June 13th, 7 PM (Mountain Daylight Time), 1 AM UTC
7-7:45pm MDT: "Queen Banking", Ellen Topitzhofer, Cornell University Summary: Long-term queen banking, including overwintering bank colonies, allows storing queens for up to 6 months without damaging them if the bank is properly established and maintained by the beekeeper. Ellen will discuss how to build and maintain a bank colony, queen introduction after banking, troubleshooting, and frequently asked questions. For background go to www.projectapism.org/honey-bee-queen-banking Bio: Ellen Topitzhofer is the Senior Extension Associate in Apiculture at Cornell University. She has been working with beekeepers, mastering on-the-ground testing and applicable research, since 2012. She has MS from Oregon State University, where she studied honey bee nutrition. After graduating, she worked with commercial beekeepers as part of the Bee Informed Partnership’s Tech Transfer Team program. Before transfer to the east coast ,she was Research Assistant in the Honey Bee Lab at Oregon State University, with a research focus on queen supply self-sufficiency techniques. 7:45-7:55pm MDT: Break 7:55-8:40 MDT: "Raising Resilient Bees", Eric and Joy McEwen, Diggin’ Livin’ Farm & Apiaries Summary: Authors, Eric and Joy McEwen, share insights from their new book, Raising Resilient Bees, about their journey as an organic beekeeping family operation and their unconventional means of developing an inbred line of honey bees with increased levels of resistance to varroa mites. Bios: Eric Muench McEwen heads the beekeeping operation for Diggin’ Livin’ Farm & Apiaries in rural SW Oregon. He holds BS in botany and plant pathology from Oregon State University. He has spent the last 20 years experimenting with the development of organic management practices while tending approximately 700 honey bee colonies. Eric is a former mentor for the Oregon State University Master Beekeeper Program and Southern Oregon Representative on the Oregon State Beekeepers Association. He is a member of the Adaptive Bee Breeders Alliance, a SARE-funded consortium of honey bee professionals and academics collaborating on stock improvement focused breeding efforts . He is the originator and manufacturer of Natural Nest beehives, an improved style of 8-frame Langstroth equipment for organic beekeeping. Eric is also a trained botanist and naturalist who loves the wild side of the great outdoors. Joy Catherine LeBlang McEwen manages Diggin’ Livin’ Farm & Apiaries, a homestead, organic farm, and commercial beekeeping operation. She holds two BS science degrees, and a MS in environmental science from Oregon State University. When she isn’t tending hives or farming, she works as an apitherapist with a practice in Southern Oregon and makes a line of jun beverages called Honey Bee Brews. Joy is a committee member on the USDA Farm Service Agency board for Josephine and Jackson Counties, Oregon, and serves as a board member on the Illinois Valley Watershed Council, as well as a board member for the American Apitherapy Society. 8:40- 9pm MDT: "The Calgary WAS Conference Update", Ron Miksha, WAS