Water soaked up in old pieces of branches is tasting yum yum. Yesterday March 20 in the middle of the day when the sun warmed the ground and the air, 8°C (47°F) in the shade. The first day of the
The first bees in spring
A passionate treatment free beekeeper
Cory Stevens lives in southeast Missouri. There are some hives of hobbyists some miles from him. A larger beekeeper is 7-8 miles from him, but he uses Cory Stevens’ queen cells. The whole Stevens family works together Started with resistance
More Varroa resistant bees
Darrel Jones lives in a rural area in northern Alabama. He is an enthusiastic grower of heirloom tomatoes, http://www.selectedplants.com/ Being a beekeeper as well is a natural fit with his gardening activities. Keeping bees treatment free was his goal from
A locally adapted Varroa resistant bee stock
http://www.happyhollowhoney.com/ Richard Reid in a Virgina rural area in the US began with bees 1973. Beekeeping was simple, almost only it consisted of putting on and removing supers. By 1995 all of his bees died due to the Varroa mite.
Feedback on Elgon queens
Karin is a new beekeeper. She got thrilled when I took the feral swarm from the wall in one of her houses, so she wanted to keep bees. And got a daughter queen from the feral swarm. She is very
Treatment select for increased reproduction rate
Varroa mites multiply in bee larvae. After they come out of the cell when the bee is fully formed, they sit on the adult bees and suck hemolymph. It was observed many years ago that during the brood period of the
The bee shaker and varroa resistance
One mite from 300 bees. I understand that sometimes it’s a good idea to get an idea of the infestation level of varroa mites in bee colonies. You can take samples from a couple of colonies in an apiary to
Cell size affects water content
I started taking down my bees to small cell size 15 years ago. 10 years ago I had combs with 4.9 mm, 5.1 mm and 5.4 mm cell size in the supers. At one time I did some measurements of
Checking list for a VSH test
I have done some VSH-tests by now and maybe my experiences can inspire some of you. I have made a checklist that maybe can be of some help. What I use I use a reading lens with a ringlamp with
More viruses due to cold weather
The weather has given the coldest May since 1962, 12 years before I started with bees. The bees have had a hard time getting enough pollen to keep up egglaying to reach optimum nectar gathering strength when summer comes. In