Here We Go Again
After a promising start, then a build up, the swarm began to noticeably dwindle in size. We all noticed less activity on the hive. I...
Doubled in size
I checked my new swarm hive on August 5, 2024. I didn't want to disturb it too much, but I did pull this one frame just to see how things...
The Perfect Swarm
After the last post, I realized that all three of my hives were robbed out and completely empty. I was very discouraged and felt like a...
They just don't read the books!
I checked the hives on June 15, 2024. The long blue hive looked empty. I had expected to find that because I saw little to no activity on...
Checking up on the splits
On May 1st 2024, I looked at the three hives from the outside. The "mother" hive was very active, as it has been all along. The long blue...
Time to make splits
As I drove around on April 10, 2024, I noticed a lot of dandelions blooming. It was a nice sunny day, so I thought to myself, this is a...
The bees think it is spring!!!
I confess I have neglected keeping this blog up to date. I checked the hives about two weeks ago, when we had an unusually warm day in...
Winter in the bee yard
Here is the apiary in winter. In the foreground is the swarm hive. There were dead bees in the snow on January 23, 2024, which is a good...
Final Winter Prep
On Saturday, November 18, 2023 it was sunny but cold enough to work around the hives without the bees "helping" me too much! I stapled...
Time to snuggle down for winter
To prepare my hives for winter, I only do three basic things. The first is illustrated here. The box on the left has the inner covers in...