With the warm weather, local beekeepers should be seeing their hives start to clean house and prep for the Spring.
Or, if you’re like me, sweep out the dead remnants of your honeybee colonies from the now lifeless hives, and prep for starting fresh.
Whichever camp you fall into, you’re welcome to come out to the Wally Beek Pint Nite this Wednesday, April 17th at 7:00 PM at Olympia Pizza & Spaghetti House II (4501 Interlake Ave N).
Kevin Gow (the Puget Sounds Beekeepers Association “Neighborhood Captain“) has been organizing it for several years, originally at Murphy’s (a bit on the loud side for bee chatter), then over to the Blue Star (until they started closing early) and now at Olympia. He says anywhere from six to 14 local beekeepers can be expected, so that should give you 12 to 28 opinions on anything you’re wondering about.
Kevin also adds “I split one colony – the one that was packed with bees. This, of course, was to (hopefully) prevent swarming. Swarming of your hives is one thing to be aware of at this time year. There are many ways to thinking about and handling colonies about to swarm, and I have to admit that I have little experience in the many methods to curtail swarming so let’s get together to discuss the topic.”
Please RSVP to Kevin if you plan to show up, so he can give Olympia a sense of numbers.