Guilfordbeekeepers.org

The weather finally got stable enough to check for the queen; there is no sign of her. My next plan is to combine these bees into a queenright 10 frame by putting an empty medium on, putting only 1 frame up top, and shaking the queenless bees into that super. My hope is that if the queenright hive h...

I think all of the lower priced wands are pretty much the same-no temperature controls and you give it your best shot.

If the hive is queenright and you have broken the robbing, your hive has a reasonable chance to survive. The dead bees may be a mix of your bees and the robbers that got trapped in when you closed up the hive.

Normally, the European Hornets are more of a pest than a threat to a bee colony. I am in an area with multiple nests of European Hornets and many hunting visits a day. Still, if I did nothing, my bees would be fine. My efforts are more recreational than functional.

I determined that a 2-10 frame medium hive was queenless after using Formic Pro. I went through it thoroughly, and although it was not strong, it was in good shape. On Sunday afternoon, I used the plywood piece that allows combining a 5 frame nuc into a 10 frame hive. The nuc had a marked, laying qu...

Short of repeated examinations to see what is going on or having a hive scale on the hive, I don't know of a way to tell. I can't detect relatively small weight changes by hefting the hive.

Sometimes, bees all over the front of a hive means they attempted to swarm/abscond, but the queen did not go with them. They cover the front of a hive for around 15 minutes and fan a lot. In my experience, when this happens, the queen goes with them the next time-often the next day. Absconds this ti...

I like collecting and playing with the small, late absconds that tend to show up at my house in August or September. If I can get the abscond to settle in and start functioning, I feel better about using these bees to do presentations later in the season and in less than ideal weather conditions; I ...

I have seen a lot fewer European Hornets for the last few days. I don't know if they have come to know me and to fear me or if we are in that part of their season where they produce less brood and focus on producing queens to overwinter.

Did you get any free apitherapy out of the process?

This morning was the first time this season that I have seen frenzied activity at the nectarometer. I will be curious to see how things play out over the next few days--are we in a serious dearth or have heavy rain showers the last 3 days created a temporary one in my location?

I have some bees on a farm in Brown Summit. If things work out, the owner will be planting about 3/4 acre of buckwheat. I plan to have 2-3 hives nearby along with the ones already there. The current hives are within range, but will have further to travel if the buckwheat produces honey. We are aimin...

Not merely dead, but most sincerely dead. Sometimes European Hornets pick the wrong colony to attack. This one mobbed the hornet on the landing board, took it to the ground, and took about 10 minutes to finish it off.

I would opt for spring splits over fall splits if going the split route. Having strong hives going into winter gives you a better chance of having those bees in spring. There are several good options for early spring splits when drones are around or mated queens can be purchased (queen & a few f...

I am seeing epic numbers of SHB in my hives. I'm putting in Beetle Be Gone sheets and corrugated plastic sign squares. I have noticed that the harder a solid inner cover is to remove, the more SHB I can expect to see in propolis traps the bees have built. I get ready with my hive tool when I lift th...

I took advantage of the current weather to get Formic Pro on my Brown Summit hives and the hives at the Cooperative Extension. I'll probably go with Apiguard at the house. I haven't used it before, but will be able to put it on when temperatures climb back up.

I like OAV as an emergency knock down method/lazy beekeeper method of limiting mite damage. My main time to use it is around December 21 (winter solstice/bee "new year"), but if I see DWV in a hive, I am likely to hit it up with at least 1 round of OAV. It doesn't kill mites under the capp...

No.

It is unusual. A little too early for any aster or goldenrod. I don't know what they are getting into, but I am seeing nectar in open cells as well.

I was having my hvac replaced yesterday when one of the installers told me it looked like I had a swarm in a dogwood at the back of the yard. It looked like about a 2lb swarm and the guys took a 5 minute break to watch me go up the ladder and shake the cluster into my swarm bucket. I located the unm...