Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Of the two hives that were being attacked, I ended up losing one. It may have not been queenright and/or was weak. When I closed them up, I taped up the vent hole in the inner cover, but the robbers seemed to be getting in around the tape. About the time that all was lost for the hive, I noticed tha...

Dang I've got one that keeps coming around. Do I need to take any action?

Yesterday there were no robbers so I opened both openings on the robbing screen. Hope I taped up the hole on the inner cover well. When I opened the larger opening at the landing board, the opening was clogged with dead bees. I used my tool to drag as many out as I could and bees were coming in and ...

I hope that absconding or swarming is not the case. We will see. They have been well cared for, have room but not too much, are under mite treatment now (I will remove Apivar strips later this week), SHBs have not been a problem and they have resources. There are no robbers today, so I opened the sm...

I didn't know to expect robbing bees this late in the season, but i sure have them. I noticed activity first on Friday and immediately shut openings on robbing screens and vents were taped. They have gone after the two swarms I captured this past Spring which surprised me because they are strong hiv...

I have 3 backyard hives and want to move to 6. I want to buy a vaporizer to use this winter. Prices vary widely. I read one person saying you want one that doesn't get the OA too hot, that it needs a temp regulator?? Does anyone have any advice about buying an OA vaporizer for a relatively new beeke...

I understand it produces a very dark, thick honey almost like Molasses. I wonder if after he plants that 3/4 acre, you could get a second harvest too? One in the fall that is made of just buckwheat honey? If that happens, I would like to buy a jar. I would like to see what it tastes like.

In July I bought a pound of buckwheat seed, cleared a place in our garden, spread the seed, and just watered it once. That's all the care I gave it. It came up and bloomed in no time. My bees are going after this nectar with a vengeance. I won't harvest any buckwheat honey, but just did this to prov...

Thanks for the input, Guys! I'm on the swarm call list. I believe I'll stay on that list and in between now and spring also learn more about how to do a spring split.

I currently have just 3 hives but would like to increase that number to 5 or 6. I wanted to ask, when you were new how did you increase your hive numbers? I'm not opposed to buying packages or nucs, but I was wondering if a fall split, spring split, or catching swarms next spring would be the best a...

That's interesting! I need to buy some OAV equipment also. How often during the year do you do the OAV treatments? How long after before you read the IPM board?

I wish more people used this message board. I pick up some good stuff from you guys. Maybe we should announce it at GCBA meetings.

I caught two queenright swarms in my yard this spring and made them into hives. I just tested one using sugar shake method. It turned up no mites! I am used to at least seeing 4 or 5 in a hive. Is this to be expected, that new hives test mite free?

Today is July 28th. I inspected today and I'm seeing lots of new nectar being collected. Is this unusual for this time a year? Are we not yet in the dearth?

How in the world did you spot a queen in a 2lb swarm? I can't even find queens in my hives. Lol.

All those beetles and yours are in full sun. Hmm, that's interesting I have had lots of SHBs until this year. Used traps and was able to keep their numbers down. This year I cut a tree down that was shading my hives and started two new hives from swarms that I placed in full sun and I've seen only o...

This is my 3rd year backyard beekeeping and up to now I have just given away my honey to family and friends. This year and going forward I would like to sell to those who want my honey. It may help recoup some of the high cost of beekeeping hardware and supplies. Is there a NC site I can go to see w...

I inspected today and saw quite a number of frames with uncapped nectar. I have no idea where they are getting it. I also (knock on wood) thus far have seen very few small hive beetles.

After the flow is over and all honey is harvested, do you always feed during the dearth? Do you feed 1:1 sugar water or something more diluted? And lastly, do you automatically feed during the dearth or do you base feeding on the amount of honey remaining in the hive or the lack thereof?

I had two boxes of deeps with drawn out frames that had some nectar and some capped honey. I wanted to clean them out, so I put them on top of my inner cover on two strong hives hoping the bees would clean them up. Instead both hives started using the frames and storing nectar. Would this technique ...

I looked into my hives today. I had shims on and did have to clean up some comb on top of the frames. Is that a good thing? Saw lots of capped brood including drone. I also saw lots of cells filled with nectar?? Have no idea where they are getting it.