Musings about bees
No, it’s not Christmas (sorry Andy Williams), it’s Springtime! For beekeepers, it’s a time of swarms, splits, new bees and hives. For gardeners, it’s a time for cleanup, plantings, new gardens and watching the rebirth of nature. This year, I’m adding another hive, same style as the other (Hardison Top Read more…
Last weekend was fairly mild, so I decided to take advantage of the nice weather to open up the hive and check on the girls. From the outside, I’ve been watching them bring in pollen and everything was looking hunky-dory. But even with a window on the side of the Read more…
One of the worst things for me about keeping bees is killing them or watching them die. The first bee I killed was just after I started my hive when I wanted to be sure I wasn’t allergic to bee venom. Miles McGaughey told me how to catch a bee Read more…
On Friday it was near 60 so I took the opportunity to add a cake of fondant (“bee candy”) to the hive. The nice thing about a top bar hive is you can open up only the portion of the hive you want to get at without disturbing the winter Read more…
As 2013 closes out, I was thinking about my first year of beekeeping – the good, the bad and the ugly. It’s been an exciting year and, as of this writing, my bees are still alive. How well they are doing remains to be seen. The Good Getting ready. Preparing Read more…
