Guilfordbeekeepers.org

I'm not seeing any new posts lately. I know we lost Wally and Rob, RIP two very generous guys with their time and knowledge, but I bet this medium would help a lot of new people who may have questions. How can we get the word out?

I had two hives that needed feeding this year. I read somewhere to put the feed on the top of the frames of the broodnest box. Both hives had boxes above the brood box. So I placed fondant between the top box and the brood box. Where do you place your solid winter feeding on a hive here in the Piedm...

I'm fixin to render a large amount of wax and need about a 100qt stainless pot and a couple of smaller pots. I was wondering if anyone knew the best place to buy. Seems the pots I've seen online are pretty expensive.

Is it normal to see only spotty brood on frames this time of year? I inspected this hive yesterday. Lots and lots of bees in all 5 boxes. Resources look good. Just completed second Apiguard treatment. Did not recheck for Varroa. Did not see queen, but saw larvae like you can see if you zoom in on th...

He was a great source of information and always willing to answer questions to a Newbie like me. He will be missed. Thoughts and prayers to all his loved ones.

I haven't received any swarm calls since early spring. Do you ever see swarms during summertime? Should I continue to look for swarm cells on my hives? This time of year the hives have a lot of bees and I worry that my hive may swarm. What is your practice for early swarm detection/prevention during...

Donna Wallace came over Saturday and we did my first split ever. We didn't see the queen so weren't sure we got her over to the new split. I did an inspection of the split today and saw her. I had marked her awhile back in the original hive. She obviously had been busy laying and the hive looked str...

To increase from two colonies to four or five was my goal for this spring. Friday I got a swarm call, caught it, and picked it up before sunrise Saturday. Then Donna Wallace came over and showed me how to split a hive. While we were working she got a swarm call that we caught and I picked up this mo...

I just got a swarm call from Debbie Walsh 336-558-3714. She has a swarm she wants removed that she estimates is 40 to 50 foot high in a pear tree. I couldn't help her with one that high. Is there anyway or anybody you know that can catch one that high?

Learn something new in beekeeping all the time: https://news.asu.edu/content/bees-get-b ... wer-nectar

I am hoping for some swarm calls this year. I have been doing this long enough to know I need more than two backyard hives. Last year I caught two swarms from being on our swarm call list. My main goal this year is to increase to four to six hives.

Donna and I looked for a queen today in the hive without brood and did not see one. We took a frame of eggs and larvae from the queenright hive and placed it in the queenless hive, as you suggested. There were drone walking around and no sign of laying worker. I am feeding 1:1 and pollen patty (thou...

I expected a hive with 1 deep and 2 mediums yesterday. The top box had capped honey, pollen, and nectar. The other two had splotchy capped honey. There were lots of bees in each box, but no brood anywhere. I have not looked closely for a queen yet. I see brood in the other hive. Does the fact that t...

The reason I do pollen patties is I was taught that pollen in February will stimulate laying. I am planning (hoping if strong enough) to do splits this spring. I want the hives busting with numbers so that I can split them.

I inspected my weaker hive today. It has two mediums. The top box had capped brood on each frame surrounded by capped honey and nectar. I did not see any drone brood or drones. I found the queen and marked her. The bottom box had only splotches of capped honey and empty cells on each frame. So I swa...

I took a quick look inside my two hives. I pulled a few frames only. I saw a little nectar on one frame, but I had a sugar cake on that hive. I don't know if they turn the solid sugar to nectar? I did a tip-up swarm check, but it may be too early for swarm cells. On one hive I found many SHBs on the...

I just now watched mine for about 10 minutes. A lot of pollen is being brought in, some of which may be olive in color. What plant does that olive-green color come from? Does the blooming red maple mean the flow has begun?

I will go out today and take a quick look inside my hives.

Next week will have some warm days and I will look into my hives as well. If I find my two hives are strong, as I suspect, how early can I do splits on them? Do I want to wait until I see drones? The Accuweather 45 day forecast shows night lows for February in the 40s with some nights in mid to low ...

Have any of you read /Fifty Years Among The Bees by Charles C. Miller? It was recommended to me by Dana Stahlman who presented to us on early spring splits. I am about 50 pages into it and am having doubts about it. It is OLD, OLD, OLD, written in 1915 so far mostly about the authors experience with...

When do ya'll replace foundation? I have replaced so much this fall/winter that I am tired of it. Does color matter? I read somewhere it doesn't. The foundation in the picture is not even 4 years old![attachment=0]20241223_152922.jpg