Video courtesy: Rusty Gomez As you become familiar with bee biology, you quickly learn duties performed by worker bees are done at particular ages. When a honey bee emerges, she stays inside the colony performing house duties such as cleaning...
Topics Beekeepers Can't Agree On! By: Lynne Jones As detailed in previous articles in this month’s issue - Varroa mites are a serious problem, and we are all faced with the responsibility to control them. Control methods range from...
1. Return supers the same day after extracting in the late evening, thus allowing the hive to clean them up overnight. Supers placed back on hives in the middle of the day smell strongly of honey, and encourage robbing. 2....
By: Nanette Davis - Master Beekeeper Youth Mentor Director Montgomery County Beekeepers Association With the exceptional winter weather and possible snow days at home, you may have started to wonder exactly what happens to honey at freezing temperatures. Then after...
No matter what demographic of beekeeper you are (urban, suburban, rural, hobby or commercial), honey bee forage should be an aspect of beekeeping you think about. I’ve often said, “Urban and suburban area honey bees generate the very best honey”!...
By: Ed Erwin Montgomery County Beekeepers Association Mentor Director Master Beekeeper If you really want to stump non-beekeepers (and sometimes beekeepers), ask them how many eyes a bee has. They may be very surprised when you tell them the answer is...
Once robbing starts, things can go downhill fast. 🐝
If you know what signs to watch for and act quickly, you can often save the hive. Here’s what robbing looks like, how to stop it, and how to help prevent it in the first place.
By: Blake Shook Repairing old frames can be challenging. It’s often easier to dispose of old frames and purchase new ones. If an all plastic frame breaks, it is almost impossible to fix. However, if a wooden frame breaks, and...
I'm already there - Won't you join me? By: Charlie Agar - Owner Charlie Bee Company and FrontRow Multimedia Texas Beekeepers Association Director and Volunteer Mentor for Hives For Heroes It will all start out innocently enough. You watch a...
Checking for honey stores is very important. Especially nearing the winter months and in the spring! Do the tilt test Do hive checks every 2 or 3 weeks One hive inspection mid to late November for a final check prior...
Both plastic frames and wood frames w/ plastic foundation are common and both have pros and cons. Wood frames with plastic foundation is more common, and what most beekeepers prefer. But let’s examine them both so you can decide which...
Second in a multi-series Depending on where you are in your beekeeping adventure, you may have completely opposing views from other beekeepers concerning hive inspections. New beekeepers inspect hives to learn AND to manage the hives as they learn. Experienced...
There are so many options in beekeeping, right?! What type of feeder to use is one of the most commonly asked questions out there. Every feeder has its pros and cons, however, at the end of the day, the important...
Ah, the smoker. I love the sight of a lazy curl of smoke drifting out of a well-lit smoker. But if you’ve been keeping bees long, you’ve also experienced the utter frustration of a poorly lit, poorly working smoker going...
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Requeening a hive can seem challenging—especially when it comes to deciding if a hive needs a new queen and locating the old one. But once those steps are handled, introducing a new queen and checking later to see if she’s been accepted can be a surprisingly simple process.
Drone honeybee? He’s just a boy bee, right? He’s the one with a mother, sisters, a grandfather, grand -sons and yet not a father or sons. We all know he is characteristically very good at one specific thing- mating! Some...
BY - JAMES ELAM It’s fall! You’ve been looking forward to this time of year, unless you’re a drone honey bee. As beekeepers, we soon will be witness to “The Great Drone Dump” to occur at the entrance of our...
