It’s been a very busy time for some time now. From about August 5 to August 25 all supers above queen excluder are harvested and honey extracted, the third removal for the season. Those colonies showing wingless bees on the
Prepared for winter
Swarm trap in April of May
Weather has turned to April when May arrived. Freezing nights and barely flying weather in days. But solar wax melter works, in the middle of the day. Though development of the bees have begun strong this spring. They have grown
Early flowers are coming early
Still wood anemones are beautiful and giving pollen, though bees are now more interested in other sources. This is an early season, really. And beautiful. Chilly frosty nights but nice and sunny days. Solar wax melter works. Dandelions are starting
Tussilago farfara
Second day checking for increase after winter I now came to some apiaries inside my Elgon area and almost all colonies needed a super above the excluder. The weather had turned warm after winter and the colonies demanded me to
First increase, the first apiary
A couple of days ago I started for the new season, to check colonies for need of food and for increase of space for bees and brood. I want to give you some glimpses. I checked four apiaries that afternoon.
Colony 47
Colony 47 is a remarkable colony. It started as a walkaway split last year. From colony 236. It is placed in apiary 4 as colony no 7. The split was moved from apiary 23 to apiary 4. When I checked
Spring after winter in Indiana
Larry from Indiana wrote me March 30 about spring approaching at his side of the globe on about 39° latitude: Mother Nature continues to exact her winter revenge in the Midwest USA. Once again rain mixed with snow dominates the
Multitest colony prepare to boom
You know the MT-colony – testing natural positioning, plastic frames, mostly honey as winter store, and a mouse nest… A couple of days ago, about 12°C (52F) and sunny, still no fresh high value pollen (some from early blooming trees).
Honey for winter
In US I understand it’s more common than in Europe to let the bees keep honey for winter. On the other hand I’ve heard more and more beekeepers giving sugar for winter. And the discussion which sugar is the best
Natural positioning, plastic frames and a mouse
The bottom box with the cozy home of the mouse. To the right the two upper boxes full of bees, waiting for return on top of the bottom one. You know there is a front and a back, and up