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I just finished checking shims and adding brown bricks at my home hives. In one of the strongest hives, 3 drones were walking around on the top bars inside the shim. One drone took off and flew. I am not seeing any flying yet during orientation flights. A few of the hives had a small amount of burr ...

My bees are still interested in the dry pollen substitute I have been putting out, but the action slowed considerably yesterday afternoon. I was seeing traffic at hive entrances at a higher level than just bees coming and going to the substitute. Some were bringing in the olive green pollen reedyfor...

I can see large buds and small buds on red maples near my house, but the bees continue to be very interested in the pollen substitute I am putting out. They are also heavily into the water I keep out. If we do not get a brutal freeze, it looks like the maple bloom will be early this year. I'll look ...

I don't check links on our website as often as I should, but a couple of weeks ago, I was very disappointed to see that the link to the George Imirie Pink Pages no longer worked. I searched around and could not find a good replacement. Internet Archives ( https//www.archive.org ) to the rescue. Inte...

That sounds like the work of varroa mites. They need to be knocked down well before winter begins. You want a good population of healthy winter bees. These are the bees that live through this period and tend to brood as the queen ramps up. If mites are not controlled, bees tend to die off early and ...

I put dry pollen substitute out by my "nectarometer" for the first time this morning. It took about 10 minutes for the bees to show a strong interest in it. I'll keep it out, weather permitting, until the Red Maple blooms. Hoping to have to deal with swarm issues when that season begins.

Happy bee New Year 2022. Check out Wally's post under "Winter Solstice." Maybe the Arctic blast we are getting Friday and the bitter cold of the 2-3 days following will cut down on the SHB we will have to deal with in the coming bee season. Bees are showing solid interest in the nectaromet...

I got my home hives treated this morning & hope to get all others with the vaporizer before the arctic blast hits next week.

I received a text and photo from one of the employees at the Greensboro Arboretum yesterday showing honeybees working the leatherleaf mahonia. This is early. I walked next door to check David's flowering quince and his mahonia. Both had small buds. The quince that gets the most sun had a few pink bu...

As long as small hive beetles didn't get to it and ruin it, I see no reason not to extract and share honey from supers as long as they are of real nectar and were not on hives when mite treatments like thymol or apivar were on the hives. Formic acid and oxalic acid treatments can be done with honey ...

I need to make a few more shims and crank up sugar brick production. This cool/cold snap has bees largely staying in and presumably consuming internal food supplies. On warm days, my nectarometer is emptied in 2 hours or less. Most of my hives have shims and bricks, but a few have top feeders on the...

The Guilford County Beekeepers Association will offer the Beginner Beekeeping Course on the following dates: PLEASE NOTE THAT CLASSES WILL BE ON THURSDAY EVENINGS Thursday, February 2 Thursday, February 9 Thursday, February 16 Thursday, February 23 Thursday, March 2 Thursday, March 9--optional test ...

With little to no flow, the bees cleaned out a wet super I put on a couple of weeks ago. Unlike the wet supers I put out in the open, this set up caused no chaos in the bee yard. When I went to take this super off today, I saw what looked like a small cluster of bees on 1 frame. It turned out to be ...

My newest arrival came on the afternoon of September 27th. I'm not sure if it is one that arrived earlier and absconded again or if this is a new colony. There are less than 2 medium frames of bees, but as of yesterday, there were eggs and larvae. I am feeding them and will play with them like I hav...

Both hives populated with 2020 swarms are doing well. I just removed full Formic Pro treatments from both and am seeing nice patterns of capped brood, shiny white larvae, and eggs. The stream abatement project is ongoing and looks like it will lessen the likelihood of the stream coming out of its ba...

The August 20, 2022 arrival has a queen, but she has not started laying yet. I am keeping a pint of 1:1 on them as well as on the 2 earlier arrivals.

The latest arrivals at the Jacobs Home for Wayward Bees came in at around 9:45 am this morning. I gave them 5 medium frames in a deep nuc I was using as a bait hive. A small spray of Swarm Commander convinced them to go there as they arrived. My last 2 arrivals before this one have unmarked, laying ...

I've just had another small arrival at the house. I have put out a nuc and hope they will go in. I need to go ahead and put some bait hives out because small groups of bees are arriving fairly regularly. I think they are attracted to old comb from deadouts I have to clean up.

I use mediums, but have had pretty good success over wintering in 3 boxes. I prefer honey in the 2 outside frames of the first box and brood inside, room for brood (open, drawn comb) in the second box and honey/sugar water honey filling the 3rd box. I then feed regularly, but not heavily with 1:1 to...