co/d/06XenAfO

Honey press: 

https://a.co/d/09HVe6FJ

Linen apron from this Etsy shop: 

https://www.etsy.com/shop/L8Q8

Leuchturm blank notebook (highly recommended for paper quality and durability): https://a.co/d/09zSt6PG 

Pigma pens (highly recommended for ink quality): 

https://a.co/d/00M1ITcn

Canon Selphy photo printer that prints sticky back photos from an iPhone or Android (better quality than the Canon Ivy) 

https://a.co/d/0664Y3PH

Canon Ivy photo printer that prints sticky back photos from an iPhone or Android (less expensive but lower quality than the Selphy, but also slightly easier to use): https://a.co/d/0iVN1HfK

• Significance
• Hymenoptera Identification
• Venom Characteristics
• Sting Reactions  &Pathophysiology
  • Inflammatory response (expected)
    • Pharmacology
  • Unexpected reactions
  • Hypersensitivity–anaphylaxis
    • Pharmacology
• Immunotherapy

1. Do NOT unwrap your hives until the weather is consistently warm. It’s tempting to unwrap but your bees will thank you for
   keeping their home warm.
2. Bee packages and NUC’S will begin arriving in Oregon in early April. Make sure you have everything ready to install your
   bees. New beekeepers may want to check in with their mentors with any questions or for tips and encouragement.
3. Keep feeding!!!
   a) Most hives that die from starvation perish just before the first nectar flow of the season.
   b) Your bees were busy raising brood in February and March. This activity burns through food stores very quickly.
   c) In April, the weather is often cold and wet and the bees will not be able to forage for food. Make sure you give your
   bees the best chance to build up strong. Since there are no supers on your hive yet, their intake of sugar syrup will
   not go into your honey product.
   d) If you determine that the colony doesn’t have adequate food stores, feed 1:1 sugar syrup and pollen patties; the
   presence of pollen will encourage the queen to lay. When it’s too cold for sugar syrup feed fondant. Lane County
   Beekeepers web site has excellent recipes (www.lcbaor.org) for winter feed.
   e) Once you start feeding, continue until the bees start bringing in nectar or the dandelions come out. Then, put on
   your supers and stop feeding.
   f) The bees will begin to collect nectar in the latter part of April from early flowering plants and trees like dandelion,
   maple and willow. Once you put on honey supers, feeding must stop or you’ll have sugar syrup mixed in with your
   honey. Not a good thing!
4. Hive openings should be clear so bees can get out for cleansing flights on warm days. Clear the entrance of dead bees.
   Remove the mouse guard/entrance reducer and scrape the dead bees away from the entrance with a stick or your hive
   tool. You don’t have to remove every single bee. Clearing the front entrance is good for hive ventilation.
5. On a warm day, inspect the hive for food stores and brood pattern. If you don’t see a solid brood pattern, consider
   replacing the queen with local survivor stock.
6. If you need to order package bees or a queen, check in with your bee supplier as soon as possible.
7. On a warm day, consider reversing the brood chambers but ONLY if doing so will not split the cluster. Splitting the cluster
   at this time of year could chill the (now two) clusters and be deadly for the colony. The single reason to reverse the brood
   boxes is to give the queen more room to lay – but again only if it will not split the cluster. To reverse the brood chambers,
   take the top brood box and put it on top of the bottom board and put the one that was on the bottom on top.
8. Clean out any dead outs you may have and store the frames so other bees, mice or other pests cannot get inside and rob
   it out. Frames from dead outs are a great boost for a package of bees.
9. Repair and paint woodenware before the season begins. Have honey supers ready to go before the hive needs it to
   prevent hive crowding that could trigger a swarm.
10. Educate yourself on the different mite treatment options (cultural, non-chemical and chemical) and know when and how to
    use them correctly. Order supplies to control mites ASAP. Don’t let mites get the best of you and your bees this year.
    Check out the Honey Bee Coalition Tools for Varroa Management and videos on how to control Varroa mites
    http://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/.
11. The PNW Honey Bee Survey is OPEN  https://pnwhoneybeesurvey.com  please take the survey. Survey is for
    any and all pub members who have overwintered colonies. The survey covers questions on
    survivorship/losses overwinter and managements for varroa mite control. It is electronic.

Sideliners and Commercial Beekeepers are encouraged to attend this one — let’s look at the business side of ‘keeping bees.

New beekeepers come with your questions! Seasoned beekeepers come with answers!

Gather & Blather location :

Paladins League

October 31st 11:00am to 12:30

4765 NE Fremont St, Portland, OR 97213