From the Fields: Matt Stayer, Shasta County beekeeper and queen breeder

By Matt Stayer
Shasta County beekeeper and queen breeder

We are wrapping up our queen season. We’re getting the bees prepped for summer honey locations and getting the bees prepped to ship to Montana for the honey flow. This time of year, we’re just getting the bees healthy for summer so that they can raise a honey crop and be healthy going into the fall to make it through winter. 

It’s been a dry May for us, but it was a wet April, so we did have a later pollen flow. But it’s starting to dry up like normal, so I don’t know if we’re going to have a star-thistle crop this year or not for honey. We need some rain to make that happen. 

The dry weather in early March helped get our queen season going a lot earlier than expected. We had good early mating of queens and were able to get a lot of queens out early to our customers, which is always a plus. 

The mite loads have been relatively low for us this year, but that could change at any time. We’re starting our treatments for summer, and with the heat index, you must watch treatments, so we have to time them correctly before it gets too hot. As far as pests are concerned, we’re not seeing any real impact yet this year. 

We had a very warm January and early February for almonds, so the bees started growing fast. Whenever honeybees start growing rapidly early in the year, there can be mite issues because their brood cycle starts earlier than normal. We constantly test for mites, so we know where we’re at. We test ourselves, and then we also have outside people come in and test for us too, to make sure we’re getting the same results. 

What we really need is for honey prices to come up for the industry. The price of honey is low, and the imported honey coming in from out of country is still hurting the price of the U.S. honey supply.

In this edition…

• New school sawmill spurs logging interest
• H-2A rule change puts spotlight on work visa program
• Feedback needed to assess state veterinary shortage
•​​​​​​​ Nutrition program benefits growers and inmates alike
•​​​​​​​ From the Fields: Josh Barton, San Joaquin County walnut, almond and olive farmer
•​​​​​​​ From the Fields: Matt Stayer, Shasta County beekeeper and queen breeder
•​​​​​​​ From the Fields: Jerry Maltby, Colusa County rancher, feedlot operator and rice farmer
•​​​​​​​ From the Fields: Tiffany Holbrook, Sonoma County egg and poultry producer
•​​​​​​​ Growers use pressure bombs to fine-tune irrigation
•​​​​​​​ State targets sharpshooters from Costco grapevines
•​​​​​​​ Moth damage rises as growers await new insecticide
•​​​​​​​ Advocacy in Action: California Farm Bureau tackles labor, immigration and forest management
•​​​​​​​ Four farm safety priorities this National Safety Month