Claude attended the 2021 Spring Beginning Beekeeping class. He had kept bees many years before so still had some equipment available. Claude lives on some beautiful property in Reidsville and thought he’d give beekeeping another go. As a skilled carpenter, Claude was able to add to or repair his existing equipment. He ordered a package …
Community: In the Bee Yard with Becca & Morgan
Becca and Morgan attended the 2021 Spring Beginning Beekeeping class. Morgan is a friend of Becca’s daughter and they decided to work together this year. Becca wanted a long hive instead of just a traditional langstroth or top bar hive, so she built it. The hive is beautiful and has a bit of steampunk look …
How Long Can I Keep Honey?
One of the common questions I get has to do with how long you can keep honey. If it’s kept in a sealed container and not left in the open to absorb moisture, it’ll outlast you! Here’s a great article about it written by Darren Incorvaia. HONEY’S ETERNAL SHELF LIFEThat honey found stored in an …
Some Basic Inspection Techniques
This video is from the Bumbling Beekeeper Beginning Bee Class in early 2021. Here I demonstrate some techniques for inspecting the hive, some things to look for, and some things you may see that you weren’t expecting to see.
Beginning Beekeeping 2021
Beginning in February 2021, we held a 9 week online bee class that we recorded. If you weren’t able to attend the program in person, you can still take advantage of the class by signing up to receive access to the recordings and pdfs of the slides I used during the classes. Here’s what we …
Hive Beetles & What’s Under Your Hives
One of the ongoing questions is about maintaining the area under your hives and also around your hives. We know that Hive Beetles pupate in the dirt under and around the hives so having something that will deter them from successfully pupating is a way to help the hive. You also want something that is …
Varroa Mites Revisited
In April 2017, I posted about some experience I had in dealing with Varroa Mite infestations and Varroa Bombing. Since then I’ve become much more diligent in monitoring. Back then, I would do a sugar shake maybe twice a year. Now I’m doing them more often and not just before treating. It seems like the …
Feeding Bees
One of the really critical things a beekeeper will need to do in the spring centers around feeding your bees.
More About Installing Packages – Dead Queen or Drifting/Absconding Bees
One of the things that’s come up recently is the knowledge about the possibility of your package bees having more than 1 queen. How do you know? And how do you keep your packaged bees from leaving or moving into the neighboring hive?
New Plastic Packaging for Packaged Bees (Spring 2020)
Here’s a video from spring 2020 where I talk about the nice features of this plastic container that my packaged bees came in.