LEWIS COUNTY BEEKEEPERS' ASSOCIATION                                                          

Regular Meeting Dates/Times: 

PLEASE NOTE CHANGE OF MEETING DATE & PLACE: NOW 2nd WEDNESDAYS of the month in Washington Hall 103, Centralia College.

Exception: July & December are our Summer & Holiday Potlucks, which are on the 2nd Saturdays; for details on upcoming meeting topics, see Upcoming Events.

Social Time 6 to 6:30 p.m.

Speaker, 6:30 to 7:30

Business Meeting & Beekeeping Q&A, 7:45 to 8:45 p.m.

Meeting Place: 

Centralia College, Washington Hall 103

       701 W. Walnut St., Centralia WA 98531.

For directions, click here.    

Our Meetings Feature:

* Expert Speakers

* Beekeeping Q&A

* Short Business Meeting

Questions? Contact LCBA:

secretary@lcba.community ; 360 880 8130



Highlights of Our Past Meetings & Links to Resources Presented: 

Scroll down for information on past monthly meeting topics.  For meetings beyond the next month, visit our Upcoming Events page.

Wednesday, March 11 Bee Sales 5 - 6:30 pm; Speaker: Dan Maughan: Successful Overwintering of Bees in a Potato Warehouse. 

Wednesday, February 12

Survival Secrets of Wild Honey Bees

Speaker: Susanne Weil, Journeyman Beekeeper & LCBA Secretary.

Why do honey bees in the wild live longer than managed colonies? Entomologist Tom Seeley has been tracking bees in the woods outside Ithaca, NY, since the 1970s: in his new book, The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of Wild Honey Bees, he offers pre/post Varroa data showing that wild bees have significantly higher survival rates than managed bees. Seeley attributes this to the differences in how bees live in the wild, compares & contrasts how managed and wild bees live, and offers substantial suggestions for ways that we can improve our beekeeping by taking some hints from wild colonies. LCBA Secretary and WASBA Journeyman beekeeper Susanne Weil summarized Seeley's provocative suggestions in a slideshow: click here to view.



Wednesday, January 8

Mason bees are "super pollinators," more efficient than honey bees, though they only fly one month out of the year. LCBA Treasurer & Journeyman beekeeper Rick Battin shared his insights into & experiments with mason beekeeping, including housing & seasonal management, like dealing with pollen mites. To view Rick's slideshow, click here.

Saturday, December 7 

LCBA's 11th Annual Holiday Potluck

A good time was had by members who shared fellowship over assorted dishes and raised funds for the 2020 Youth in Beekeeper Scholarship program with our traditional drawing of fun bee-related items. Many thanks to our local vendors who support our scholarship program - you can find them on the Youth Scholarship Page of this website - and our members who donated items.

Thursday, November 14

Do It Yourself Winter Beekeeping Projects

With "active bee season" behind us & bees put to bed for the winter, beekeepers have time to think about new apiary projects for the year ahead. Kay Crawford presented how she has adapted a Slovenian hive for the PNW: click here to see her slideshow. Terrie Phillips told the story of the bear that attacked her hives & how she's protecting them now: click here to see her slideshow. Finally, Steve Howard showed us how to make a screened bottom board (for directions on the bottom board, click here to find it on our Education pages).

Thursday, October 10

Queen Rearing Methods; Breeding Local Queens

LCBA Mentorship Coordinator Cody Warren and youth scholar Adam Claridge described their experiences at WSU's Queen Rearing course; local queen breeders Alan Woods and Dan Maughan shared their insights and led a discussion of methods for rearing locally adapted queens.

Thursday, September 12

Fall Management for Winter Survival

LCBA President Kevin Reichert & Mentorship Coordinator Cody Warren led a discussion of methods to prepare bees for winter. For details, click on the Education page on this site, then Fall Management & also Overwintering.

Thursday, August 8

Do You Have an August Plan? Helping Your Bees Thrive; also, 2018-19 PNW & National Bee Loss Data

Speaker: Dr. Dewey Caron

Dewey shared the loss data from the PNW & BIP surveys and reviewed how various management practices seem to affect honey bee survival. We reviewed planning for late summer/early fall management to help our bees survive winter. For Dewey's slideshow, click here.

Saturday, July 13

LCBA's 11th Annual Summer Potluck

LCBA members had a great time & the weather was cool! We shared food, fellowship, & raised $444 for our Youth in Beekeeping Scholarship program with our drawing. Many thanks to our members who donated gift items, as well as our community supporters who donated items & gift certificates:  Beeline Apiaries, the Farm Store of Chehalis, Reichert's Choice Meats, Reichert's Distributing, Jeremy's Farm to Table, the Tiki Tap House, Shakespeare & Co Coffee & Books, Kaija's Garden & Pet, & Pioneer West.

Thursday, June 13

Planting Forage for Your Pollinators

LCBA Journeyman Beekeeper Terrie Phillips, who is also a Master Gardener, shared her strategies for planting home forage to support pollinators. To view her slideshow, which includes detailed lists of plants that work well for our Southwest Washington bees, click here.

Thursday, May 9

Catching Swarms: Tips & Tales

Thursday, April 11

“A Comparison of Hygienic and Flight Behavior Among Different Strains of Honey Bees”: Megan Asche, Ph.D. student, WSU Entomology, presented on her Masters’ research at WSU’s Honey Bee Lab. This work explored the foraging and hygienic behavior of honey bee strains. She also covered her Ph.D. research investigating the apiculturally significant predator/prey relationship between yellow jackets and honey bees.

Thursday, March 14

Colony Removal Adventures

LCBA President Kevin Reichert shared a slideshow of several colony removals and explained the step by step process. Education Coordinator Peter Glover shared a slideshow explaining the new discovery that Varroa mites eat not bee hemolymph, but bees' fat bodies, and the implications for beekeepers.

Thursday, February 14

Do It Yourself Beekeeping Projects

LCBA Mentors Steve Howard, Bob Harris, Cody Warren, & Dan Maughan demonstrated DIY projects:  how to make your own screened bottom board; how to get bees from a swarm or carveout to transition into a top bar hive; a comparison/contrast of frames, foundation, and fit; and a new, improved bee vacuum box for carve-out bee removals. See the March Newsletter for details. 

Thursday, January 10

           "History of Pesticides: What It Means for Honey Bees": Speaker, Bryan Castro, Bryan's Bees

Ventura County, California is one of the agricultural hotspots of the world, & has been one of the biggest beekeeping counties in the country.  Bees & pesticides have coexisted successfully since 1876, but change is in the air.  New insecticides, fungicides, & herbicides are being developed, & CCD is now so prevalent that some beekeepers are seeing a 100% loss rate within their apiaries.  In some locations entire apiaries have been lost within two weeks.  Bryan spoke about the history of pesticides, types of insecticides, responsible farming practices, & how to keep bees safe, based on his own experience in agricultural and residential pest control. His business, Bryan’s Bees, specializes in live bee removal & uses all rescued bees for their pollination, honey, & queen rearing operation across California and Washington.  To view Bryan's slideshow, click here.



Saturday, December 8

LCBA's 10th Annual Holiday Potluck

Thursday, November 8

Fungi and Bee Health:  Dr. Nick Naeger & Dr. Jennifer Han, WSU

WSU researchers Drs. Jennifer Han and Nick Naeger shared highlights of their research on how mycelium extracts from various fungi may help bees resist Varroa-borne viruses. Here are links to articles for those who missed the meeting but would like to learn more:

Seattle Times: https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/science/how-the-mushroom-dream-of-a-long-haired-hippie-could-help-save-the-worlds-bees/

Scientific Reports: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32194-8



Thursday, October 11:

Thursday, September 13

LCBA Community Outreach Coordinator Dan Maughan: How To Keep Your Bees Healthy in Winter

Dan Maughan, WASBA-certified Journeyman Beekeeper, shared ways to help bees thrive during the winter, emphasizing what we can do now to protect them. To see Dan's slideshow, click here.

Thursday, August 9

LCBA Treasurer Rick Battin: WSU Beekeeping Research

WASBA-certified Journeyman Beekeeper Rick Battin shared initiatives at WSU to support beekeepers - their New World Carniolan queen breeding program, diagnostic lab, mushroom research, cold storage overwintering for Varroa control, &, of course, Bee Beards! For details, see our September Newsletter. To see Rick's slideshow, click here.

Saturday, July 14

LCBA's 10th Annual Summer Potluck

LCBA members gathered at Lintott Alexander Park in Chehalis for good food & fellowship, & raised funds for our 2019 Youth in Beekeeping Scholarship program. For details & photos, see our August Newsletter.

Thursday, June 14:

LCBA VP Bob Harris: The Making of Honey

LCBA VP & founding President Bob Harris has been keeping bees for 30 years and shared insights into how bees make our favorite bee byproduct – honey! Why does honey crystallize? Is this desirable or not? How can you best store honey once it’s extracted? For details, see our July Newsletter. 

Thursday, May 10:

Debra Langley-Boyer, West Sound Beekeepers: Slovenian A-Z Hive

 Debra share information about the AZ Hive: in this design, bee colonies are placed in a covered house or shed; hives open from the back, enabling beekeepers to remove frames one at a time without lifting heavy boxes. For details, see LCBA's June Newsletter. 

Thursday, April 12:

Speaker, Kevin Mills, Hive 5 Bees: Breeding Pacific Northwest-Adapted Queens

Kevin Mills's entertaining presentation on queen rearing methods & his experiences with keeping bees in Manitoba and southwest Washington can be viewed by clicking here. To hear Kevin belt out an entertaining rendition of "Sixteen Tons," click here.

Thursday, March 8: 

Speaker, Gottfried Fritz: Avoiding “Spring Dwindle” & Other Spring Bee Management Issues.  Longtime beekeeper Gottfried shared methods for bolstering over-wintered bees in spring, getting bees ready for the nectar flow, & more.  LCBA also held package and nuc bee group order sales at this meeting.



Thursday, February 8:

Noxious Weeds & Honey Bees

Speaker: Bill Wamsley, 

Coordinator, Lewis County Noxious Weed Control Board 

  Bill spoke about noxious weeds - what they are, and which are in Lewis County; what we can plant as possible native plant forage; vegetation control by LC Public Works along right of ways and how this affects beekeepers; and how the WA State Noxious Weed Control Board works.  For Bill's slideshow, click here.

Thursday, January 11:

Mead Making

         Speaker: Antony Richfield,

Silver Cat Farms, Chehalis

Antony Richfield, a European-trained winemaker, shared secrets of making mead from honey, focusing on practicalities from a home brewing perspective. After the meeting, Antony treated us to a mead tasting!  For details for Antony's talk, see LCBA's February newsletter.

Saturday, December 9:  LCBA's 9th Annual Holiday Potluck

LCBA's 9th Annual Holiday Potluck was a wonderful time - somewhere north of 70 beekeepers & family members turned out for good food, good fellowship, & raised $794 for our Youth in Beekeeping Scholarship fund. Our 2017 Youth Scholars & their mentors told members the highlights of their first year as beekeepers, & President Kevin Reichert announced our 4 2018 Youth Scholars (more details in our January Newsletter). LCBA thanks our donors for contributions. Thanks, too, to Starla Lago of Misty Meadows Homestead, who gave a well attended soap-making demonstration before the potluck.



Thursday, November 9:

LCBA Mentorship Coordinator Dan Maughan: Adventures in Commercial Pollination - Taking Bees to the Almonds, the Apples, & the Cherries

Dan described what's involved in commercial pollination with an overview of his family's journey to add pollination & honey sales to their family farm business. To see a slideshow of Dan's talk, click here. Also, we held a short business meeting with information about LCBA's upcoming board of directors' elections & proposed bylaws revisions. For details, see our December Newsletter.

Thursday, October 12:

Dr. Dewey Caron:  Southwest Washington Bee Losses & Management Practices

Dr. Caron's talk focused on how Lewis County and the Pacific Northwest generally fared with bee losses over the past year. To see Dewey's slideshow, click here; to see the PNW Bee Loss data, click here. Dewey also shared ideas about how management practices may correlate with losses. For more details, see our November newsletter.

 Thursday, September 14:

President Kevin Reichert:

Preparing Bees to Over-Winter

LCBA President Kevin Reichert led discussion of how to assess colonies' condition for overwintering & address issues like combining weak hives, consolidating bees into fewer boxes, moisture control methods, including how to make a "quilt box," fall & winter feeding strategies, addressing Varroa concerns, & more. Kevin's slideshow, as well as recipes for home-made Honey-B-Healthy and winter patty mixes, is on this site under Mentors/Classes.

Thursday, August 10

Dr. Danny Najera: Green River College 2015-16 Overwintering Study

Danny "the Mite Buster" Najera gave a very informative presentation about the importance of controlling Varroa mites in honey bee colonies. With his students at GRC, Danny studied what factors might predict colony survival - all of the variables studied showed no predictive value re: colony survival except one - hives with more than 7 Varroa mites per 100 bees died. To see Danny's slideshow, click here.

Saturday, July 8

LCBA's 9th Annual Summer Potluck

LCBA members enjoyed fun, food, & fellowship at Alexander Lintott Park in Chehalis. At our drawing to support next year's Youth Scholarship Program, members raised $600!

Thursday, June 8

Preparing Your Honey to Show at a Fair; Supering For Honey Speakers

LCBA Education Coordinator Peter Glover covered what beekeepers need to do to get honey & wax ready for our Southwest Washington Fair competitions; Mentor Steve Howard shared his strategies for honey supering. For details, see our July Newsletter. 

Thursday, May 11

Evaluating Brood Pattern & Raising Good Queens

Rev. Alan Woods of Woods Bees, Centralia, shared his local queen breeder's insights into evaluating brood pattern, understanding why a colony is making a queen, local queen rearing, maintaining a queen nuc. Mentor Phil Wilson shared information on the "Bee Gym" as a mite control method. For a detailed writeup, see our June Newsletter. 

Thursday, April 13

Building Strong Colonies in Spring

Speaker:  LCBA Mentorship Coordinator Dan Maughan

For highlights of this meeting, please see LCBA's May Newsletter.

Thursday, March 9, 2017

Package & Nuc Bee Sales

Newbees: What To Expect In Your First Year of Beekeeping, by Bill Barr & Peggy Hammer

To view Bill & Peggy's slideshow, click here. For the writeup in our April Newsletter, click here.

Thursday, February 9

New Long Langstroth, Observation Hive, & Other New Beekeeping Equipment Designs

Speaker: John Edwards, Ruhl Bees

For details of John's talk, see  our March Newsletter.

Thursday, January 12

Migratory Beekeeping: Follow the Nectar!

Speaker:  Longtime beekeeper Gottfried Fritz shared his experiences in commercial pollination during the 1960s and 70. For a detailed writeup of his talk, see our February Newsletter; for his slideshow, click here.

December 8:

LCBA's 8th Annual Holiday Potluck

Despite a blizzard, 50 beekeepers turned out to share good food, good fellowship at our new location at Forst Borst Park, Kitchen #2.  2016 Youth Scholar Josiah Cowin shared experiences from his first year of beekeeping.  We held a brief monthly meeting with a vote on revised bylaws & a dues increase, & held a fundraising drawing for our 2017 Youth Scholarship Program - which raised $454! To read more, check our January Newsletter: click here.



November 10

Inside the Waggle Dance

Dr. Danny Najera, Ph.D. Entomology & Instructor at Green River Community College, covered "the complexity of the honeybee through the well documented waggle dances," as well as new research. To view Dr Najera's slideshow, click here.  For the video of Dr. Najera's presentation on LCBA's new YouTube channel, click here - thanks to Cody Warren!  For a writeup of the talk & meeting, see our December Newsletter: click here.



October 8

Using Digital Hive Tools to Help Manage Colonies; Making Winter Patties

Speakers:  LCBA Treasurer Rick Battin showed how he uses digital hive management systems to assess colony weight, temperature, & more; Community Outreach Coordinator & "Bee Chef" Dan Maughan showed how he whips up his winter patties recipe. For Dan's recipe, click here; for details of the meeting, see our November Newsletter.



September 8

Fall Management Strategies: Ways to Help Prepare Your Bees for Successful Over-Wintering

LCBA President Kevin Reichert led a discussion of how to assess hives going into winter, when to consolidate boxes, how to control bee-killing moisture, winter feeding methods, & more. To read Kevin's 10 Tips for Successful Over-wintering, click here; for a slideshow with added details, click here.



August 11

Speaker:  Dr. Dewey Caron - Pacific Northwest Honey Bee Loss Survey Results - Lessons & Take-aways to help us help our bees.

To see Dr. Caron's study, click here, & see our September Newsletter, which also covers the update on progress on our new club apiary.

July 9

LCBA's 8th Annual Summer Potluck at Lintott/Alexander Park in Chehalis

We enjoyed good fellowship & shared dishes with fellow beekeepers - & raised $636 for our 2017 Youth Scholarship Program. Many thanks to local businesses & members who donated drawing items, & all who participated in the drawing! For highlights, see our August Newsletter.

June 9

Honey Judging Criteria; Adulterated Honey & How to Avoid It; Tales from the International Honey Laundering Trade

  Education Coordinator Peter Glover explained how LCBA has adapted the Eastern Apiculture Association’s honey judging criteria and gave tips on how to prepare honey for entry in this August’s Southwest Washington Fair. To view his slideshow, click here. 

Journeyman candidate Terrie Phillips explained how honey becomes adulterated and things you can do to avoid this, and shared tales of the international honey laundering trade. To view her slideshow, click here.

May 12

Mycological approaches to increase longevity, reduce mite and viral burden, and improve immunity of honey bees. Our speaker, Blake Westman, is Production Manager at Fungi Perfecti & works with Paul Stamet & Steve Sheppard at WSU on mushrooms and honey bee health.  Details will be in our June newsletter.

Also: Honey Supering:  LCBA mentor Steve Howard shared tips on honey supering to prevent swarming.



April 14 

Post-Overwintering Assessment - Why Did My Bees Die? Also - Tips on Hiving New Package Bees - a "dry demo."  For tips on hiving bees, click here; for a link to the Bee Informed Partnership's slideshow on bee death from varroa associated viruses, click here.  For a writeup of the meeting, see our May Newsletter.

March 10

Transporting Package Bees, Dos & Don’ts - Community Outreach Coordinator Dan Maughan.  To see a slideshow of Dan's presentation, click here.  For step by step directions on hiving package bees, click here.

The "Long Langstroth" Hive - the best of both worlds, blending Langstroth & Top Bar?? - Dan Maughan. (Part of the slideshow linked above.)

Foundationless Beekeeping: a natural alternative to traditional Langstroth beekeeping - Treasurer Rick Battin

Oxalic Acid Fume Vaporizers for Varroa Control - Herb Zile.  To see a do-it-yourself video on making an oxalic fume vaporizer, click here.  To see "Fat Bee Man's" how-to videos on using oxalic acid fume vaporizers, click here and here.

For a detailed writeup of these talks, see our April Newsletter.



February 11

53 Years in Beekeeping:  LCBA Mentor Gottfried Fritz shared his experiences from over 50 years as a beekeeper, focusing on how things have changed.  Details are in LCBA's March 2016 Newsletter.

Prefaced by short film, "The Beekeeper," by Spenser Sarsen: to view the film, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Orb7nE6WQZY 



January 14

Building Your Own Top Bar Hives: LCBA Mentor Steve Howard

Top Bar & Langstroth: Comparing the Experiences: Terrie Phillips 

For details on hive design & tips on building, with photos, please see our  February 2016 Newsletter. Click here to view Terrie's slideshow.

December 9

Our 7th Annual Holiday Potluck

For photos, click here to visit our Photo Gallery page.



November 4

Oxalic Acid Fume Vaporizers for Varroa Control; an Insider's View of the Package Bee Business

Mike Radford of Northwest Bee Supply shared his adventures transporting northwest package bees as far afield as Alaska by plane: to see that slideshow, click here. Mike also explained how the new oxalic acid vaporizer works to control Varroa mites: to view that slideshow, click here. To visit Mike's website, click here.

October 14:

Pheromones & Venom: The Chemical Communication of Honey Bees

How do honey bees use pheromones to communicate important message about queen-rightness, brood conditions, alarm situations, homing for foragers, & more?  Venom: what makes some suddenly susceptible to allergic reactions?  Click here for speaker Dr. Dewey Caron's slideshow; for a detailed writeup, click here to read our November newsletter.

September 9:

Fall Management for Over-winter Survival

Click here for LCBA VP Kevin Reichert's list of 10 things we can do now to support our bees; click here for his slideshow explaining & illustrating his moisture control box and candy board approaches.

August 12:

Mite Control Management: discussion of Varroa treatment philosophies - non-treatment v. animal husbandry approaches. 

For Dan Maughan's slideshow, click here; for the Honey Bee Health Coalition's interactive guide on Varroa management, click here; for BeeInformed Partnership's guide to using oxalic acid for mite control, click here. 



July 11

LCBA's 7th Annual Summer Potluck

Lintott Alexander Park, Chehalis

About 80 beekeepers & family members gathered at the park to share food, fellowship, & raise funds for our 2016 Youth Scholarship Program - for pictures & more info, see our Photo Gallery / August newsletter.

June 10

Pacific Northwest Bee Loss Surveys & Management Practices – What Do Results Say about How We Can Help Our Bees Survive?

Speaker: Dr. Dewey Caron

Data on 2014-15 bee losses, nationwide, in the Pacific Northwest, & in Lewis County; discussion of what management practices seem most helpful.  To see Dewey's slideshow, click here.

Highlights of our business meeting - including honey judging contests at the Southwest Washington Fair, information on Planting for Bees, & more - will be in our June-July 2015 newsletter.



May 13:

Chemistry of Honey, Pollen, & Wax

Speaker: Master Beekeeper Louis Matej

How do bees produce needed energy & heat from sugars in nectar and from proteins in pollen?  For highlights, click here for a PDF of Louis's slideshow. 



April 8:

Swarm Capture Methods;

Hiving Package Bees in Top Bar & Langstroth Hives;

Testing Newly Hived Package Bees for Varroa Mites.

Speakers:  LCBA VP Dave Gaston, President Norm Switzler, Secretary Susanne Weil

For highlights of presentations, see our April-May Newsletter: click here.



March 11

 Monitoring Bee Colony Health Using In-Hive Thermometers:  LCBA Mentorship Coordinator Kent Yates

Building Nucs: Community Outreach Coordinator Dan Maughan

Discussion: Early Spring Management Issues

For highlights of presentations, see our April - May Newsletter: click here.  For Dan's slideshow, click here.

February 11 

Beekeeping in Kenya

Speaker: Susanne Weil

A slideshow & report on what it's like to work African bees, teaching beekeepers, & more from Kisii, Kenya. To view the slideshow, click here. For the talk, see our March 2015 Newsletter: click here.

Also: Beekeeping Q&A:  how can we help our bees weather unseasonably warm weather?

January 14

Getting Started with Mason Bees:

Speaker:  Tim Weible

Tim shared great information about mason bee biology, options for housing mason bees, methods for cleaning their blocks, & dealing with pollen mites.  He also presented a great array of show & tell items during his talk.  To see photos & read a summary, click here for our February Newsletter; for more information about mason bees, click on "Resources & Links," above, then visit our Mason Bee page.

December 10, 2014:

LCBA's 6th Annual Holiday Potluck

About 60 beekeepers braved rain & wind for our 6^th Annual LCBA Holiday Potluck at the Newaukum Grange – we had a blast! For photos, click here.  Good food, even better company, & with our drawing, we raised over $260 for our 2015 Youth Scholarship Program.  Many thanks to those who donated items for the drawing – and brought canned & dry goods for the Greater Chehalis Area Food Bank – we filled 3 big boxes.  And a big thank you to Steve & Cheryl Howard for bringing the table décor of fir boughs & Xmas tree ornaments!   

November 12, 2014:

 Winter Projects: Things You Can Do This Winter for a Better Bee Season in 2015!

For highlights, see for our December Newsletter: Rick Battin's propolis/alcohol stain for health-promoting hive box weather-proofing....Martin Stenzig's dovetail method for building hive boxes (available in PDF by clicking here)...Tomme Trikosko's  homemade, non-spendy mouse guard...& Richard Kain's quick & easy "rope trick" to make lifting those heavy hive boxes easier on more mature backs.

October 8, 2014:

Causes of Bee Colony Collapse

     For highlights of Dr. Tim Lawrence's talk - including his provocative insights on neonicotinoids - click here.

Moisture Control & Winter Feeding

For a slideshow of LCBA mentor Kevin Reichert's approach to winter moisture control in hives  & dry feeding methods, click here to visit our Mentors/Workshops/Classes --> Overwintering Bees page.

September 10, 2014:

Improving Fall/Winter Survivorship 

Speaker:   Dr. Dewey Caron, Affiliate Faculty at Oregon State University & Emeritus Professor of Entomology, U. Delaware

For highlights of Dewey's talk about what we can do in fall to help our bees survive winter, as well as data on 2013-14 winter colony losses from standard Langstroth, top bar & Warre hives, see a PDF of his slideshow - click here - & check our October newsletter.  For photos & discussion points from LCBA's Sept 6 fall management workshop, click here.

August 13, 2014:

Why Bees Need Weeds:  They're Medicinal!

Speaker:  Franclyn Heinecke, WSBA Area 2 Representative

For highlights of Franclyn's talk & a summary of our business meeting, including our adoption of the memorandum of understanding with KiReeco, our Kenyan sister beekeepers' organization, see our September newsletter.

July 12, 2014: 

Summer Potluck Meeting

For highlights of our gathering at Alexander Park, click here for photos; click here for a summary of our brief business meeting in August's newsletter.

June 11, 2014:

The 6 Misconceptions of Queen-Rearing 

Speaker:  Charles Bennett, President, Pacific Northwest Queen-Rearing Club; Vice-President, Washington State Beekeepers' Association

 Click here for Charles's slideshow; click here for a writeup of his talk and Q&A session in our July newsletter.

May 14, 2014:

Bees in the Garden & On the Farm:

Protecting Pollinators from Pesticides, Fungicides, & Herbicides; Native Cover Plants / Shrubs Beneficial for Bees; Avoiding Noxious / Invasive Plants

Speaker: Bill Wamsley, Lewis County Noxious Weed Control Board Coordinator

For a PDF of Bill's presentation, click here.

April 9, 2014:

Spring Management: Best Practices

Supering to Avoid Swarms; Making Splits; Using Bait Boxes to Attract Swarms; & Top Bar Hive Spring Management

See our May newsletter for a writeup of these talks.  For Splits, click here to view a PDF of West Sound Beekeepers' excellent PowerPoint. For Hiving Package Bees, visit ourMentors / Workshops / Classes page or click here for a summary.

"Bee Team" Swarm & Colony Removals - 2013 Adventures & 2014 Opportunities to Help Save Bees:  President Norm Switzler.  Click here to view a slideshow.

March 12, 2014: 

Topic:  Zombie Fly Parasitism of Honey Bees Research from the University of Washington

Speakers:  Dr. Evan Sugden and his undergraduate research team, Ashley Powell & Hannah Dayley, with special guest, insect photographer & bumblebee specialist Will Peterman  

Our visiting researchers shared their work on how zombie flies are affecting honey bees in western Washington, as well as information about UW’s ongoing Nosema research. Will Peterman updated us on the rebound of the Western Bumblebee, nearly extinct on the west coast.  For highlights, check out our April newsletter. To read about Dr. Sugden's popular UW course, "Science With Bees," see the Nov 2013 issue of Bee Culture or click here. To learn more about zombie flies, visit ZombeeWatch.org.

February 12, 2014:

Topic:  Teaching Beekeeping in Kenya

Speaker:  Wilma Sofranko   

KiReeCo ~ the Kisii Rural Education & Empowerment Coalition ~ is LCBA's Sister Beekeeping Organization in Kenya.  To visit their website, http://kireeco.wordpress.com/, click here.  Founder Wilma Sofranko writes:

"On October 30-Nov 1 KiReeCo trained 58 Marani community members in beekeeping and honey production using Langstroth hives. A few have been using Kenyan top bar hives and many are beginning beekeepers. The three day training included bee anatomy, bee temperament,  diseases and predators, forage plants, honey production, markets, honey health and nutrition, hive management, and more…." 

For highlights of Wilma's talk, click here.  Detailed coverage will be in our March 2014 newsletter.

January 8, 2014:

Yellowjacket Woes: Friend Or Foe?

To see highlights of retired Lower Columbia College Biology professor Carl Roush's presentation on the biology & behavior of yellow jackets / wasps / hornets, click here and view his slideshow; a detailed account of his talk will be in our February newsletter.

Business Meeting:  Package bee news, raffle, beekeeping Q&A

December 11, 2013:

5th Annual Holiday Potluck

We had a great turnout for our 5th annual holiday potluck and raised funds for our 2014 pilot Youth Scholarship program, as well as donations for the Greater Chehalis Area Food Bank.  Click here to see pictures!

November 13, 2013:

"More Than Honey"

About 90 beekeepers attended our showing of Mark Imhoof's 2013 film on the plight of honey bees worldwide.  Highlights of film issues & our discussion are in our December Newsletter.  To view the trailer, visit http://vimeo.com/45684169.

Colony Winter Assistance

To see member Mike Helms's slideshow, "Colony Winter Assistance," click here; to read his talking points, click here. Mike has an innovative approach to candy boards and moisture control.

October 9, 2013:

Foundationless Beekeeping;

The "Brood-mapper" Citizen Science Project

Highlights are in our November newsletter, which also contains images from the Broodmapper presentation. To see photos of how quickly bees build comb without foundation, click here.

September 11, 2013:

Fall Management Issues: 

For details, see our October newsletter (click here); for a photo gallery of our Sept 7 Winlock workshop on fall management, with a focus on treating for bee diseases, click here.

 To see pictures from our Sept 14 fall management workshop in Randle, with a focus on assessing hives for over-wintering readiness, click here.  (Packwood pictures will be coming soon!)

August 14, 2013:

Diagnosing & Treating Bee Diseases:

LCBA Vice President Dave Gaston reported on the Treatment -Free Beekeeping Conference. Read highlights in our September Newsletter:  click here.

July 13, 2013: 

Summer Potluck

We had a great time at our 5th (!) annual summer potluck at Rose of Sharon Farm.  For photos and information about our fundraising initiative to support member Wilma Sofranko's beekeeper training initiative in Kenya, visit our Photo Gallery: click here.

June 12, 2013:

How to Judge Honey 

For details of Olympia Beekeeper Bob Smith's talk on his experiences judging honey at the Thurston County Fair, as well as an overview of honey judging criteria, see our July Newsletter.

May 8, 2013: 

BeeInformed Survey:  Colony Losses & Possible Causes

Speaker, Dr. Dewey Caron

To view a PDF file of Dr.Caron's slideshow, click here.  To visit BeeInformed's homepage, click here (complete URL:  http://beeinformed.org).  For highlights of our meeting, click here for our June newsletter. 

 April 10, 2013: 

Hiving Package Bees & Other Spring Management Issues 

See our May Newsletter for details.

March 13, 2013: 

LCBA's Swarm & Colony Removal Project

LCBA President Norm Switzler spoke on our colony and swarm removal project.  Click here to see his slideshow; to read his comments, see our April Newsletter.  To see VP Dave Gaston's swarm trap box, click here and here.

February 13, 2013: 

"Traditional Beekeeping in Kenya" & "Getting Started with Mason Bees"

Wilma Sofranko shared stories of how her NGO in Kisii, Kenya, is helping locals keep honey bees: to see her slideshow, click here. Kimo Thielges showed us a wide array of mason bee homes and explained how beekeepers can benefit from working with these "super pollinators": to learn more, visit our mason bee page. For details on both talks, see our March newsletter.

January 25, 2013:  

“Enhancing Genetic Diversity in the U.S. Honey Bee Gene Pool” ~ Sue Cobey

 WSU honey bee genetics expert Sue Cobey gave a STEM Rising Tide lecture at Centralia College. To view the slideshow of Sue's talk, click here.

January 19, 2013: 

Top Bar Hives ~ the First Year's Adventure

 LCBA VP Dave Gaston told the story of his first year using top bar hives. To see his slideshow, visit our photo gallery; for a key points from Dave's presentation, see our February newsletter.  For Dave's colony record management form, click here. To register your hives with the Washington State Department of Agriculture, click here to download the form.

December 12, 2012: 

Holiday Potluck

For photos from our 4th annual holiday potluck, click here; for details of our business meeting, see our January 2013 newsletter. 

Nov 14, 2012: 

Highlights of the WSBA-WAS conference, "Sustainable Beekeeping"

See our December Newsletter to read about the conference theme, HopGuard research, Varroa management, and more. 

Oct 10, 2012: 

Planting a Bee-Friendly Garden

WSBA VP Charles Bennett & Darren Gordon of "House of Bees" explained how to garden with bees in mind.  To see Charles's slideshow, click here; for details, see our November newsletter; for more resources, visit our  Planting for Bees page.

Sept 12, 2012: 

Identifying & Treating for Tracheal Mites

Renzy Davenport (now VP of Olympia Beekeepers) gave an overview of identification and treatment.  For details, see our October Newsletter; for testing forms and directions, visit our Resources/Links page.

August 8, 2012:   

Queen Rearing

LCBA President Norm Switzler, VP Dave Gaston, member Ted Saari, and Treasurer Jon Wade shared what they learned at the Silverdale / West Sound Beekeepers course.  For details, see our September newsletter.

 July 11, 2012: 

4th Annual LCBA Summer Potluck

For recipes involving honey, visit our Cooking With Honey page; for details on this and earlier meetings, visit our Newsletters page!

Above:  Above, full house for our April 10, 2013  meeting on spring management issues. 

Above, Bee Tree Entrance, photo by Tom Seeley, from When We Talk About Animals, Episode 16, Yale University, May 13, 2019, http://www.whenwetalkaboutanimals.org/2019/05/13/ep-16-thomas-seeley/

Mason bee [Osmia taurus - closeup] by Benjamin Smith, Posted on Wikimedia Commons, 6 Feb 2014. CC BY 2.0  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/deed.enMason Bee (Osmia taurus)  

Above, queen-rearing was the focus of our October 2019 meeting. 

Above, Kay & Gottfried choose gifts donated for the LCBA 2020 Youth Scholarship fundraiser. 

Above, Terrie Phillips, LCBA Journeyman Beekeeper & Master Gardener, with her bees this summer.

Above, honey bee swarm in tree (photo by Tony Campbell, Shutterstock)

Above, Megan Asche with some experimental subjects.

Above, 2017 Youth Scholarship student Adam Claridge at a club carve-out.

Above, Bryan Castro of Bryan's Bees (Ventura, CA, & Chehalis, WA) was LCBA's January 2019 speaker.

 Above, Drs. Nick Naeger & Jannifer Han spoke at LCBA's November 8 meeting.

Dr. Dewey Caron was made an honorary lifetime member of Lewis County Beekeepers' Association at our October meeting.

Above, Rick Battin wearing a Bee Beard.

 

 Above, LCBA founding president / current VP Bob Harris spins honey at a 2017 workshop

Above, LCBA's May 10 meeting featured the AZ-Slovenian hive housing design .

Above, Amanda & Kevin Mills of Hive 5 Bees

Above, Gottfried Fritz & Kenzie Anderson assess frame of bees at LCBA's 2017 spring management workshop.

Above, Skagit Valley Sowthistle, Mitchell Haindfield, Flickr

Above, Antony Richfield answers questions at the mead tasting that followed our January 11 meeting.

 Above, beekeepers at our 9th Annual Holiday potluck listening as our 2017 Youth Scholarship students reviewed their first year as beekeepers; below, Starla Lago gave a great demonstration on how to make soap from beeswax.

 Above, LCBA Mentorship Coordinator Dan Maughan with two nice honey frames from summer 2017.

Above, Dr. Dewey Caron (image, New York City Beekeepers' Association)

 Above, LCBA President Kevin Reichert covered fall management strategies at our Sept 14 meeting.

Above, Dr. Danny Najera, the "Mite Buster," covered overwintering research & Varroa control on August 10.

Above, Emily Ecklund & Rylea Shan Powell, 2 of LCBA's 3 Youth In Beekeeping Scholars for 2017, at our 9th Annual Summer Potluck.

 Above, LCBA's 2016 Honey Judging at the Southwest Washington Fair.

Above, Rev. Alan Woods spoke re Queen Rearing at LCBA's May 11 meeting;below, former LCBA Community Outreach Coordinator Bill Barr hiving a nuc (photo, Tracy Chilelli):

Above, January 12 speaker LCBA mentor Gottfried Fritz,pictured here with his mentee, 2016 Youth Scholar Josiah Cowin, inspecting some of Gottfried's colonies.

Above, LCBA members at our 8th Annual Holiday Potluck on December 8th.

Above, Dr. Danny Najera was LCBA's Nov 10 speaker, unfolding the mysteries of the waggle dance.

Above, viewing cameras in infrared light shows where the clusters are (photo, Rick Battin)

Moisture Control Boxes & Candy Boards were featured at our September 8 meeting.

  Above, Dr. Dewey Caron spoke at our Aug 11 meeting.Above, President Kevin Reichert, aided by Michaela Phillips, ran the drawing at LCBA's 8th Annual Summer Potluck & fundraiser for our 2017 Youth Scholarship program.  

  Above, Honey in comb ("Honigwabe") by Waugsberg –Own Work. Licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons. 

Above, “A hive frame full of dead bees because of starvation due to a particularly long and cold winter time (2005-2006).” Emmanuel Boutet, own work.   License, CC BY-SA 3.0 

Above, hiving package bees was a focus at our March & April meetings.

Above,  LCBA Mentor Gottfried Fritz, our Feb 11 2016 speaker, shares fresh raw honey with a young visitor to LCBA's booth at the Spring Youth Fair, May 2015.

Above, Steve Howard displayed his cedar top bar hive & explained how he built it at our January 14 meeting. Below, LCBA members at our 2015 Holiday Potluck:

 

  Below, “Honeybee exposing her Nasonov gland to release an orienting pheromone,” by Mistressbeek (License: public domain)

Above, hard sugar candy is placed on top of frames with moisture control board above. 

Above, LCBA members at July 2015 summer potluck at Lintott Alexander Park. 

Below, blackberry honey, Onalaska, WA, 2011:

 Below, how sweet would it be to capture a swarm like this one, hived at LCBA's May 30, 2015 workshop?  

Above, honey bee swarm hived at May 30 workshop.

Above, LCBA volunteers found the bees of the western Kenyan highlands to be surprisingly gentle.

Above, Male red mason bee (Osmia bicornis), by Sandy, Bedfordshire, United Kingdom (license: CC BY 2.0).   For highlights of Tim Weible's very informative talk on mason bees at our January 14 monthly meeting, see our February newsletter.

Below, our 6^th Annual LCBA Holiday Potluck. For highlights, visit our Photo Gallery.

 Above, the Gregas with the candyboard they won at our Youth Scholarship fundraising drawing.

Below, hard candy for feeding over-wintering bees (photo, Jeanne Reichert). For highlights, see our December Newsletter...

Below, Dr. Dewey Caron, our Sept 10 speaker (photo, BeeInformed):



Above, LCBA members at our July potluck meeting ~ see our Photo Gallery for more pictures. . . .

Above, "Apis mellifera (Bee) approaching by flying a Dandelion," by Guerin Nicolas, Wikimedia Commons  (CC BY-SA 3.0)

Below, bait hives for swarm captures were featured at our April 9 meeting:

Above, honey bee killed by zombie fly parasitism (image, OregonLive.com.) For notes from our March 12 presentation on Zombie Fly Parasitism of Honey Bees by the University of Washington's research team, read our April newsletter. 

Above, Agnes Ngare poses with the Langstroth supers she built as a beginning beekeeping student at KiReeCo.

 Above (2nd from left), yellow jacket & wasp expert Carl Roush, our January 8 speaker, with LCBA members, taking questions after his talk.

Above, photo from Mark Imhoof's More Than Honey trailer.  

Above, foundationless hive frame shows impressive comb building after just one week (photo, Mike Helms).

Below, wildflower & clover honey at LCBA table, 2012 Gardening for Everyone, LC Master Gardeners. 

Above, LCBA's founding president Bob Harris hiving package bees; below, LCBA members pinning comb into frames at a 2013 colony removal:

 Below, WSU honey bee geneticist Sue Cobey teaches "Art of Queen Rearing" (photo, Kathy Keatley Garvey).

 Above, top bar hive put to bed for the winter: photo courtesy of LCBA VP Dave Gaston.

Below, bee on flowering plum tree blossom:  

Below, LCBA's President Norm Switzler (2011-15) examines colony disposition at Silverdale Queen Rearing workshop (photo, Jon Wade) 

LCBA IS ON FACEBOOK! 

Take a look, post information, links, photos, or simply “Like” us on Facebook!  This is a great opportunity to post questions and get (relatively) quick answers.  In your Facebook browser, type in "Lewis County Beekeepers Association"

, “The entrance to a nest of wild honey bees. During swarming, honey bees carefully choose their homes via

an impressive, democratic, collective decision-making process that involves rigorous debate, information gathering, and consensus building. Dr. Seeley discovered that bees in wild swarms

prefer certain features of nest entrance (size, direction, height and location) and nest cavities (volume and presence of beeswax combs from a previous colony),” from When We Talk About

“The entrance to a nest of wild honey bees. During swarming, honey bees carefully choose their homes via

an impressive, democratic, collective decision-making process that involves rigorous debate, information gathering, and consensus building. Dr. Seeley discovered that bees in wild swarms