Here is a hive in the process of being robbed by strong colonies. You can see the fighting and the frenzy. What to do? Keep strong colonies, if you catch it you can put a sprinkler on top to discourage bees from coming in. Robbing screens and reducing the entrance can help. On this hive […]
Checking for mites in drone brood is a great way to get a feel for what is coming as far as mite loads. If you have trouble seeing mites, they show up on the white larvae. Ideal is purple eye stage for seeing mites. This hive also has a lot of brood but is going
Checking hives for weight, this hive is not heavy enough. We just pulled 2 supers full of honey off this hive, so lets see what is going on! A couple of things we see. There is lots of brood, no pollen stores, bees are just starting to back fill. This colony lost their queen mid
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,
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
We have experienced some really hot days! You may see something like this and wonder if the are running out of room or just hot. Either way its easy to fix it.
