So, the bees have done well and it is time to harvest honey! How do you get the bees out of the honey supers so you can extract them? Bee escapes work great if you plan ahead, there are several different options, they essentially create a one way door so that the bees can exit […]
If there is limited nectar available, bees can start robbing other colonies! Here is some information about how/why bees rob other hives and how you can help prevent it! Don’t feed outside the hive in the summer/fall!!! Top feed or us a division board feeder if you are feeding during a nectar dearth. Summer is
What is going on as far as nectar flow in the area and what does it mean for honey bee colonies. Should you be adding honey supers or feeding them? Depends on where you are and what is blooming. Here is some information to help you interpret the nectar flow in your area!
July is a good time to start watching for mites in new colonies. This is a quick way to see what is going on and can give you a heads up if you need to do more in depth hive sampling. We will periodically put the trays in during the summer just to get a
What a fun year! We have the most honey supers on some of our hives in Twin Falls than any other time in the last 2 decades, yet our hives in Malad Valley aren’t going to produce any surplus honey. We are in a dearth, there has been no rain so non irrigated areas have
People keep asking what they can do for mites during hot weather. Powdered sugar is really one of your best options! will still need to tackle your fall mite treatment, this won’t save your hive if it is all you do, but it will help! More effective on a screen bottom board. Can be done
Quick check of first year hives that were started on bee day. We are currently dealing with hot weather and are starting to experience a nectar dearth. in our area because there hasn’t been a lot of rain and natural bloom. This generally happens each summer when the heat really hits. Depending on your location,
*Not recommended for 1st year hives* There are lots of ways to raise queens and we’ve tried most of them. This is an easy way to raise and bank a queen for people who only have a few colonies but want to keep a queen on hand just in case. (Keeping a queen on hand
This week we see hives full of bees but they are not yet putting a lot away in the honey supers we added last week. The top deep box is full of bees, brood in almost every available cell, the population is really taking off! If we get a nectar flow they have the population
1st year package hived on April 24 and 25 2021. We will be getting ready for honey supers in these hives. First big nectar flow is starting in our area, bees are just hitting exponential growth. These packages went into hives with drawn comb, if your bees are in new hives or in a colder
When we make a split we try to use the natural biology to our favor. We did this by moving the old queen into a new box so she thinks she has swarmed and will stay. The original colony went through the queen rearing process as if they had swarmed. We split this particular colony
Here is the hive check on the package bees we hived on April 23 and 24. We will also walk you through how we do a hive inspection, what we are looking for, and what is happening season wise as it relates to these 4 colonies. Hive check part 1 https://youtu.be/ymvNAPLnOzc Hive check part
