McNeil Island
Honey Bee Program
Naturalist’s Field Journal by Laurie Pyne, Program Lead
Editing and Introduction by Bethany Shepler and Joslyn Rose Trivett,Sustainability in Prisons Project at Evergreen

McNeil Island
Honey Bee Program

Naturalist’s Field Journal by Laurie Pyne, Program Lead
Editing and Introduction by Bethany Shepler and Joslyn Rose Trivett,Sustainability in Prisons Project at Evergreen©2019 Sustainability in Prisons Project, Olympia, WA

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

McNeil Island Honey Bee Program
Forward .................................................................................................................................................. 5
Introduction to the Journal ................................................................................................................ 5
Introduction to the McNeil Island Program ....................................................................................... 5
May 22, 2018 .......................................................................................................................................... 9June 13, 2018........................................................................................................................................ 10
June 19, 2018........................................................................................................................................ 10
June 28, 2018........................................................................................................................................ 11
July 12, 2018 ......................................................................................................................................... 13
July 19, 2018 ......................................................................................................................................... 14
July 26, 2018 ......................................................................................................................................... 16
July 31, 2018 ......................................................................................................................................... 16
August 2, 2018 ...................................................................................................................................... 17
August 9, 2018 ...................................................................................................................................... 19
August 16, 2018 .................................................................................................................................... 20
August 23, 2018 .................................................................................................................................... 22
August 30, 2018 .................................................................................................................................... 23
September 6, 2018 ............................................................................................................................... 24
September 13, 2018 ............................................................................................................................. 25
September 20, 2018 ............................................................................................................................. 27
September 27, 2018 ............................................................................................................................. 28
October 4, 2018 .................................................................................................................................... 30
October 11, 2018 .................................................................................................................................. 31
October 18, 2018 .................................................................................................................................. 32
October 24, 2018 .................................................................................................................................. 34
November 8, 2018 ................................................................................................................................ 35
November 18, 2018 .............................................................................................................................. 35
Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................. 37
Enjoy! We know we did 3

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program4

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

ForwardIntroduction to the Journal
Laurie Pyne is an expert beekeeper residing in Thurston County, Washington. She is the lead for ateam of community beekeepers who support Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) McNeil Island
Beekeeping program.
Following each trip, expert beekeeper Laurie Pyne shared the visit’s activities and observations withall partners, 23 messages from May 22 to November 18. Her accounts were surprisingly fun andinteresting to read. She describes the group’s activities and learning, and their dedication to theshared effort is obvious. Also, she illustrates their shared satisfaction – they clearly enjoyed theresults of their hard work. As an individual, Laurie demonstrates how to be a great partner: sheshows her appreciation for everyone at the site, and writes up a report for everyone supporting the
program from afar. No wonder the program is thriving!
More simply, her emails are an excellent example of a “naturalist’s field journal”—writing out field
experiences and observations in a diary-like format. The bulk of this document is a compilation ofher reports, presented as journal entries. In sharing them, we hope to give practical insights into
beekeeping, inspire others to create naturalist journals, and provide a model of a successful,interdisciplinary partnership.
Note that this document is a case study, not a “how to.” Like every individual beekeeping program,plans and actions are shaped by particulars of the site, the weather, the beekeepers, and the colonyof bees itself; specific choices made in this program may or may not fit another time or place.
However, the journal is an excellent illustration of the general processes, problem solving and carefound in all successful programs.

Introduction to the McNeil Island Program
Adapted from a blog originally published July 16, 2018
After four years of organizing, planning, and building a team, honey bees arrived at McNeil Island.
This spring marks a special occasion for Washington State beekeeping and beekeepers: we haveinstalled honey bees on McNeil Island! McNeil Island offers wonderful beekeeping prospects
because the island is pesticide-free—a rare resource in the region. Pesticides can interfere withbees’ senses, or even be toxic, so having access to a place that is free of pesticides is an exciting
opportunity for beekeepers.

5Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

A bit of background on McNeil Island
McNeil Island housed a federal penitentiary from1875 to 1981, when WA Department ofCorrections (WA Corrections) took over thefacility. In 2011, WA Corrections closed down theprison on McNeil Island, but they continue to be
stewards of this epic landscape—Correctional
Industry (CI) staff oversee stewardship operations.
McNeil Island now houses a Department of Socialand Human Services (DSHS) special commitment
facility, and the old prison is used by the military,
National Guard, WA Corrections, and others fortraining purposes.
This is a sign in front of one of the residential
houses at McNeil Island.

We visited the island a week before the bees were
dropped off to take a tour and complete
preparations. It’s not very big, but it’sa beautiful island nestled in the Puget Sound andmostly covered in vegetation. Sprinkled aroundthe island are boarded-up houses where prison
staff lived when the facility was in operation, andthere’s even an old school house for their families.
Even though we haven’t seen them yet, there area few bears that live on the island, too!

The expert beekeeping team—we’re so lucky to
be working with them! From left to right: Dixon
Fellows, Gail Booth, Laurie Pyne, Maren
Anderson, and Andy Matelich.

Collaboration is key
Like all Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) programs, this project could not have been possible
without the collaboration of many different partners. SPP is a partnership founded by WA
Corrections and The Evergreen State College (Evergreen). The partnership began informally in 2003,
and since that time has grown enormously in scope and scale. In 2018, more than 160 partnerorganizations took part in 191 programs in all 12 prisons in Washington State.
The McNeil Island beekeeping program is one of the few SPP programs hosted outside of a prison;
however, it is well supported by staff and incarcerated individuals from Cedar Creek Corrections
Center (CCCC). The McNeil Island program also has endorsement and input from many others,
including SPP Co-Director Steve Sinclair, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, Washington
6Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program
Department of Natural Resources, CI staff (thank you Brian Peterson, Vania Beard, and Henry Mack!)
and leadership, local expert beekeepers from the community, incarcerated beekeepers, and ofcourse, the honey bees. It’s a great team!
The McNeil Island program installation crew included expert beekeepers from the Olympia area,
incarcerated beekeepers from CCCC, and staff from CI and CCCC. Five expert beekeepers worked
with us to bring this project to life: Maren Anderson, Gail Booth, Dixon Fellows, Andy Matelich, andteam lead Laurie Pyne. They scoped-out the island and picked the best location for the bee hives
inside the orchard. CCCC incarcerated beekeepers andcarpenters also made critical contributions to theprogram, too: they built the hive boxes and supporting
benches, helped locate the bus stop, assisted inplacement, helped move the bees, and shone as invested
partners! More recently, a major supplier of beekeeping
equipment in the region, Mann Lake, donated some ofthe supplies the program will need as the hives grow andmultiply—it is wonderful to have their support.

The bees arrive
The expert beekeeping team brought two hives-worth ofbees by barge to McNeil Island. By truck, they continued
to the orchard site on the island.
With guidance from Centralia College instructor Bruce
Carley, incarcerated students from CCCC’s carpentry
program built the custom hives from reclaimed wood.
Students also painted and stenciled the bee logo onto
each hive box. They look great!
To transfer the bees from the boxes on the truck to their
new hives, everyone suited up to protect against getting
stung. Even though bees are docile and don’t want tosting you, sometimes they get pinched between clothes
or think that the hive is threatened and then they willsting; it’s good to be prepared.
Understandably, a few folks were very cautious about
being around the bees. At the same time, experienced
beekeepers like Officer Epling were so comfortable thatthey welcomed worker bees on bare skin.

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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

Expert beekeeper Gail Booth walked around introducing folks to a young worker bee that landed ona stick. In this photo, she shows a beginner beekeeper how you could tell the young worker bee’s
age and what tasks she might perform for her hive; the informal “meet-and-greet” eased somenerves about being so close to the bees.

Where’s the queen?
As soon as the bees are in the hive, the first orderof business is to find and mark the queen. The
health of the hive is dependent on her, so making
sure she’s present and healthy is crucial! Expert
beekeeper Andy Matelich led the search for herhighness. With the support of the crew, he
inspected each frame (from off the ferry) before
inserting it into the new hive.
One of the queens dropped to the ground andcould have been squished, but an incarcerated
beekeeper with a good eye spotted her and saved
the day!
At the end of the day, the bees were buzzing
around their new homes, no one got stung, andeveryone learned something about bees andbeekeeping…there is always more to learn when it
comes to bees.

8Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping ProgramMay 22, 2018
Both hives in the orchard were thoroughly inspected today and both are coming along
nicely. We observed the bees bringing in yellow and orange pollen; we know the yellow
pollen is coming from Scotch broom; although it’s not the greatest pollen/protein source it’scertainly available. We’re not yet sure what the source of the other pollen is. The blackberry
is just about ready to bloom and once it does we will need to be ready with the shallower
depth boxes to add on to the existing deep boxes because with the abundance of blackberryon the island they should be working it with gusto; it’s a fabulous food source for them (andblackberry honey is delicious.) Hive number one will be ready for its second deep box to be
added next week.

Double red-dotted queen from hive 1A.
Queen from Hive 2D
Pictures from today: On this frame, the brownish covering is all baby bees (brood)
waiting to chew their way out and into the world

Both hives were given one gallon of sugar
syrup each as feed on installation day; bothhives went through every single drop of it.
We gave each hive two more quarts of syrup
today. Both queens were doing a fine job
with good brood (baby bee) patterns in eachhive and we moved some empty frames thatthe bees hadn’t yet drawn out with wax
comb closer to the center so they can workon those and fill them. They were calm, andeverything else looked good. We also saw
bumble bees on Nootka rose as we were leaving the orchard and got some pictures; someof the native blackberry is blooming and we saw a few bees on it, too. The salal, huckleberry
and apple blossom is done blooming so the bees missed that but this is all important
information that will help us determine how and when to supplementally feed withprotein/pollen substitute next year as needed.
9Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

The bees should be checked in a week both to monitor progress but to also feed again if
needed and to see if they are running out of room and need extra boxes. Glenn, the note
sheets are in the log book from today but I also photographed them and I will send those to
you separately so you have them. I’ll circle around with you to see how you’d like to handle
scheduling next week. We think Gail’s hive (to make the third that we planned on installing
before that hive swarmed) could be ready to transport out the first full week or two of June,
if everyone is agreeable.
On behalf of the Bee Team, thank you all for your incredible support of this project.

June 13, 2018
Both hives are doing ok; in hive number two we moved some empty frames around to“checkerboard” them between full ones so the bees would work them. The team saw
several supercedure cells in that hive, an indication that they are working on making a newqueen. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, if
the bees are “sensing” that their queen is
not doing a good job or is failing in any
way, they have the ability to take a“regular” worker egg and turn it into a newqueen. There was one such cell on
installation and three observed last week
so we’d really like to keep a close eye. The
blackberry is starting to bloom and that’s agreat food source for them.

June 19, 2018

Pearly white bee larvae (from above queen) andnurse bees taking care of them.

The bee team inspected both hives on
Tuesday. Both are doing really well with plenty of brood (babies-in-waiting) and they arestarting to fill up the cells with gray blackberry pollen and storing nectar.

We did see issues with the bowing of the wax comb in the frames (see picture below);
several areas in frames we pulled out resulted in getting ripped apart and we ended up
replacing a frame entirely. We are re-thinking the wax foundation strategy and will switch
to using black plastic-coated foundation in the honey supers once we add them. The
feeders have been removed as there is plenty of nectar now and the bees were really active
and calm. We also spotted both queens. We will determine if extra boxes for more room oneach hive are necessary on the next visit. We did see lots of bumble bees on the blackberry
and a few butterflies as well and there was a large buck spotted in the orchard as we were
putting materials back into the shed.
10Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

They should be checked again next week so we’ll see what day Cedar Creek’s apprentices
can join and target it for a visit.

June 28, 2018
Both hives at the apiary site seem to be doing well. For the first time we felt some weight
when we lifted the boxes, indicating they arestarting to store nectar and drawing out thelast frames of wax comb on the remaining
empty frames in each hive. Neither was readyfor an additional box yet. Both queens werespotted and rearing plenty of new bees socolony numbers should be building up nicely,
which is exactly what we want to see.
The blackberry is blooming but weather
dependent, might not be for more than a few
We will keep an eye on the Swarm cells (Themore weeks with blossoms. We’re alreadyopen cup-shaped structures on the bottom of
discussing early fall feeding to give them thethis frame).
best advantage heading into the winter. We
continue to have wax bowing issues and ended
up replacing another frame. (see picture)
The bees are bringing blackberry pollen in but
also ivory, orange and yellow indicating they
are visiting a variety of plants. The thistle isblooming near the shed in the orchard and isloaded with bumblebees and the blackberry
everywhere is just covered with bumbles. Way
more bumble bees in a single patch than what
Glenn and I observed last year, although wewere out there in August so missed theblackberry bloom. No other wildlife noted
although we keep hoping for a whale on thebarge trips.
Jean thought the incarcerated beekeepers
might be able to be out next week and I realize
it’s the July 4th holiday but if it’s possible
Sticky and messy to pull these frames apart but
please let us know what day would work andgood beekeeper opportunity to taste honey!
we will schedule it.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

Glenn and Tyler, I will send the inspection log sheets in a separate email.
We also noticed when we arrived that the first hive’s outer cover lid was askew, eventhough the tie down was secure and the “doors” to the hive bus stop were closed andwondering if maybe a crew got out there to peek in?
Thanks to all.

Marked queen…if you look closely you can see
larvaeBees hard at work in their beautiful pollenstorage system (note the different colors)

Bumble bee on blackberry

Honey bee with ivory pollen….she’s also got
pollen grains on her head.

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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

July 12, 2018
Overall, the bees on McNeil are doing very well at
this point and we had a great afternoon with theapprentices and Glenn from Cedar Creek at theapiary. With the blackberry winding down, we’re a
bit concerned about what the bees will be foraging
on after it’s done blooming. To beekeepers, thatmeans we’re thinking about our fall feeding
starting in the next 2-3 weeks. We want those bees
as fattened up as possible heading into winter; itgives them a much better chance of survival.
Everything in both hives looks really healthy now.
We had two apprentice beekeepers with us;neither of them had ever been in a bee suit or had
their hands in hives and they did an amazing job!
We talked them through everything from getting
the hive smoker going, to avoiding the easilyforgotten places to check your suits to prevent
bees from sneaking in, to pulling frames out of ahive appropriately and what to look for once they
started inspecting each frame. They asked greatquestions and both said they learned a lot. We
scraped off some of the excess wax comb (calledburr comb) sticking between framesthat happened to have honey in it which
afforded an opportunity for everyone tohave a little taste. The apprentices spotted
the queen in both hives and could also
identify the drones and workers.
The bees are bringing in gray (blackberry),
yellow, beige and orange pollen. We did
spend some time closely observing blooming
plants and got a lot of pictures to startcataloguing for our Fish and Wildlife report.
We also saw a pretty big three/four (?) pointbuck walking through the orchard when we
got there and later saw a doe with her two
fawns. There were lots of bumble bees on
the thistle, blackberry, dandelions andhypericum (St. John’s wort) and we also saw

Apprentice beekeepers inspecting a frame,
hive tools at the ready!

Here you can see the marked queen, a drone(male) and workers (hint: drones havebigger eyes)

The top of this frame with the white waxy covering
is honey; the middle tan colored area is drone“babies” waiting to emerge (the cells are bulging
and not flat as they would be if they held females);bottom is cells filled with nectar that’s not quite
honey yet.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

Queen Anne’s lace, birdsfoot trefoil, and two
types of everlasting pea blooming. Glenn and I
were discussing how interesting that last year
on each summer trip to the island we looked
really hard, everywhere, for bumble bees on
blooming plants and were hard pressed to findeven a handful compared to the numbers we’reseeing this year, which is pretty exciting.
We will plan on visiting for the next consecutive
three weeks per scheduling apprentices/workcrews via Jean and Cedar Creek. We’re aware of
the barge transition and will be flexible asadvised by MIS staff.

Glenn making a point!

July 19, 2018
We had another really great hands-on
beekeeping session with Cedar Creek
apprentice beekeepers yesterday.
The bees are doing well, but we’re noting
Very proud of their work today!
a change in the laying pattern of thequeen in one of the hives that bears close observation; we don’t want a failing queen at thispoint, with the need for each colony to continue to build up its population as they get readyto head into the winter. Worker (female) honey bees only live about 6 weeks in the summer
months, which means if the queen isn’t busy laying 1000 or more eggs a day, the colony willlose strength and not have enough bees to survive the winter. When we check them next
week, if things haven’t changed we will consider getting a new queen for that hive.
With the blackberry done and very few remaining blooming plants that we saw, other thandandelion, thistle and the remaining stands of shaded blackberry that still has flowers on it,(many of the plants in bloom took a hit with the extreme heat and continued lack of rain)
we know we will need to start supplementally feeding the hives soon.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

Learning the art of gently pulling each frameout of the hive box.

The tan-ish colored cells with the holes inthem are new worker bees in the process ofchewing their way out of their cells and into
the world…..you can see two little bee heads
sticking out of the cells here.

Glenn and his crew did spot somefireweed on their island drive, which we hadn’t seen on any of our recon trips previously.
Fireweed is a great plant for end-of-summer food sources for the bees.
As far as other wildlife, we did see a big beautiful buck in the orchard and a coyote further
down the perimeter road when we were heading back to the barge.
We’d like to follow up again in one week; the barge crew told us there wouldn’t likely bebarge service next week. As always, we are flexible but if we can still access via ferry (andneeding ground transportation once on the island) that would be fantastic.
Enjoy a few pictures and thanks to all.

This beekeeper wasn’t expecting this frame
to be super heavy…...but it’s fully loadedwith honey!

Bee scaffolding…leg-to-leg connection(called “festooning”) of a bunch of bees on aframe getting pulled out of the hive.

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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

July 26, 2018
All,
This visit, we confirmed that the hive that we were concerned about needing a new queen
proved that it definitely does. The existing queen’s laying pattern is very poor; without her
laying at least a thousand eggs a day the colony’s population will diminish which increases
the risk of that colony’s demise over the winter.
So, we need to re-queen and we just got a queen sourced and “reserved”. Because eachcolony is attuned to its queen’s individual signature scent, her pheromone, introducing a
new queen to a colony needs to be done withcare. The bees will recognize a newly introduced
queen (and her scent) as an intruder and will kill
her if the beekeeper doesn’t take steps toprevent it.
One of the best ways is to remove the existing
queen from the hive and wait 24-48 hours
before introducing a new one.
Could we access the island for a short trip
tomorrow, to remove the queen and then return
later this week, short trip, to install the newone? After that the plan would be to return on a
week from now, a work crew day.

July 31, 2018
Yesterday’s trip to the orchard hives
accomplished its purpose; removing and sending
the queen from the hive that needs a new one tobee heaven. Unfortunately, because the temps
were very cool, all the bees were still in their
cozy hive (and that means finding her in a sea of
about 50,000 other bees) so it took a bit of effort
to find the queen. After going through all theframes once and not seeing her, the guys
resorted to assembling another box, bottom andplacing a special screen (called a queen excluder)between the two and shaking bees off of frames
to try to better isolate her because she’s too big
16This photo shows the “let’s find the queen” set up
in action. It’s always so much easier to spot her
on the frames, but this goes to show that evenwhen she’s marked with a red dot to make iteasier to locate her, it doesn’t always work outthat way. Then one must go to plan bee.

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

to pass through the screen. Happily she was finally spotted.
Within a few hours of her departure the bees will recognize she is gone and they’ll start totry to make a queen of their own (except that takes 16 days). We’re going to intervene byintroducing a new queen tomorrow that the workers won’t be hostile towards … theirqueen mother's scent will have dissipated by then.
Mites were also observed in the hive and we will be treating for them at some point in thenear future. Varroa mites are a scourge in beekeeping because they can weaken the bees
immune systems and introduce other diseases and pathogens. More to come on that.
And, both hives were each given a chunk of pollen patty as protein supplementation
because there is little to none coming with the diminishing number of blooming flowers.
The team will visit again tomorrow, a short trip for new queen’s installation. Will send a
separate email to Brian and Vania with personnel.

August 2, 2018
We introduced the new queen into thequeenless hive. The bees were already busy
starting to create new large queen cells aroundfertilized (female) eggs to replace the one theylost. One of the amazing things bees can do istake an egg destined to become a female
worker bee, encase it in a large peanut size-andshaped wax cell and feed it a special diet tochange its destiny to become a queen in 16
days. For that reason, we had to go throughthat hive frame by frame to scrape the queen
cells in process off; by removing them wefurther entice them to accept the new queen
and not kill her.
It was another cool day and all the bees werehome instead of out foraging, so we had toshake many of the frames just to get some bees
off and get a clearer look to make sure we got
all the queen cells removed.

The red-dotted new queen is in this little cagethat has a tube of fondant-like hard sugar at
one end with a cork. We remove the cork before
placing it in the hive so the hive bees can starteating away the sugar. In the day or so that it
takes them to eat through it, thus releasing thequeen, the queen’s pheromone starts topermeate the hive further increasing thechances of her acceptance by the colony. There
are worker bees in this cage with the queen that
attend to her and feed her. The queen can’t
feed herself, so the cage also allows workers in
the hive to start to feed and interact with her.

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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

There are also a ton of yellow jackets out andabout near the hives so we reduced theentrances with wood shims we had in the shed
and rocks to hold them in place; we will replacethem with a solid strip of wood when we comeback. By making the entrance very small, thebees can still come and go but now have asmaller area to defend against the yellow
jackets which are eyeing those bees as food.
Everyone is getting short on food supply now
with the drought and heat and yellow jackets
can utterly decimate a hive. It’s a big reason forloss of a hive at this time of year if a beekeeper
isn’t paying attention and intervening. Hanging
yellow jacket traps also helps.

Queen cage placement on the bottom of thebottom box between frames. Once shecomes out she will move up and further
distribute her pheromone around the hive.

Both hives had eaten about half of the pollen(protein) patty we had given them so we
added another 1/4 piece to each hive. We aregoing to stop at the water treatment facility
and fill up on water to mix sugar syrup for
feeding on the next trip out.
As far as other wildlife we saw a few deer
and there are three baby swallows in a nestin the empty bee shelter. A few bumble bees
are still out foraging on whatever they canfind.
We are looking forward to working with theincarcerated beekeepers next week!

Makeshift entrance reducers
18

A bunch of worker bees working on a framewith a half-built queen cell or queen “cup”.
When it’s finished it looks like a peanut shell.

New residents in shelter # 2: baby swallows.

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

August 9, 2018
The bees are doing well but desperately needing food. We anticipated adding the sugar
syrup feeders to the hives on the last visit and made a water stop on the way to the orchardsite so we could mix some syrup up for them.
The bees have accepted their new queen in the re-queened hive and we saw a decent
amount of eggs indicating she’s gotten busy. We did scrape a few new queen cells off
several frames in that hive to make sure we don’t have another queen in process in the mix;
we want to keep this one alive and laying and not in a duel to the death between a newly
emerged queen and herself. There can only be one queen per hive.
In the other hive we saw beautiful frames full of
capped brood (new bees in the making) andthat queen is doing a fabulous job. We did end
up replacing a frame that the wax foundation
fell apart on once it was pulled out of the box
and saw a few frames that had blackberry“honeydew" deposited in the cells. The bees aregathering the sweet juice from the ripened
blackberries and storing it in cells in lieu of
nectar because nectar is not available.
There are some beekeepers that think this signof dearth is also a sign of trouble and can causea dysentery problem in the bees, weakening
them; that made it that much more importantto add feed today and a gallon of sugar syrup
has been given to each hive. You’ll now notice
an extra third box on each hive which is empty;
it allows us to place four jars upside down withfeeder hole lids on the top of the second box
and keep them enclosed. We also gave eachhive 1/2 of a pollen patty (protein supplement)
as there is virtually no pollen coming in andthey completely ate every bit of what we gavethem last week. The bees need the protein toraise babies and build their colony numbers up
to prepare for winter.
To address the large numbers of yellow jackets
we’ve been seeing which can be especiallyaggressive this time of year, we hung a trap in

Seeing this makes a beekeeper’s heart go
pitter-patter. All that tan waxy covering
houses new bees and the fact that it’s so
uniform and solid says the queen is truly
majestic! This is the hive that did not get a
new queen. (And both sides of this frame
looked exactly like this ….double good!)

The dark purple liquid in the cells here isblackberry “honeydew” gathered by the bees
from ripe blackberries.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

an apple tree. We also added bungee cords to the sides of the bee shed to keep the “gates"
open while the hives are being inspected.
As far as other critters, we saw a few bumble bees out on whatever they can find, twobucks and a few does. We’d like to return in one week if feasible and follow up, refill
feeders, etc.

August 16, 2018
We had a great time going through the hives with
incarcerated beekeepers. The most significant
finding is that the shortage of nectar and pollen
sources has ratcheted up the bees’ storage of
blackberry honeydew. This is not a good foodsource and can lead to problems down the road so
our goal is to provide ample food via sugar syrup
and syrup infused with protein (a powdered pollen
substitute) to break that cycle and load them up
with an ample supply to ready them for the winter.

Freshly mixed sugar syrup waiting to go into
the hives.

We added liquid feed in both forms mentioned
above to both hives and team members Andy andDixon are going to head out for a quick turnaroundtrip on Tuesday to assess how much the bees havegone through in that window of time; this will help
us know how much we need to feed at each weekly
visit. The drought and heat have been hard on
beekeepers all over the region; just about everyone
is feeding now. Or should be.
The dark purple stuff is blackberry honeydew“storage"…..we all had a lovely taste….andthen discussed feeding strategies to curb it.
The set of fingers on the right somehow foundtheir way into real honey.

This little worker bee stopped for a brief restwith her pollen sacs full of creamy whitepollen….likely from Queen Anne’s Lace.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

Feeder jars on top of the hive (The darker
solution ones show protein supplement mixed
in with the sugar syrup).

We also treated both hives for varroa mites withan oxalic acid solution. We will do a second
treatment with a thyme (like the herb)-based
product in the next week or two. In this way, we
get the first wave of the mites to fall off the bees
with one method and then use an alternative
method to knock the rest off; sort of likecovering a patient with an infection with abroad-spectrum antibiotic to make sure all thebacteria are killed. Both treatments derive fromnatural materials, i.e. they are not synthesized
and thus, hopefully, the mites will not develop a
resistance to either one over time.
The team would like to return in one week tofollow up on status inside the hives and add
more feed.

Starting the mite treatments, beekeepers
working their way through each frame in thebottom box of this hive.

A beekeeper lets a worker bee sit on his finger.
Applying oxalic acid solution to treat for varroa
mites. (Notice the backside shot of the bee
flying in to check it out.)21

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

August 23, 2018
The bees are still doing fine, albeit needing
feed supplementation at this time of year. On
Tuesday, they had already emptied every jarof syrup and syrup mix inside the hive.
We observed wax cappings (a white wax
covering indicates the nectar-into-honeycreating process has been completed by thebees) on the areas in the frames that held theblackberry honeydew. We scraped thecappings off those areas, exposing them, andcreating a “must-eat-this-right-away” scenario
for the bees. They won’t re-cover it with wax
again so they have to consume it. That
coupled with additional feeding will,
hopefully, break the blackberry honeydew“habit.” We also gave each hive a freshlymade (non-commercial) pollen patty tosupplementally feed them. The instant it wasplaced in the hive the bees were all over it.
We treated both hives with a thyme essential
oil paste that also incorporated essential oilsof wintergreen, peppermint and tea tree in a

A wax capping removal tool, typically used
before harvesting honey to remove its waxy
covering so that the honey can be spun out.
Here, we are scraping it off to expose theblackberry honeydew the bees have stored
to get them to eat it, clean it out and store
syrup instead.
22

Empty jars left by hungry bees. The brown-ish
ones contained a mixture of protein/pollen
powder and sugar syrup.

One very large and thin homemade pollen pattythat the bees instantly jumped on (fresh is best!)
plus a square of mite treatment. The bees willremove and carry out the waxed paper. They
keep a very tidy home.

Exposed honeydew cells after scraping.

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

Crisco and sugar base. A tablespoon size scoop on a piece of waxed paper was placed inboth hives. The bees don’t really care for the scent and will start to remove it by carrying it
out of the hive; we place it in the top box and in doing so it gets distributed amongst theframes and throughout the boxes. The vapors are not harmful to the bees, but will kill any
varroa mites clinging onto them.
We did observe both queens. Both hives have brood (babies) in process with the requeened hive a bit ahead of the other hive. In
fact, the queen in that hive has been so busy
laying eggs that we will watch that hive closely tomake sure she has enough room to keep laying.
We don’t want her to stop rearing new bees
ahead of the winter.

August 30, 2018
The bees are doing well and still need to be wellfed. The blackberry honeydew storage issue hasmuch improved in both hives, hive #1 greaterthan #2. The incarcerated beekeepers with us dida fabulous job; one of the incarcerated men is tobe released in another week or so and is excited
to keep learning about bees!
In hive #2 (the hive we had re-queened) the bees
ate much less of the pollen patty (the more solid
protein form) that we had placed in the box.
They also were developing some drone brood in
addition to new worker brood. This tells us thatthe protein supplement level has helped to feed
and rear new bees. While there were empty
spaces and not the solid-wall-to-wall brood that
we love to see it could simply mean that many of
the new bees have emerged and that thosespaces will, again, be filled with eggs and new
babies. Follow up will tell more of the story.
HIve #1 had excellent brood patterns. At somepoint, as we head into cold weather, the queens
will stop laying and the bees will cluster in a ballinside their home for the winter.
We added the thymol paste mite treatment toboth hives again, per treatment protocol; theIf you look really closely here, you can see aworker cleaning her long tongue. You can also
see her back left leg pollen sac not filled with
pollen but with a reddish ball of propolis. This
worker has been out gathering the sap/resin
from trees that the colony uses to seal holes
and keep their hive hygienic. Propolis is agreat antimicrobial substance.

If you look closely at the bottom of this picture
you will see covered cells that aren’t flat andbulge out a little. Those bigger cells holddrones (males). We typically don’t see drone
cells this time of year because the workers kickthem out mid-summer; they aren’t allowed to
overwinter with the colony because they do nowork inside the hive.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

good news is that we didn’t see any mites hanging out anywhere in either hive. Both hives
were given 1/2 of a large freshly made pollen patty and three quarts of sugar syrup/protein
mix as liquid feed. Both queens were observed.
The plan, with approval, is to return on September 6th for follow up. If there are dates that
we will have work crews/beekeepers this month, would you be so kind as to pass thosealong so we can synchronize dates?

Pulling out individual frames
in a box…..with a smile! This
man’s beekeeping evolution
has been fun to watch.

Handling frames and hive tool
like a professional beekeeper!

Teamwork helps to put the hives
back together once they're
inspected. The boxes with honeyin them are super heavy.

September 6, 2018
Dixon and I did a quick turnaround trip on the 6th with our primary objective to refill thefeeders. When we arrived at the site weobserved a waxed-paper-pieces trail nearlyout to the road from the hives; the bees had
been busy cleaning house and removing thebacking from the pollen/protein patties we
had given them as well as the square of
waxed paper we had placed the thymol mitetreatment on. It would have been fun to catchone of them hauling one of the bigger chunksof paper out to get a picture.
Part of the waxed paper trail; this collection
was about 15 feet in front of the hives.
24

The bees had emptied all their jars and hive
#2 had eaten the entire pollen patty; hive #1

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

still had about 1/3 of theirs left. We
replaced the quart jars with fresh mix andalso gave both hives another large piece offreshly made pollen patty. While thetemperatures are warm they will stillconsume it.
Two of the rocks holding one of theentrance reducers in place were knocked
off hive #1; possibly by a mouse or at least
another small critter. We will need to be
thinking about getting mouse guards toFresh sugar syrup/protein feed in jars and pollen
patty on the left. The jars have lids with small
put in place for the winter soon. Mice seeholes in them; placing them on the screen is ahives as a warm, cozy winter home withgreat way for the bees to get under them toattached pantry and can wreak havoc if
slurp out the food.
you don’t reduce the entrance to supersmall size allowing bees to be able to go freely but not the opportunistic mice.
We will plan on, with approval, a visit in one week; Tyler had relayed that there will be awork crew with incarcerated beekeepers on that day. If this has changed, please let meknow.

September 13, 2018
The bees are doing pretty well. They had gone through all three jars of their liquid
protein/sugar syrup feed and only partially consumed the pollen patty we had left for them.
They were seen bringing in a tiny amount of orange (dandelion) pollen, however, when wearrived hive #1 had more entrance activity with bees flying out and hive #2 was quiet at theThe bees have two spaces to enter, on eitherside of the rock. With all the yellow jackets
around, a smaller space is more manageable foryellow jacket defense. In contrast, the mouse
guards are metal with really small holes.

In this picture you can see bees congregated on
and around the rocks at the front entrance in thehive on the left; zero activity at that point on theright.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

entrance. The bees will continue to fly as long as
temperatures are at least 50-55 degrees outside;in the winter, if temperatures rise enough,periodically, they will take a “cleansing flight” torelieve themselves away from the hive as honeybees will not defecate inside their home. Seeing
bee poop inside a hive is a sign that something
they consumed doesn’t agree with them oris symptomatic of a disease.

A nearly full frame of wax-capped honey for the
winter bee pantry.

We spotted both queens today; they were bothin the bottom boxes of each of their hives andboth still laying eggs. This means the workers arestill feeding and caring for eggs and larvae andusing the food (especially the protein) provided
to do that. We observed that only a small portionof the pollen patty in hive #1 was consumed;
much more had been taken by hive # 2. We
removed the old leftover patty and gave the bees
a fresh smaller sized piece. We know that atsome point in the coming weeks the queen isgoing to stop laying as temperatures drop andthe bees move into winter mode. Both hives also
had their jars of syrup mix refilled.

In this frame the original wax foundation had
warped and large pieces of it had gotten torn
off as we pulled it out of the hive on a previous
inspection. This shows how the bees fill in thegaps that were left with fresh wax comb that
There was no sign of varroa mites or any otherthey make. Eventually the entire frame will be
problems other than the many yellow jackets still filled in and there will be no empty space in the
hanging around. We have added emptying the
middle. You can see their wax “welds” to thewooden frame in the upper left and right sides.
yellow jacket trap as a “to do” on every visit.

We will be moving into winter prep soon including adding an extra top box filled with cedar
chips or flakes to the hives called a “quilt” that acts as a moisture trap for the colony. In thewinter, the bees generate their own heat keeping the hive a very cozy 90-ish degrees. All
that moist heat rises and contacts the much colder outer cover and can, potentially, cause
condensation to form on the inside of the cover and then drip back down on the bees.
Moisture raining down on the bees can be lethal so adding a quilt box is a little extra
insurance to assist their own climate control system and trap any water preventing the bees
from getting wet. The quilt box also allows a hard form of sugar “candy” to be fed during
the winter if necessary because the bees’ digestive systems cannot process the liquid waterin the syrup they are getting now during the months they are clustered in a big ball insidetheir hive. They will consume their honey first as the winter goes on but the weather plays amajor factor in how much and how fast they go through it.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

Glenn and Tyler have relayed that there will be incarcerated beekeepers to get some handson bee time in on September 20th so we will plan on following up on that day.

The queen is partially obscured by a worker on
top of her head. There’s a bit of everything inthis picture of the bees’ nursery: capped honey;
cells filled with shiny nectar; [mostly orange]pollen; white larvae and some tan wax-cappedbrood.

The bottom of this picture is actually the top of
this frame; we were tilting it to see if the larger
open cell (called a supercedure or new queencell) had an egg in it. It didn’t, so no worries thatthese bees are trying to make a new queen. We
noted it and will observe.

September 20, 2018
The Cedar Creek beekeepers got to inspect the McNeil
hives today with the team and they did a great job! Oneof the greatest things the bee team has been privileged
to witness with this project is the transformation of anindividual who is completely and utterly frightened of
the bees and doesn’t want to get anywhere close to thehives; after about 20 minutes or so of observing his
peers working the hives and talking about what they areseeing, the previously intimidated starts to inch his way
closer. More often than not we then hear the same
individual(s) asking if he can pull “one of those frames”
out too? This is exactly what happened today. It’s
wonderful to see their confidence and knowledge growwith each experience in the hives; these tiny insects
really are gigantic catalysts for changing lives.
Can you spot the queen? Worker
The bees in both hives are both still busy prepping for
winter and received refills on their empty feeders
today. We’re going to proceed with securing two quilt

bees putting wax coverings onlarvae. The larvae will spin a cocoon
inside the cell and become pupae
before emerging as a fully formedbee.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

boxes (as described in the last report) and will
see if Bruce Carly’s team might be able to put
them together for us.
The bees in both hives are both still busy
prepping for winter and received refills on theirempty feeders today. We’re going to proceedwith securing two quilt boxes (as described in
the last report) and will see if Bruce Carly’s
team might be able to put them together for
us. We’re also going to take the old deep
(derelict) boxes we found at the site before thebees moved in (that are sitting on the side of
the storage shed) to see if those can be cut
down in size to use in the future or for making
the quilts. It will be critically important to makesure the bees have appropriate feed into thewinter months and then over the winter (whenwe switch to a solid form of sugar) to keepthem from starving if they run out of honeystores.
We will continue to strategize best
management as we observe them over the
coming weeks; we know that any future time
now we could lose our warm daytime
temperatures. At present hive #2 appears a bit The frame gripper tool this beekeeper is using
more populated and stronger than hive #1. The makes pulling the frames out of a box a biteasier.
bees consumed only part of the pollen pattythat was left for them last week in both hives; this could also be a sign they are slowing
down the “baby bee” production and, therefore, not taking and needing as much protein as
before. Right now, the queens are still laying eggs.
We will plan on following up in one week, with approval.

September 27, 2018
Both hives appeared to be doing well. Feeding continues to be of high importance andmultiple forms of feed were given including protein/pollen substitute patty; viscous sugar
syrup (2:1 and 3:1 sugar to water) and liquid protein mixed with syrup. Temperatures arestill supporting the bees’ taking and utilizing the liquid feed. We will be prepared to place28

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

Spot the queen!

Freshly painted bee shelters look bee-utiful!

solid sugar “candy boards” in the hives in the coming 4 weeks or so. This will also be
important as the fall rains settle in, the bees will be stuck inside and we don’t wantmoisture to be a problem in the hives.
We have not seen any varroa mites since fall treatments were completed. Both hives still
have quite a bit of brood and eggs and both queens were spotted. Hive number one has aslight edge on size vs number two; we always like to see lots of bees heading into the winterin a hive. They will make a big ball with the queen at the heart of it and cluster in the centerof the boxes, vibrating their flight muscles to stay warm. They will work their way up
through their honey stores in the boxes as the winter progresses. A larger number of beescan, generally, better climate control their hive.
We will likely plan at least a monthly trip out in the winter months, weather permitting, justto make sure the bees aren’t running out of their winter hard sugar feed and to keep an eye
on any potential condensation issues. Plus, anything observed that will help us tweak ourhive management for next year will be helpful information to have.
The bees were bringing in small amounts of orange and light yellow pollen.
We still need to add the quilt boxes at a future visit and today made a repair to a frame that
had pulled apart in one of the hives.
With approval, we’d like to check on them again in one week.

A bee feeding smorgasbord: each hive got aquart jar of (from L to R) protein powder mixed
in 2:1 sugar syrup; a jar of 3:1 sugar syrup and a
jar of 2:1 sugar syrup plus a solid freshly madepollen patty.

The bee at the end of the finger is on her way tounload her bounty of pollen in a cell. If you lookunderneath her wings you can see filled orange
pollen baskets on her rear legs. The wax covered
cells on the left side of this frame hold honey.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

October 4, 2018
It was a gorgeous day to inspect the MIS hives.
The bees were very calm and very busy
bringing in whatever pollen they can find,feeding eggs and larvae and storing as much
nectar/honey as they can for their winter foodsupply. We even saw drone (male bee) brood
today, a bit unusual for this time of year.
Both hives are doing well; we saw bothqueens, and almost, surprisingly, both are still
Can you spot the queen? brood? larvae? wax
laying lots of eggs. There was fantastic broodcapped honey?
(baby bee) patterns noted in both hives. We
did a frame repair on hive one and replenishedthe depleted food supplies with solid pollen
substitute patties as well as liquid feed forboth hives. The remainder of the less viscous
syrup from last week was not being taken by
the bees so we removed it; they should really
only be getting the more viscous sugar syrup
now anyway. The bees always teach us how tobeekeep.
Incarcerated beekeepers did a great job withinspecting; it is really fun to watch the wary
individuals move closer and closer towards the
hives during an inspection, especially whensomeone excitedly spots something interestinginside the hive. Its kind of like the beekeeping
version of “Mythbusters” because of thepervasive social ideas about honey bees being"mean and nasty". Everyone learns something
new and the crews that participate all gain
Beekeeper exhibiting excellent techniquesome fluency in bee knowledge andreturning a frame to the box.
information while learning to care for a colonyof bees.
Everyone is enjoying the apples in the orchard including the island bears, apparently, as we
did spot our first bear scat not far from the bee shelter in the orchard. Hopefully they havesuch an abundance of other food that the bees won’t even fall anywhere on their radar.
Glenn and Tyler: Glenn mentioned today that there are incarcerated artists at Cedar Creek
that are able to create custom painted art for the bee shelters. Could you two please share30

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping ProgramFirst orchard bear scat sighting.

more here for the group on that? And, oneof the incarcerated beekeepers mentionedthat one of the artists has sketches of ideasthat perhaps could be photographed andemailed? If so, that would be fantastic!

This is a larva that was removed from its cell tocheck and see if any varroa mites were hiding
on it. Mites feed and reproduce on larvae (andpupae) in the developing brood and can cause
diseases and other problems for the bees. The
brown spot on this larva is not a mite, but apiece of propolis from the hive.

The current working plan is to return, with approval, for three weeks in a row, weather
permitting, to continue follow up, feeding and prepping for winter by adding quilt boxes,
mouse guards and solid sugar blocks/candy for feed.
If there is any need to change that schedule please let us know so that we can plan
accordingly.

October 11, 2018
The bees are doing well. It was 47 degrees in Steilacoom, so we waited a bit after we got to
the island for it to warm up enough to pull the covers off, assess feed and add more. The
bees had drained it all so we loaded them up, likely for the last time this season. Bee
numbers look good in each hive and they are inexcellent condition heading into winter.
This coming week is forecast to be gorgeous so
we are going to take advantage of it and go
through the hives for the last time, add thequilt boxes, add the mouse guards and either
add hard sugar now or wait until the follow up
visit. If weather permits the bees to continue

Hungry bees emptied every bottle
31

Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping ProgramThis forager is bringing in whatever pollen she
can. She stopped for a rest before heading into
the hive.

Round heads, cylindrical bodies and supportsthat look like legs. Yes??

to fly we may give them another week of viscous liquid feed but we’ll wait to see what
status is when we get there and get a look inside the hives.
We will also be re-inventorying the tool shed either that day if there is time or the following
week. Even if the temperatures are cool on follow up we can add the solid sugar feed
without disrupting the bees because we’ll have the quilt boxes on.
After the 25th visit we will plan on a quick trip out per month-ish, weather dependent. We
saw more bear scat in the orchard and those bears have been busy eating apples.
I sent Tyler the shed dimensions as CCCC has artists to ply their craft and custom-create adesign for those buildings. As we were measuring them we also measured the two big tanks
and we think they look a LOT like the shape of a bee……
Henry stopped by and mentioned there is going to be an exhibit on the history of McNeil
Island at the Tacoma Historical Museum in 2019. Link here:
http://www.washingtonhistory.org/visit/wshm/exhibits/McNeil/

October 18, 2018
We got a last look inside the hive boxes and the bees are looking good. We gave them two
more jars of feed since the weather was forecast to be warm, added mouse guards to bothhives and also added the quilt boxes. They were busy bringing in orange and light yellow
pollen.
We would like to return this week (and next week likely), if possible, to remove the feed jars
and the extra box that surrounds them; the more compact the bees’ home the less space
they have to climate control in the coming cold, wet months. We will also “trouble shoot”
anything that looks like it might need attention before winter.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

Handmade mouse guards; allows the bees tocome and go but not the mice!

Measuring for screen for mouse guards on
entrances.

On another note, we have a sudden emergence of hundreds (maybe more) of flies in our
beautiful equipment shed; fly traps will go up at follow up. We also saw 2 coyotes, a huge 4
point buck and a beautiful hawk on our visit.
Going forward, we are planning on checking on the hives every three-4 weeks or so to makesure all is well. These should be quick trips as we won’t be going through the boxes anddisturbing the bees in the cold weather. We do want to make sure they have supplemental
hard sugar feed as well as no issues with moisture or other obvious problems. We arehoping the bears go into their own hibernation and migrate out of the orchard soon. They
have obviously been enjoying lots of apples.
After the winter, if the hives are strong, we can possibly split each of them in the spring,
thus doubling the existing colonies. Fingers crossed! We know there is plenty of spring

Quilt box for insulation and moisture control.
The holes on each side allow for ventilation andare covered with screen so nothing can get in.

Because this quilt box has hardware cloth on thebottom with larger spaces, two pieces of burlap
were used as a liner to hold the high-techsawdust for moisture control.
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

forage available with the fruit trees andmaples, etc. that produce early pollen. That
spring pollen/protein collection is critical for
raising lots of new bees.
The bee team will be meeting in November toreview the inaugural beekeeping season on
the island and to start to strategize and planfor next year. Any and all feedback is
welcome…what works, what could be
improved, how you all envision the program
going forward, etc. Perhaps in January or
February we can schedule another meetingwith DOC and SPP personnel to synchronize
ahead of the new beekeeping season? Joslyn,
I’ll leave that to you!
We will plan on a few team members headingout in one week, pending approval.

Brown quilt boxes in place; the bottom twoboxes are filled with bees and honey and thebox underneath the quilt will get removed alongwith the quart jars of liquid feed on the next trip
out. You'll notice the rocks are gone from theentrances and have been replaced with themouse guard entrance reducers (also very hightech!)

October 24, 2018
Glenn contacted to inform that he and his
Cedar Creek crew were on the island today.
They were able to remove the remainder ofthe feeding jars/feed and surrounding box
from both hives which was part of the work
plan for this week.
With heavy rain predicted tomorrow and next Last round of liquid feedday, the bee team is canceling its visit for thisweek and will plan on returning to the island next week. We still need to add winter feed,
make sure bee needs are managed for much longer stretches of time and conduct a winterinventory in the equipment shed.
Glenn also relayed that artists from Cedar Creek are planning on a trip out to paint murals
on the bee sheds; Tyler, if there are any sketches to share, that would be
awesome. Everyone is really excited about that project and what they come up with!
Thanks to all!

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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

November 8, 2018
The team did a brief check on the bees; we were planning on adding additional hard sugar
winter feed but the bees were still out flying and foraging in our unusually ongoing warm
fall weather.
We will plan a trip out in the next 3-4 weeks, weather permitting, to do a quick general hive
recon and slip in some hard sugar bricks in both hives.
Also, Bruce Carly and his CI crew finished the medium boxes for the hives with the wood
donated from Home Depot; for now they’ll stay at CCCC and we’ll move them out on an
early spring trip to the storage shed.
Brian sent a note this past week that the bear(s) were spotted close to the apiary; Glennand his crew are working on building a fence for some bee protection around the bee
sheds.
We also did a follow up inventory of the storage shed and I’ll send Henry an
updated/revised document once it’s typed up.
Thanks to all!

November 18, 2018
It appears the winter rains are moving in and the MIS bees are as tucked in at this point asthey are going to be, although they were still out flying and foraging on whatever they could
find.
The team elected to use dry sugar instead of a “brick” of sugar; there are multiple ways todeliver sugar for winter supplemental feeding; we feed supplemental sugar to make surethey don’t run out of their own honey stores and starve to death. All winter sugar delivery
methods take into account that the bees won’t fly outside their home if it’s below 50
degrees and that they cannot process excessive liquid/water content while they are stuck in
the hive; this is why we don’t give them sugar syrup anymore. The natural moisture that will
be generated while the bees are keeping their home a nice and cozy 80-90 degrees will bejust enough for the sugar to be slightly dampened so the bees can physically process it.

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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

A little smoke to drive the girls (all the males arelong gone at this point) deep into the lower
boxes so it’s easier to add the sugar and notsquish anyone.

Sometimes if there is excess sugar left in thehive come spring, and the bees don’t want it,
they will simply remove the sugar granules
from the hive.
Glenn and his crew continue work on theapiary fence and we’ll look forward to an
update once it’s complete.

Sugar loaded up in hive number one. The bees
can chew holes in the waxed paper which sits
directly on the topmost boxes’ frames. The quilt
box with the wood shavings in it goes on top of
this box.

The sugar is sitting on top of waxed paper

The bee team will plan on checking on things(newspaper works just as well)….this keeps it
sometime in the next 3-4 weeks, weather
from falling through to the bottom of the box.
The bees will work their way up from the bottom
permitting; there are a number of things a
box as they work through eating their honey. Bybeekeeper can do to monitor winter hives
the end of the winter they are essentiallywithout opening them although sometimes
occupying the top box and the sugar is there if
we get a warm spell during the winter thatthey need it. It will also absorb some moisture inallows for removing only the cover and taking the hive.
a quick peek. We will also see how heavy theboxes feel, which will give us an idea of how much of their winter stored honey they havegone through. We’ve troubleshooted for mice by installing the mouse guards so thosecritters are excluded and the hives themselves are housed in the bee sheds which will
provide a good windbreak.
The bears are a bit of a wild card, but hopefully they still have plenty of other food sources
and will move along after finishing off the apples.
That’s it for now. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program

Acknowledgements
The McNeil Island Beekeeping program relies on several organizations and numerous individuals.
Like all Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) programs, the program is interdisciplinary, befittingfrom a variety of expertise and perspectives. The whole is much greater than the sum of its parts.
While we do not know all of the individuals who have contributed, we extend thanks to those weknow. We appreciate all you do to make the program possible.

Washington State Department of Corrections

Headquarters
Steve Sinclair, Secretary and SPP Co-Director
Jodi Becker-GreenRob Herzog
Julie Vanneste
Correctional Industries
Henry Mack
Brian Peterson
Vania Beard
Dennis Harmon
Danielle Armbruster
Cedar Creek Corrections CenterDavid Flynn, Superintendent
Douglas Cole, former Superintendent
Jean Anderson
Glenn Epling
Tyler Kennedy
Bruce Carley
Allison McCray
Christine Negrete
Incarcerated woodworkers
Incarcerated beekeepers

Expert Beekeepers from the community
Laurie Pyne
Maren Anderson
Gail Booth
Dixon Fellows
Andy Matelich

The Evergreen State College
Kelli Bush, SPP Co-Director
Emily Passarelli, former Green Track Coordinator
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Beekeeping Journal: Year One, SPP McNeil Island Beekeeping Program
Joslyn Rose Trivett & Bethany Sheplers (editors of this document)

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
Darric Lowry

Mann Lake Ltd. Beekeeping Supplies
Washington State Beekeepers Association
Ellen Miller, Education Lead

Olympia Beekeepers Association
Paul Longwell, Beekeeping Instructor for Cedar Creek program

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