Sparse brood, some of it dead

Mites 1, BnB1 0

I had my last ADT shot today and was feeling a little off center, so I decided to take the rest of the day off and check on BnB1 after the mite treatment and new queen addition.  I’ve been monitoring the front of the hive and there have been a Read more…

Share
Hello Kitty with the pictures in place

The Beekeeper’s Apprentice

We are blessed with a wonderful young family for neighbors.  Now that our kids are (mostly) out of the house and on to other interests, I’ve been using the neighbor kids as  surrogates to practice my grandparenting skills (although I hope the real thing is still a ways off).  In Read more…

Share
New queen for HK

The Never-ending (split) Story

This spring, BnB2 has perplexed me so much.  The colony built up very quickly, filling up the hive and making queen cups early on.  I kept thinking that they were going to swarm, but every time I’d do an inspection, there were no eggs or larvae in the queen cups.  Read more…

Share
Country apiary

Hive Tour

Yesterday, the Boulder County Beekeepers Association (BCBA), sponsored a hive tour of local apiaries.  Miles McGaughey, president of BCBA, organized and led the tours which encompassed a mix of hive styles and experience levels. The idea of the tour was to let other beekeepers watch one of us inspect our Read more…

Share
Nice brood pattern in Sarah's hive

Wacky weather

In my last post, I mentioned that we had a cool and rainy May.  June started out with a bang and we had our first 90+ day on Tuesday.  Yesterday took the cake though, with severe thunderstorms, an hour of continuous lightning and thunder and a nearby tornado. After I Read more…

Share
Bee yard in bloom

Spring Has Sprung

The sun is shining, the grass has riz, oh what a wonderful day it is!  After one of the wettest and dreariest Mays on record, we are finally experiencing some of the famed Colorado sunshine again.  I got 6.4″ of rain for the month of May and we didn’t hit Read more…

Share