Most of the time when one of my hives was going to swarm, they would first cluster outside of the hive similar to how they beard in the hot weather. But this hive never did that. I was working in a hive next to it when they decided it was time to go.
Gardeners Can Protect Bees
I sometimes get messages from groups asking me to share something they have posted or an event they are hosting that may be of interest to our beekeeping community. Recently I was contacted by Hannah Miller with DIY Gardening because she thought her posting on how gardeners can help bees may be helpful. After taking …
Zoom Get Together: Getting Ready for Winter, NC Beekeepers Conference, & Year Recap [ Update with Video ]
On November 21, 2021 we got together with some other beekeepers to talk about what to do to get ready for winter, some highlights from the NC Beekeepers Conference, and some updates from the year. You can view the recorded version of the program below.
Getting Ready for Winter: Wind Control
My bees are on a farmer friend’s property and there’s no natural wind break on the north side of the hives, so I need to do a couple of things to protect them. I can’t erect a wind break because it’ll create obstacles for my farmer that he doesn’t need so I just use Lowe’s …
Getting Ready for Winter: Food
In mid-October, we went through hives and moved brood down, food above the brood, and open frames on the far edges of the hive (if there were any empty or mostly empty frames). By mid-October, a lot of the queens were winding down on laying eggs and it wasn’t unusual to see small patches of …
Chewing Bees!
While working with Kathi-Luise to get her bees ready for winter, we noticed that they chewed through the entrance reducer we added to make other entrances. This is a sign of chewing bees and since I was already thinking about it, when I was in my bees the next day I noticed that one of …
Community: Revisting Kathi-Luise and Her Bees
Here’s a video we did this week with a recap of what’s been going on with Kathi-Luise’s bees.
What’s New in the Bee Yard?
Nectar Dearth! Whew! Is it almost over? This summer has been a particularly hard summer for my bees in terms of nectar available. Spring was amazing and my bees made more honey that I’ve seen in 14 years. I took some, but left most of it thinking there would be lots for winter. But they’ve …
Bees on the Downtown Greenway
The Parks & Rec department of the city of Greensboro has been working on a 4 mile hike and bike trail that goes around the city. [ Downtown Greenway website ] The project has been underway for a number of years. There are 4 cornerstone parks on the greenway, and the one in the northwest corner at …
Community: In the Bee Yard with Kathi-Luise
Kathi-Luise attended the 2021 Spring Beginning Beekeeping class. She was able to get bees from a friend that keeps bees and captures swarms and the friend also provided some equipment to get her started. She’s able to keep the hive near her home on a friend’s property that includes woods and lots of native plants. …