Beekeeping Today Podcast - Presented by Betterbee
March 27, 2020

BIP Sentinel Apiary Program with Kelly Kulhanek (S2, E22)

This week we meet with Kelly Kulhanek, a BIP Sentinel Apiary Scientist. Since gearing up in 2015, this program monitors colonies in 30 states with over 100 beekeepers. Once enrolled, you’ll take samples from your hives and have them tested for...

Kelly in the FieldThis week we meet with Kelly Kulhanek, a BIP Sentinel Apiary Scientist. Since gearing up in 2015, this program monitors colonies in 30 states with over 100 beekeepers. Once enrolled, you’ll take samples from your hives and have them tested for varroa, nosema and anything else the BIP people find for over 6 months a year.

This is a perfect educational tool for bee clubs everywhere, teaching members how to take samples, letting them see what else is going on around them and being able to make informed decisions about colony health and management. You can sign up for 4 or 8 hives. In return, you’ll receive a sample kit and record keeping info from the same colonies, all season long. At the end you’ll have a season’s worth of detailed records, healthy hives and peace of mind.

Perhaps a greater value is that the program has beekeepers all over the US taking samples, throughout the season and anything that isn’t supposed to be here in the US will get found. A perfect early warming program. Visit their web page for lots more info.

Websites and Linked mentioned in this episode –

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2 Million BlossomsWe want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a new quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

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Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

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Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"

Kelly KulhanekProfile Photo

Kelly Kulhanek

PhD, Assistant Professor, Washington State University

Kelly has a B.S in Molecular Environmental Biology from UC Berkeley. She completed her Ph.D. in Entomology in Dr. Dennis vanEngelsdorp’s Bee Lab at the University of Maryland. During her Ph.D. she worked with the Bee Informed Partnership to study beekeeping management practices, colony health and survival.

She joined the WSU Bee Program in the Hopkins Labas a postdoctoral researcher in 2020 and recently began a new role as Assistant Professor. She plans to build a program based on regular communication with Washington stakeholders, and to address needs such as locally specific best practices for bee management and crop pollination, and extension programs that will put the latest research into the hands of stakeholders.