Panel: Raising Queens and How They Fit into Beekeeper Operations
This panel discussion, led by moderator Andony Melathopoulos, considers how raising our own queens impacts beekeeping operations, whether you are a commercial, sideliner, or hobbyist beekeeper. Panelists will discuss methods used and goals, what works and what doesn’t work. The audience is encouraged to ask questions of the panelists through the moderator.
Karen Finley runs Queen Bee Honey Company out of Corvallis/Alpine with her husband Tad Buford. They pollinate crops in the mid-south Willamette Valley and California’s almonds, as well as setting out bees for bears and making honey in the foothills. They have been in business for almost 30 years. Karen came into bees from an interest in habitat, and flowers. Then she figured out that beekeeping was an amazing way to encounter all the interesting people and places in her community. After almost 30 years of just eating honey, blackberries, and blueberries, she is starting to try to figure out how to propagate queen bees.