Harvesting honey is an activity the whole family will want to get in on. Trust me… When it comes to beekeeping, there are about a thousand ways to do pretty much any task. At least, that’s how it seems if you ever try to get advice on how to do …
Perhaps this will be a shock to you. Perhaps it won’t. But bees actually produce more than just honey. Obviously, the golden sweet stuff is one of our main goals. But when you’re looking at beehives as a matter of self-sufficiency, there are a number of other exciting reasons to …
You know what one of the best parts of having a blog about your hobby is? When something goes wrong. Like a hive having laying workers. If I didn’t have a blog, I’d only have the sad part of knowing my tiny swarm colony was pretty much doomed. Because I …
About 1 in 20 people are allergic to honey bee venom. Among those who are allergic, there are definitely varying degrees of allergy. Stings are a hazard of being a beekeeper. There’s pretty much no way to prevent them. Believe me, when I first started I was very worried about …
Above is H1, also known as ‘The Swarm’. I talked a bit about them last week. It features a pretty unusual piece of ‘bee furniture’. That wooden block on the front. I have been sold on upper entrances for a while now. I don’t have them in all my boxes, …
Those of you who are signed up for our weekly newsletter already know the circumstances that lead to me learning some of my bees swarmed. Those of you who aren’t on our weekly newsletter… Well, let’s just say, join here. Now that we’re all in the know, I’d love to …
Little-known fact. I like to name my queens. Above is a picture of Cold introducing Queen Belle-a-Donna of ‘The Split’. I figure it helps me remember where they came from and who they are. One of my most productive hives this year is headed by “Queen Persephone the Ebon”. She …
One of the things that doesn’t get enough airtime in the beekeeping community is the stupid things we do. Naturally, we all want to sort of keep that kind of thing quiet. After all, no one likes being the center of attention for messing up. At least, I certainly don’t. …
It may seem like I’m trying to convince you to become a beekeeper. I mean, first I started talking about why you should do it. Then I gave some advice on using spare equipment to catch swarms. Now, I’m tempting you with a recipe made with honey? I mean, Chocolate …
Today, I’d like to share about a project I’m currently finishing up. Building a swarm trap from spare equipment. There are a couple of questions that are pretty common on this topic that I’ll try to address. These questions include the value of a swarm trap, why you should build …
