My hives had their first swarm of the year this week, on Tuesday, April 11. We’ve had 80 F temperatures this week, and I happened to be in the bee yard while it was happening, which is always fun. Bees flying everyone, gathering at the entrance, and making their way to wherever the queen decided to land. In this case, the bees landed on a nearby fence post.
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As the day lengthens, so the hive strengthens
It is snowing today. Between global warming and mountains to our west, we seem to get less and less snow every year. Which is a real shame as I enjoy the white stuff. If it is going to be cold, we may as well have snow. In a prior post I gave a rundown of my top bar hives from 2020, so in this post I share my Langstroth hives.
Life is for each queen a solitary cell
I spent some time in the apiary yesterday with some nice weather. Not too hot and very sunny. The bees were happy, as far as I could tell. Foragers are all over our cherry trees, and I saw them working the holly, dandelions, and viburnum this weekend as well. The nectar flow has definitely arrived, so an update on my hives seems appropriate.
The cherry trees just outside my apiary (the flowering bushes inside the fence are viburnum). The trees are in full bloom, with the smell the flowers and the buzzing of bees when you walk beneath. ©Erik Brown
Bee… or bee not, there is no try
It has been bitterly cold the last two weeks (at least by Virginia standards), often below 10 F (-12 C) overnight, and that is without the wind. As a young beekeeper, I worry that my hives will not handle the cold well. One or two may already have died out, for all I know. Unfortunately it is still January so we must wait. Nothing to do but publish my beekeeping goals for 2018. Continue reading
More than Honey
Happy New Year! Time for my thoughts on the past year; I will cover the year ahead in another post. Most situations can always be better or worse, and my beekeeping in 2017 was no exception. It is bitterly cold by our standards in the U.S. right now, so a fine time to curl up in my favorite chair and think about bees. Continue reading
May the force bee with you (A New Hive)
This has been a busy month. Work, bike riding, yard tending, getting ready for a high school graduation, and of course bees. That last one has made for a rather interesting month. I have three updates that I will split into three posts so this doesn’t get too long. A Star Wars theme is never bad, so we’ll do this via the original episodes.
Ten nucs ready for pickup. The back 7 are from a friend; the front three are mine
Great hives from little nucs grow
We have had a few weeks of spring lately, with the air full of pollen and the bees going crazy. Rain and cool weather returned this weekend, so I am not able to work outside. I am instead sitting inside and writing this early spring update. A year will come when I feel that my springtime work with bees goes well and the hives are buzzing along, so to speak. This is not that year.
The expanded apiary on April 14. ©Erik Brown
Bees, Glorious Bees
The air smells slightly of pollen and the bees are going crazy, so you know that spring has arrived. Our cool nights are probably not totally over, and daytime temperatures occasionally call for a jacket. The hives are expanding quickly so it is time for a spring update.
My little apiary on March 25, 2017. ©Erik Brown
A world without nucleus hives would be less stable and more dangerous
After my success at reducing a standard deep nuc to a medium one (see Busy beeks are always metaling), I decided to take on the more daunting task of building a top bar hive nuc. After an adventure with hardware stores (yes, plural) and some minor angst on my part, I deem the effort a success.
Busy beeks are always metaling
A quick post about a small project this past weekend. If you are following along, you know I am interested in making some nucleus colonies this spring, or nucs for short. Our local beekeeping club (PWRBA) coordinates sales for new beekeepers and this should be a good way to help prevent swarming in my existing hives.
One problem for me is that the standard wax cardboard nuc box is only available for deep frames, while I am trying to move to medium frames. So I kind of want to fit medium frames into a deep nuc box. I found a solution this weekend. Continue reading
Bees with eeb 