Central Oregon Beekeepers Association
 2023 Board Election 

Voting is open through December 3rd, 2023.

Members will have received an email with voting information.  

Interested in COBKA Leadership? Sign up to receive administrative emails (you will need to be logged in to access this page).

Are you interested in learning about bees and beekeeping?

If you have little or no experience, the 'Getting Started with Bees' Certificate Program is a great place to start. It is a stand-alone program that satisfies the curiosity of those who want to know more about bee biology and backyard beekeeping through online learning and discussion forums. No waiting list - join at any time!

Take your beekeeping to the next level!

Are you interested in learning how to become a better beekeeper? Have you experienced problems in the past that you'd like to remedy? Do you want to help others learn about bees? The Oregon Master Beekeeper program is for you!

Participating beekeepers gain experience at three successive levels: ApprenticeJourney, and Master. Each level provides opportunities and support for additional learning, practice in the field, and community service.

All of our beekeeping programs represent a cooperative effort between the Oregon State University Honey Bee Lab and the Oregon State Beekeepers Association to contribute to both the health of honey bee colonies and the integrity of the practice of beekeeping.


https://extension.oregonstate.edu/mb

Pollinator Pathways

Establishing pollinator-friendly habitats and food sources for bees, butterflies and birds www.pollinator-pathway.org


Upcoming events

19 Dec 2023 6:00 PM • The Enviromental Center - 16 NW Kansas Ave, Bend, OR 97703
16 Jan 2024 6:00 PM • The Enviromental Center - 16 NW Kansas Ave, Bend, OR 97703
20 Feb 2024 6:00 PM • The Enviromental Center - 16 NW Kansas Ave, Bend, OR 97703

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For more information, contact Heike Williams at heike.williams@oregonstate.edu


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November in your Central Oregon Apiary

Wow, that atmospheric moisture came quickly and with a vengeance…..although the water is sure welcomed.  Let’s hope for a good snow year as well.

At this point, your hive should be pretty well tucked in for winter.  It’s now getting cold enough that we shouldn’t be feeding syrup (it is hard for the bees to digest when cold, and is a heat sink in the hive causing the cluster to expend more energy keeping warm.)  If fed too late, you’ll frequently end up the winter with a feeder ¾ full of fermented sugar syrup….yuck!  Hopefully your colony now has sufficient stores, but if not, with respect to emergency feeding, best is if you have a/some reserved frames of healthy honey, you can put right next to the cluster on one of our semi warm days.  Next best would be some way of feeding dry sugar (fondant, sugar cakes below the inner cover, sugar cake on a “Sokermatt” or, least best is granulated sugar on a piece of newspaper on the top of the frames).  Remember our bees can’t eat solid sugar, but only “lap up” the liquid when the sugar absorbs water exhaled by the cluster.  Therefore, these dry sugar methods need to be either above the cluster, or right next to it so they receive as much humidity as possible.

Per Naomi Price’s presentation in October, think about finishing up your winterizing.  Perhaps insulation around the hive, even more recommended is insulation on the bottom and top.  A mouse guard and/or entrance reducer, and a method for tying or weighting down the cover and stabilizing the hive.

Start thinking about whether you’re going to do a winter mite treatment.  It kind of depends on the mite numbers when they went into winter, and counts can be qualitatively estimated using a sticky board without disturbing the colony very much.  The Tools for Varroa management is a great place to get information.

The OSBA annual conference, held this year in Bend, was quite an event.  I saw a bunch of our members there, including several who were presenting (Clyde Dildine, Naomi Price, Heike Williams and Vivienne Hight), as well as quite a few folks helping with various aspects of the event (Connie Axelrod, Linda Jensen, Muffy Roy, Libby Rice, Jenn Judd, Karen Foster, Terry Foster, Dennis Detrick and Joan Sciacca).  Also we had several folks/local companies who donated items and/or were sponsors for the Conference.

We will NOT be having a November meeting (enjoy your thanksgiving), and in December we’ll be sharing our ideas for honey related gifts.

Finally, remember we’ll be having our election for leadership in the second half of November.  Watch for the announcement.

Have a wonderful Autumn.

Allen Engle


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ABOUT US

We are a diverse bunch of individuals who share a fascination for the honey bee and its workings. Our members range from full-time beekeepers and pollinators with hundreds of hives to hobbyists involved in backyard beekeeping. 

Some members do not even keep bees, but are fascinated by the six legs and four wings of Apis mellifera.

OUR MISSION

The Mission of the Central Oregon Beekeeping Association (COBKA) is to promote effective, economic and successful regional beekeeping through education, collaboration, communication and research in the spirit of friendship.

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