Archives

Honeybee Trapout

Here’s a video that I took while performing the trap-out on Monday’s arrived swarm of honeybees to a neighborhood in Richardson, Texas.

 

After the bees exit the window-screen mesh cone, they are unable to find their way back in. Their choice is to (a) use the 5-frame nuc box with a frame of […]

Swarm Call

Today is marked as the first swarm call for the Spring 2012 season.

When I received the call, a few bees (scouts) were coming in and out of the tree. By the time I got there, the bees were coming in – and it was looking like a tornado of honeybees. I quickly placed my […]

Fresh Comb

It’s been three weeks, now, since I added the foundation-less frames to the hive.

Yesterday, I saw another beekeeper in the neighborhood working with his hive at a community garden. His single deep hive had swarmed, and he had caught the swarm and added them to another box. I decided that I should check […]

Bee Larvae – MMMmm – Protein!

I decided that it was time to REALLY check out my bees for the spring… I’ve only got the one hive, so I’ve been wanting to add a box or two – to allow them to increase their numbers so that I can make a split or two off of it.

I decided to checkerboard […]

Hive Brand

Here’s a pic of my new hive brand for marking my woodenware. Made by a friend who is a welder/metal worker.

Beekeeping Podcasts

I wanted to share a few of the podcasts that I listen to in regards to beekeeping. If you read this, and are aware of others that I should take a listen to – then please send me a note to let me know what the link is – and I’ll evaluate it.

Organically Managed […]

The bees say that spring is here!

Punxsutawney Phil is a punk! He says 6 more weeks… well my ladies say it’s time for spring. I’m crossing my fingers in hope that we do not have a repeat of last year’s weather patters. Last year – in Dallas we had 12″ of snow in late March! On the spring equinox!!

Here’s a […]

Hive Check

We have had a few cool nights this week, with temperatures down into the mid 30’s (deg. F). When today’s temperature got up to about 50 deg. F, I decided to go ahead and check the hive. Going into winter, I had put in 4 lbs of dry sugar onto the inner cover, then covered […]

Pollen Coming In – and Swarm Traps/Lures

1/30/2012

This last weekend was beautiful in north Texas. Friday, I saw a variety of pollen coming into the hive – including a nice bright yellow-orange color; some was a pale yellow-white in color; and other -(presumably henbit) was a blood-red. The henbit has been flowering for the last 2-3 weeks, now. Daytime temps have […]

Urban Sustainable Ecosystems Symposium

Spent all day today at the Texas Discovery Gardens ( http://www.texasdiscoverygardens.org ) – manning the Texas Honeybee Guild booth for the “Urban Sustainable Ecosystems” symposium. ( https://www.facebook.com/UrbanSustainableEcosystems )

Day two looks to be a great list of speakers scheduled as well! Amber and I will finish painting our hive woodenware before heading out to day […]