What’s That? A Brand New Groove!
This October I inspected my only remaining hive after a couple of months of having no direct contact with the bees due to sheer, unadulterated frustration with the small hive beetles (SHB) that had destroyed the hive that I attempted to establish with a package of bees. The fall season also is a good time … Continue reading
The Battle Continues
I began writing this post towards the end of July 2011 when at the time only a few bees including the queen were huddled on the left hand corner of the frame. This is the hive I started from 3lbs of packaged bees. The hive seemed to be doing well during the first three to four … Continue reading
Small Hive Beetles Attack Campaign: The Beehive Terror Report!
For the last few weeks, I have been working to get the “Small Hive Beetles” under control in my two hives. My first beehive went from “strong” to “weak” in less than a week. I think my first mistake was that I stopped feeding them 1:1 sugar water syrup. I figured that there were so … Continue reading
My First Real Hive Inspection!
Everything looks great inside. I took off the hive top and bees were all on top of the inner cover. As a new beekeeper, I really do not know if this is a good thing or not but the bees appeared to be okay. I will admit, I added this top brood box too soon. … Continue reading
My Bees are Bearding at night time.
I am not sure why I went outside to check on my bees; but last Saturday night about 11:30 pm I checked on them and this is what I saw. From my research, I learned that the bees are hanging out because of possible congestion and heat in the hive. The Georgia sun during the … Continue reading
Dead Bees Don’t Stay For Long
Today, I witnessed worker bees cleaning up some dead honey bees that apparently had gotten trapped under the “entrance feeder.” I read that they removed them but did not realize how quickly they go to work getting them out of the hive. As you can see in the video clip above, the dead bees don’t … Continue reading
A honey bee found my midnight salvia!
Saturday, I got up anticipating a sunny day. The forecast given the night before was for complete sunshine with temperatures of about 85 degrees. However, the day started out very dreary. Around 9 am, I peeped over at the hive and only a few bees were milling about. I knew that I would have to … Continue reading
The Bees have a new home. A photo story.
The African American Beekeeper in an “Ultra Breeze Bee Suit.” This bee suit kept me safe and confident while working the bees. Absolutely, no stings!!!