Honeybees need nectar to make honey. Without honey stores, the bees would never make it through the winter, and you won’t be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor either. Honeybees spend spring and summer months foraging for nectar, bringing...
Sweet Rewards of the Honey Harvest As an apiarist, you’ve made quite an investment in the equipment and supplies needed to successfully raise bees, especially if this is your first season. With the bees working overtime to take advantage of...
What are supers? Bees use supers to store honey, pollen and brood. Supers come in varying heights and sizes. A deep-sized super is 9-5/8” in height and can weigh 90 pounds when full. A medium-sized super is three-fourths the capacity of...
If you’re new to beekeeping, you’ve probably purchased most of your beekeeping supplies and you’re ready to sit back and enjoy your new hobby. Don’t get too comfortable. There’s always something to do. By April, in the warmer southern climes,...
It’s early April, and dusk is settling in. At odd moments throughout the day, you’ve found yourself pausing to admire the spring flowers, winking open their petals to the warming day, splashing the fields and gardens with purple crocus, butter-yellow calendula and cherry-pink milkweed.
What better time to check on the bees.
They’ve been cooped up all winter, doing little else than surviving. Or so you hope – last year, you opened the hive to find heartbreak: dozens of little bodies littering the comb, the brood chambers run afoul with the varroa mite, dread king of honey bee pests.
It’s been a long day though, and you’re famished. As your stomach growls a need, your eyes catch the fruit bowl on the dining table. Striding over, your hand reaches, hovers, grabs…
