Posts from early spring
Our daughter’s top bar hive is still alive! Good information on what is going on in all hives this time of year!
Should I treat my package Bees with Oxalic acid? Short answer is we don’t recommend it. Now for the lists of pros and cons. First off, O.A. is a great mite treatment when no brood is present. (we like it as a late season treatment) We also know that it is important to start with […]
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 […]
Daniel (age 5) started his first hive this year, he is getting to do his first big check since hiving his package. He is proud of the desert camo pattern he painted his boxes. This package went into drawn comb on April 24. We see good brood pattern, population is getting ready to grow exponentially, […]
This package went into a colony with established comb so we didn’t have to remove or repair comb, they are already building straight. Have fun, we had trouble finding evidence of a queen, but we finally did find it! This is a week after hiving.
Checking drone brood is a great way to get a handle on what the mite load is on your hive.
If you have a strong colony that made it through the winter, splitting in the spring is a possibility! You want to split during the time of year that colonies are naturally looking to swarm. The biology is that by taking the old queen and moving her to a new hive gives the hive the […]
This past week things are really starting to take off, It has been warm enough that bees have been out and busy. Dandelions are in full bloom, the fruit trees are blooming as well. some of the mustard in our cover crops on the farm is blooming as well. This next week some of the […]