“There’s A Bee Swarm On The Power Lines” This year has been a record setter for the number of bee swarms in our area. I think the warm winter and spring with periods of rain followed by bright sunny days has created the perfect conditions for swarming. In fact, only […]
Past Hives
“ERRRR!” 10 Bee Stings, Wacky Comb And A Mean Hive
“ERRRR!” 10 Bee Stings, Wacky Comb and a Mean Hive Bees have different buzzing sounds, that a beekeeper can use to judge the mood of the hive. A gentle “hmmmmmm” is a good sound you want to hear in a happy hive. When you do something the bees don’t […]
First Hive Inspection Of Squill 5-6-12
First hive inspection reveals Squill is off to a good start! Three weeks after installing his bee package, Brian finally got to inspect his hive Squill. These bees took a while to warm up to the queen, so Brian was wondering if she was in there and laying or if […]
Ditching The Drone Pupae And Local Swarms Abound
Ditching The Drones And Swarms! The weather has been strange this year with extremely warm weather followed by cold and a week plus of rain. Several local beekeeping friends have seen early swarms in the last couple of days and/or capped queen cells in the hive. Many people are already […]
Drawing Wax And Building Wonky Comb – Dandelion Hive Check 4-27-12
Drawing wax and building wonky comb. Tuesday, April 27th was my first inspection of Dandelion after installing the package on April 15th. It was cloudy, 52 degrees and probably much too windy to do an inspection normally. Despite the weather, the girls were still bringing in lots of orange pollen. […]
Foundationless Frames Are Working! – Willow Hive Check 4-26-12
My new package is doing a great job drawing out the foundationless frames! This was my first hive check of willow, after installing the package on April 14th and removing the queen cage a few days later. I’ve been so excited to look at this hive, the waiting has been […]