Hobby Beekeeping

It's been a long battle to balance the need to convert the farm to nature with the constant complaints from Agent Orange farmers. Here's the solution.

I think so and here's why.

In this little experiment did a walk-away split into a 5 frame nuc with a Russian Hive. I have a feeling this just might work.

Here's an update on how the hives are doing.

The 2 frame nuc idea for queen rearing was an initial hit. It is a hybrid walkaway technique I guess, where I placed one frame of eggs and brood in a 2 frame nuc with some food. Seven days later I was able to create 3 hives from these frames. Here's what happened.

If pollen is coming into your hive does that mean your hive is healthy? Maybe yes maybe no. Here is the discussion.

Looking at trying the Queen Castle for the first time and with following boards creating 2 frame nucs. First time trying this, but hoping it will reduce the workload and increase the success rate in doing July splits.

After a few delays I was able to get out and have a look at the hives. Here is the report for July 6.

Can the 2 frame Nuc help our bees create better queen cells? I discuss upcoming research on trying to see if there is a way to use the 2 frame nucs to improve the quality of the walkaway split.

I didn't think these two hives would survive with just a handful of bees coming out of winter. What a pleasant surprise and perhaps some traits we need to see in our survivor hives.

This was a surprise.

This topic has caused a great deal of conflict between beekeepers and the general public. How do I define it, how do you?

A look at preparations for the new strain of bees and a farm update.

In this second podcast on this topic, I discuss how queens lay different eggs based on environmental situations and what that means to our usual practice of splitting hives. I also briefly discuss an experiment inspired by these new findings.

It appears that queens change the type and size of their eggs based on environmental conditions. It also appears to be true that queens lay different eggs into queen cups than the regular eggs she would lay in a worker cell. I explore how this could be a game changer to beekeeping and understanding what may help bees survive.

It's a busy time as we organize the research projects for the year. Survivor hives are still hanging on but not sure they will make it.

In the United States since 1997 and Canada since 2000, Russian Bees are reported to be resistent to mites and other diseases. Is it time to add them to the farm?

I take a look at this new opportunity to introduce new bees to the farm. Would you consider them to be treatment free?

Things are getting close for splits, the wildflowers and clover thriving.

Censorship appears to be alive and well in the Beekeeping Industry. Here are the three types of censorship we face and some strategies to help.

In this podcast I review the book by Mel Disselkoen and his OTS Queen Rearing Technique. It's a must read for those wanting to better understand ways to help our bees in a more natural way.

Inversion is a term popularized by Charlie Munger the great investor from Berkshire Hathaway. You look at a problem by going in reverse. Instead of saying what can I do to help my bees survive, ask, what can I do to make them fail. By engaging in that type of thinking a real solution may come to you. I go through this exercise and how it is helping me move on in the recovery stage here on the farm...

It's a sad day to accept that 80% of your hives didn't make it. What caused this and what to do next.

A brief discussion on the hive beetle life cycle and other happenings around the farm.

It's the goal not the process. Is it ok to use treatments for mites when you get started? It may surprise you to know that many successful strategies do start with some limited mite treatments including the Darwinian black box technique.