If you’re not up to speed on my swarm capture, read Episode 1 here! As with everything else in beekeeping, there’s no single best practice when it comes to transferring a colony from the swarm trap to your normal hive…
A Swarm Story: Episode 1, Capturing Wild Bees
So I haven’t posted on here in a while. It’s been a frustrating few years, losing my hives every winter and not knowing why. This year I thought one had made it through; they seemed to be doing ok all…
2016 Strikes Again–Back to Square One
Another casualty of 2016: my remaining two hives. I went out to check on them last week, and both were dead. The Vulcan hive was completely empty of bees. My first thought was colony collapse or that they’d absconded, but…
Quest for Non-Toxic Garden Paint: 3-year Update
Back in 2013, I built some raised beds for my blueberry bushes and decided to try an experiment with surface treatments to see if I could find a non-toxic option that would still protect the wood from the elements. (See…
A Tale of Two Installations
I installed a new package and a new nuc within the last week. I have GoPro video of both, so you can see the different techniques. Both are fairly quick and straightforward. As a refresher: A package is a bunch…
Two Hives Down
So I’ve been putting off writing this for a while, because I’m so upset with myself for letting it happen. But mistakes are how you learn, and this could help someone else or help me remember for next time. I…
Holy Crap
I don’t really have a lot of time at the moment, but I just had to write this post. (Have to let my heart rate come back down, anyway.) I’m extracting a bunch more honey this weekend, and I just…
Quest for Non-Toxic Garden Paint: 1-year Update
So last year I put in four new blueberry plants in raised beds and figured it would be an ideal way to test out a few different non-toxic wood-protection products. It was suggested that I give an update after a…
OK Go! (Getting bees out of the honey supers)
First step in honey harvesting: Getting the bees out of the honey supers. After last year’s fiasco with the Porter bee escape, I thought I’d try something different this time around. I went for the fumigation method, as it was…
Mite Check
Varroa mites are the bane of honeybees’ existence. They’ve become a huge problem of late, contributing to spread of disease, weakening of colonies, and death of colonies. They’re nasty little buggers, looking like ticks on the bees. Gross. To keep…