Guilfordbeekeepers.org

Best guess is some variation of a robber fly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asilidae

This is the nature of the honey bee. Bees build up numbers in the spring for the purpose of making honey and dividing the colony. Since the flow is over you will seem many bees just hanging out until they have something to do or just die from old age. If little or no nectar comes in during the summe...

It seems that almost every year I come across a hive or two with 2 queens. While this is not uncommon (seeing mother and daughter laying side by side) what I saw seemed a little unusual and I have not run across before. During a routine examination, I came across the queen in the very top box (mediu...

Rob is correct about the plastic foundation.
Medium's seem to be well waxed while deep frames seem to need a little help.
I have not had any problems with bees drawing plastic and age is not a consideration.

Kurt

Oh, well that makes it easy.
It probably is his swarm and he has a virgin queen.
If the bees are happy, then they must know something we do not.

Kurt

Bill: While you did not observe any queen cups/cells in your nuc when you received it, it would take approx. 14 days from the point of laying an egg to throwing a swarm. You observe no eggs, larvae or brood which indicates that something is really wrong. I am assuming that the swarm you caught had a...

Just a thought which you may have already considered.
Is this home old enough to have lath and plaster instead of sheetrock?

I would consider moving them over to the middle of the box. I believe that by giving them room on either side they will draw comb more quickly.

As with any animal or insect, the norm is always different. If you are feeding constantly and the bees are doing their jobs I would think that you should have 6-8 frames of drawn comb. As for the rest, the frames will be a combination of pollen, nectar and brood. Keep feeding if they are taking the ...

Let's put this off to Robert since he is the man.
I could very well see you heading up a club trap out!

are you sure there isnt any one out there interested in doing a free bee removal? Sally is still hoping that someone will call her!

Kurt

Tulip poplar is in bloom in my back yard!

A few frames of nectar does not justify supering up. As you know, bees love to fill the outside frames of a 10 frame hive first before moving up into the honey supers. I doubt anyone has honey supers filled with nectar right now. What I observed involved a decisive effort on the bees part to complet...

After doing some inspections yesterday, it would appear that we are in some kind of a honey flow. Several of my hives have or in process of filling out the top super with nothing but nectar. I had originally thought things would be delayed by a couple of weeks but now wonder why my supers are still ...

After having spoken with a couple of local queen providers, it looks as if queens will be available around May 1- May 15. It also appears that queens are at a premium and that you will most likely need to get on a list ASAP if you plan on gettng any queens. Best of luck! The old days of calling up a...

Good luck on the honey straws!
I would not invest heavily into this as I do not see significant profit by making them yourself.
Hopefully you are just going to have some fun!

Picked one up yesterday in Greensboro. Nice sized Italian about 5 lbs.
Hanging in a cypress tree about 20 feet up.

Kurt

Just talked with Jack Tapp of Busy bee apiaries. He has an opportunity to secure nucs from a Florida source. There are still some hurdles to overcome but if you are interested you will need to contact him and get on a list. The nucs will be ready around May 1. Cost will probably be around $100 but w...

Sounds like a problem with the queen. I would probably start with her!