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January 2026 Newsletter

January 2026 – Newsletter (Laura Winters – Birds and the Bees Apiary)

Over the past month and a half, my business partner Rex and I have been busy preparing for the upcoming season.

We’ve assembled new hive equipment, including medium supers and deep boxes, then applied a coat of primer and paint to protect and […]

Pollinator Plant Spotlight – Mexican Buckeye

The Mexican Buckeye (Ungnadia speciosa) is a Texas-native, deciduous ornamental shrub or small tree (8–12 ft, up to 30 ft) with distinctive 3-lobed,, reddish-brown seed capsules containing poisonous, black, shiny seeds. It features fragrant spring whiteish-pink flowers, yellow fall color, and high drought tolerance, thriving in limestone soils, full sun, or partial shade.

It blooms […]

Pesticides – Death and destruction to bees

This week, in my personal back yard – I have experienced a fairly fast die-off of 5 colonies. These bees were here simply for the purposes of building them up to be strong, so they could be placed onto agriculture contracts.

Usually, I’ll give a build-up and background before I tell the meat of what’s […]

Propagating Pollinator Plants

This year I *really* noticed the Western Soapberry trees in the North Texas (North of Dallas / Ft Worth MetroMess) area during their bloom, and the pollinators all over the trees while in bloom. I suspect this was a 2nd bloom for the year. My time really noticing them was from the end of May […]

Big Fix for Cheap NUC Boxes

For the last 2 years, one of the NUC / Bee suppliers has been using CHEAP NUC boxes. They resemble the higher quality Jester EZ Nuc Boxes – however – there’s a huge difference that’s not necessarily noticed until it gets HOT outside.

I was making splits, and had a umber of these boxes – […]

Earth Day 2025 – Rooster Home and Hardware

The Harmony Hollow Apiary bees in an observation hive will be at Rooster Home and Hardware on Saturday April 19th in their celebration of Earth Day 2025. Come sample honey, see the bees, and maybe spot the queen!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Effects of sublethal doses of glyphosate on honeybee navigation

I thought I had posted this link to research – however I’m not finding it at the moment – so I will post it again – in light of this winters’ reported massive honeybee losses by commercial beekeepers. (as noted in my last post). While the symptoms and possible causes are being investigated – I […]

Urgent: Nationwide Bee Losses in Winter of 2024-2025 Varroa

2-7-2025 10pm

If you have not heard – over the last month – as many beekeepers prepare to send bees to California for Almond pollination – it’s being found that the normal approximate annual attrition rate of honeybee colonies of 40% – is this year – being seen in the range of 50%-80% and in […]

Simple Hive Stands

These hive stands are strong, hold the hives to a proper height for easy inspections – and are quick to make with simple tools.

Most of the ones I make are 8′ long – and hold 4 hives easily – or 5 that are pretty tight. So I use 2 stands for most be yards […]

Pollinator Plants for Texas

Many property owners ask me about what to plant to help feed the bees. The short answer – is to plant for ALL the pollinators (butterflies, moths, wasps, bees (including native species as well as the honeybees used in agriculture for pollination services and honey production).

Though I separate this list […]