Our September meeting will be Monday, September 21st at 5:30-7 pm at the Flathead Valley College Campus Farm. We will be doing a final inspection of their bees to assess winter feed need and a live demonstration of insulating the hives. The weather is great for Monday but please bring your veil at least! If you have to grab food on the road at the end of the work day, feel free to bring to the meeting and munch away!

Directions to the farm at 216 Hutton Ranch Rd, Kalispell, MT 59901:
Heading North towards Whitefish, turn right after Walmart on to Hutton Ranch Rd
Drive straight through the stoplight
At the Round about, take the FIRST right towards the farm on the dirt road
Drive past the metal buildings and curve right towards the greenhouse
Turn right into the the Greenhouse and Distillery buildings to park. Then walk down the road to enter the main gates to the farm and apiary (on the right)

Our new state entomologist, Amy Savage, will be in the Flathead Valley on September 15th with Bob Seifert. They have extended the offer to visit any hobbyist’s apiary who wants them to do an inspection and offer advice on what they see. If you are interested in getting help from our state entomologist, please send an email to apiary@mt.gov to set that up!

Due to a scheduling conflict, Angela will not be able to host the August beekeeping meeting normally scheduled for August 25th. Instead, we will meet onsite at the FVCC Farms and Apiary in September. The date and directions for that event will be announced this week and will be on a weekend. Please watch your emails and Facebook for that date!

We will have our usual in person meeting at the Flathead County Health Department at 6:30 pm on Tuesday. Bring all your questions and we’ll also talk about August To Dos!

Instructor- Angela Tollerson      

2 sessions
Fri-Sat, Jul 10-11   
11:30-3:30pm
Limited to 17 people
Prerequisite: Either Beginning Beekeeping Course completed or at least one season of beekeeping experience already.
Learn advanced techniques about beekeeping like splitting, queen rearing, marking queens, second year beekeeping, hive autopsies, honey extraction and much more.
An apiary visit on campus on day two will require protective personal equipment/apiary veil.

Hello beekeepers! Just a reminder that we will be meeting on June 30th at 6:30 pm at the Flathead County Health Department (second floor). We will be answering all your questions and talking about July To Dos!

We will be meeting at 6:30 pm on Tuesday, May 26th at our usual in person spot at the Flathead County Health Department (1035 1st Ave W, Kalispell second floor) See you there!

Our monthly meeting will be Tuesday night, the 28th, at the Flathead County Health Department on the second floor. We will talk about installing bees, splitting colonies, and answer questions!

Our March meeting will be this Tuesday, March 31st at 6:30 pm at our usual spot at the Flathead County Health Department second floor. Chrissy Lambert will be speaking to us about the USDA bear fencing program and how to take advantage of this financial and planning assistance. We will then discuss April To-Do’s and answer questions!

Hello all! I have some great news so let’s get caught up!

It’s time to start ordering your bees!

Ben Sneeden at Great Northern Honey Company in Whitefish has agreed to give a big discount to anyone part of our club purchasing bees from them this year. All you have to do is mention you are part of the Flathead Valley Beekeepers club and he’ll provide the following discounts:

Packages: $160 each
Nucs: $180 each
Single Colonies: $200 each but required to purchase in groups of 4 colonies in the order. Singles are a deep box, 8 frames of bees plus a 1 gallon feeder, on a four way pallet with a lid.
If you want to split this $400 cost with another club member that’s up to you to coordinate with another beekeeper you know but place the purchase under one name to honor his quantity requirement. If you can swing this cost (which till now would have been the same cost you would spend anywhere else on a 5 frame nuc) I highly suggest it as a bigger population of bees for foraging will be double as prepared for winter in a shorter time.

Great Northern Honey ads can be found on Facebook Marketplace, Craigslist, or their website with contact info here.

February Meeting

First club meeting will commence on Tuesday, Feb 24th at 6:30 pm at the Flathead County Health Department, second floor. 1035 1st Ave W #5607, Kalispell, MT 59901 See you there!

This amazingly warm weather has your bees out and about and active. My best advice is:

1. Do NOT open the top unless you lift the entire hive and there is almost no weight to it. If there is truly no weight to it, quickly place a Crabby Patty on the top bars. Recipe is linked under Winter Feed Options heading.
2. If weight feels moderate, just provide protein by placing pollen substitute powder in a plate somewhere on the apiary property.
3. Make sure bees have access to water if normal water sources are all frozen
4. Do NOT remove insulation or wind breaks at this time. This is false spring. More winter will come!