Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Fall Trap-out Lesson #1: this should have been obvious, but turns out that the same resources that are meant to attract the trapped-out bees you want also attract nearby robbers!!! So on day #2 when I added a frame of honey and a frame of eggs/brood, robbers quickly found it and overwhelmed the half...

For those of you who perform trap-outs and cut-outs "for hire", how do you go about determining the cost you charge a client? Do you have a set fee, charge by the hour, etc.? Related to that, is there any reason a trap-out this time of year would not be successful (assuming I'll combine th...

Does anyone have experience trying to overwinter a 5-frame nuc? I helped an 8-year old neighbor (future beekeeper!) catch a small swarm a couple weeks ago. It was tiny, so I added a couple frames of capped brood and nurse bees from one of my strong hives, a frame of honey, and two frames of empty dr...

So in my opinion here are a few of the CONS to doing the 1-strip, 10-day (x2) treatment option: 1. Not only do you have to find one, 3-day temp period of less than 85 degrees, but you have to find two of these periods - typically in August! This time it looks like we'll get lucky with only a few day...

Looking at the temperature forecast next week (below 85 degrees), it's definitely time for me to think about treating my colonies with Formic Pro. I've always done the 2-strip, 14-day treatment, but would love to hear the pros and cons of doing that vs. the 1-strip, 10-day (x2) treatment option.

Shoot, I wish I had known you were going to plant this and I could have given you some! Mountain mint, like all mints, will spread (vigorously) on its own - not by seed, but by surface runners/roots. Luckily, it can be easily pulled and divided, and is not as aggressive as other mints. Early next sp...

So I did buy a $25 refractometer, and was excited that even the uncapped frames were reading an average of 16.5% moisture! I pulled all the supers off, replaced with a super of blank foundation, and put on the feeders to see if there's any chance of getting them to work and draw out anything... Each...

After removing most of my honey supers a few weeks ago, each of my hives were left with a medium super of partially-capped frames that they hadn't quite finished yet. And no, I did not test moisture levels... Question: what should I do with these frames/supers now, since they look the same now as a ...

So just like Jacobs suggested a few weeks ago, sure enough I went back a couple days ago to find the supercedure cells gone and the marked queen still there and doing fine. Hopefully things are stable now so they can build up!

I have an opportunity next year to keep several hives (or move several hives) up to a couple different places in the mountains - Wilkes and Watauga Co. I'd love to hear from any folks around here that have moved hives seasonally to try and capture the sourwood flow. Just trying to figure out the tim...

I have clouds of bees working all of my mountain mint (and neighbors')! Good news is that it will continue to bloom for another month or more. However, anytime I've opened my hives over the past week or two, it definitely triggered probing and robbing behavior. These colonies at my house are strong,...

So these bees re-made 3-4 more supercedure cells, even though I still found the queen looking perfectly normal, eggs, larvae, etc. I knocked these cells down on the 25th - still hoping to let the queen settle and everyone to get along. Came back on July 1st on found 3-4 MORE cells - uncapped, but a ...

Final update: this trap-out ended up starting two new colonies for me. After a total of around 5 weeks, I just pulled the second box off and moved it to its permanent home. I took down the cone and covered the entrance in the column with 1/2" hardware cloth - to let bees in to rob it out while ...

Informal non-scientific experiment results: I am finding substantially MORE dead SHBs in the beetle blasters with diatomaceous earth than in those with mineral oil! Definitely a little surprising, but nice to have another option to the oil (although the DE does have similar risks if you drop or spil...

Anyone use something other than a standard Sharpie to write on their metal lids? All my dates and notes seemed to almost disappear in only a week! Also, for those of you with more than just a couple of hives, I'd love to know what you use to keep track of your notes, inspection information, etc. Not...

Well it sounds like it's time for an experiment! I thought the same as you - the DE would only kill larvae (not adults), but I did see where a guy in TN used it in a comparison and had the same number (or more) dead beetles in the DE than in the oil. I just installed one beetle blaster with mineral ...

I have always used mineral oil in my beetle blaster traps, but curious about trying diatomaceous earth instead (mainly to limit potential for drips and spills of oil). Anyone tried this yet? If so, I'd be interested to hear observations and method for getting the powder into the trap...

So that's what I decided to do just now. Knocked down a total of 4 capped supercedure cells after seeing the queen again and lots of eggs. My next task is to figure out how to use these nice queen cells in the future instead of destroying them!

My thought was to go back and knock down the cells. If they rebuild them, then let it play out. If not, assume the young queen, developing pheromones, stress of moving the hive, unbalanced worker population, etc. rattled them. Maybe once the queen has a full brood cycle and everyone settles down, th...

My poor recent success with introducing mated queens continues... I made a split on May 22 and introduced a purchased queen from the same local supplier (but from a different queen breeder than the other one). She was accepted, everything seemed fine, and I did a first full inspection yesterday. Fou...