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The Making of a Queen
Following a split, the beekeeper is left with two colonies, one with a queen and one without. Assuming that eggs or extremely young larvae are present in the queenless hive, the bees there will set...
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#bees hauling pollen. This is the split hive with the queen.
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This is the bowl of water I keep in my front garden bed, and this is what...
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How I started beekeeping
I wrote a piece for MNN.com called “A Bugophobe’s Guide to Beekeeping” that’s been pretty well received in the week or so since it went live. Maybe you’ll see a bit of yourself in the narrative, though...
View ArticleSplitting the Hive: Day 20
I’ve been obsessed for the last week by the forecast for this weekend. Today is the 20th day since I split the hives, and the day the newly emerged queen should begin her mating flights. It is sunny...
View ArticleNYT says bee deaths to top 50% for winter 2012-2013
Grim, grim, grim. What really blew me away in the recent American Bird Conservancy report on neonics in the environment was that they persist in water for long periods, and kill off a number of...
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Calm hive. Popped the lid and found lots of bees gathering sugar I left them,...
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Didn’t see signs of a queen in the split hive so I had to move a couple...
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Buckwheat seedlings. If they flower, the bees will like it.
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This is cool – several of these #bees are on the landing board, fanning...
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View ArticleConsiderations on a Failing Hive
So as the pictures below show, I caught a swarm a month or so ago. It was on a low branch in a cedar-type shrub, and I was able to remove the branch completely. I felt good that I had the queen in the...
View ArticleHazards of Honey Harvesting
I was able to pull maybe 30 pounds of honey off the hives in five or six frames (a mix of deeps and mediums). And that’s cool. I crushed it up by running my electric mixer through it in two batches in...
View ArticleWhat to do with all that wax?
If you’re a hobbyist, you’re probably using crush and strain to harvest honey. If you’re not familiar, it’s more or less how it sounds. You cut comb free from the frame, then crush it using a potato...
View ArticleStings in Unusual Places
Well, not like that. But so far this year, I’ve avoided getting any stings – at the hives. Away from the hives? Totally different story. Like the day before my birthday, when I took a morning call from...
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