Archives

Fall Harvest in the Spring

I pulled the excess honey from 4 hives today. Yes.. 4 hives. Some of my friends know the math on the box weight…. Take a wild guess as to the weight of the boxes/honey. All hives that were doubled up with brood (2 deeps high) were split. The hives with the highest population showed signs […]

Spring Blooms – and Bolting Garden

The broccoli in the garden has bolted, now that the temperatures are warmer – and the bees are making sure that the plants are pollinated for the next seed crop.

BBQ Bees – To Go, Please!

These bees have survived a Texas summer, fall, and now a winter. The homeowner says that the bees moved in the BBQ pit last spring. The bees were not bothering anyone – so they let them stay for a while. Before springtime sets us in with warm weather, though – the bees *really* need to […]

January 18 2015 – Bee Yard Inspection

Not a full hive inspection – but a beautiful 60 degree (F) day – and a chance to check the pollen substitute feeders to see if they are in need of being refilled. Indeed – they were low – so after filming this short 1-minute video clip, I refilled the pollen substitute feeders.

 

Mouse Guards Installed

Several weeks back, I inspected the hives, and in one of the empty nucs, found a mouse nest – with a single mouse living within. I had forgotten about installing mouse-guards when I was reducing the hive entrances and adding covers under the screened bottom boards.

I did a quick check in the hives before […]

PVC Pollen Substitute Feeder – Follow Up

Here’s a Christmas day follow up for my pollen feeders that I installed last Saturday. We had a sunny day that was nice (but windy) – and the bees were ALL OVER the pollen sub. (I use Mega-Bee from Mann Lake)

After 5 days, we have a warm day (~55 deg. F) that allows me […]

Honeybee Pollen Substitute Feeder

This week I made two feeders that provide pollen substitute to the bee-yard. Total build time for the feeders was about 5-minutes. Scroll down to view the video that was made for this project.

Pollen Substitute Dispenser on fence – View of opening

Pollen substitute ( or Pollen Sub ) is fed to […]

Preparing for the 2015 Beekeeping Season

Lots of work is in the planning stages for the 2015 beekeeping season. There are boxes to build, frames to assemble, foundation to install – oh – and did I ever mention a barn to build at Wolfsong Farm? This should give me a secure space to keep my beekeeping woodenware and equipment.

Plans are […]

Brianna’s Bees – Swarm Catch

This swarm arrived today, and settled in Brianna’s Crape Myrtle tree by her driveway. She helped me go through the cluster (YES – No Gloves, and scooped the bees JUST like I do) and put the workers into the hive, whilst watching for the queen. We spotted the queen, put the queen into a clip, […]

Ricky’s Bees

Ricky’s Bees:

These bees were in a house that is slated to be demolished. There’s no electricity on-site, so that means that I had to work slower – without my usual arsenal of tools. After moving the brood to their new hive box (10 full frames of brood!) I hand-scooped the bees to the […]