Archives

False Swarm… and Bees Coming Home

We’re in the first week of February – and today was in the low 70’s (F). One of my nuc hives that I overwintered had an unusually high amount of activity around it today.

I noticed a LOT of bees circulating around a spot that where the nuc had originally placed at about 3-4 weeks […]

Pollen is coming in!

January 28th – A red-letter day for the 2013 year. Pollen is coming in from at least three local sources. I witnessed bees bringing in pale yellow/white as well as orange and a dark red pollen. The dark red is most likely henbit pollen. The other two – unknown – but VERY welcome to be […]

Warming up

I know that we’ll have a few more cold spats before spring is *really* here – but here’s today’s update from the bee-yard.

After our freezes over the holidays. The 2 youngest nucs (which were rescues) did not survive the cold. The other nucs that were started earlier in the fall – doing fantastic! It […]

Heat retention in the hives

Can you guess where the cluster of bees is in each of the boxes shown? The lids in the outer two nucs are pretty thin, so there’s heat loss through the wood from the bee cluster. I’ll spend some time this week re-making some lids with thicker wood, then will wait til a warm day […]

December Honeybee Rescue

Another late-in-the-year honeybee rescue/removal performed yesterday – just as the rains and cooler weather came through. The NTTA needed the bees removed from an irrigation valve box near the Addison Airport toll tunnel.

They had called an exterminator that uses “Bees” in part of their company their name to imply that they are beekeepers. They […]

Sassafras Harvest

In the past, Sassafras root had been used as the colorant and flavoring in Root Beer. This isn’t the root beer that is based on the sugary syrup carbonated beverage we have become accustomed to in America. This was the real, genuine “root beer”. But what was it? It was actually sassafras tea. Cleaned […]

Leave them bee!

As we approach December of 2012, I wanted to remind folks that if temperatures are lower than about 75 degrees outside, then try not to open up your hives at ALL.

The only exception that I can think of at the moment would be to add fondant for feeding – and then it needs to […]

November Swarm

Late swarms sometimes happen.

I received a call Friday morning about a swarm that occurred – most likely from another beekeeper who was out of town for the day. A neighbor contacted him about a swarm that had been found in her yard – behind his home. They found them while their tree-trimmers were working […]

Winter Removals – Why *not* to do them

I’m often asked by a homeowner to perform a honeybee removal in the winter. My removals are “live” removals – and I do not kill the honeybees to remove them.

Education about aspects of the honeybee’s lives is essential to let homeowners know why I generally choose to NOT remove bees from someone’s home, tree, […]

Winding down the season

It’s starting to cool off – and the beekeeping season is starting to wind down.

That does NOT imply, though, that we are done with the hive or honeybee work for the year. What’s there still to do, you may be asking yourself?

There’s lots! How about:

Feeding for strong brood through the winter Manage […]