Health & Pests
How to Help Bees During Spring Rain and Storms
Spring rain is a welcome sight to a homesteader who is busy sowing seeds and planting crops. However, those same spring rains can turn into devastating storms that often leave …
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Installing a New Queen Bee to Change Genetics
Changing genetics (and achieving diversity) can be achieved by installing a new queen bee or “requeening.” Is this the solution to better overwintering in the Northeast?
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Why Did My Newly Installed Bees Make a Queen Cell?
Mary writes… Today was inspection day and I found what appears to be a queen cell … yikes!? I’ve read a lot of different things about these and I am …
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Creating the Best Water Sources for Bees
Like all animals, honey bees need a dependable source of water year round. The best water sources for bees are ones that won’t go dry in the summer, won’t drown …
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What Happens When the Queen Bee Dies?
By Perry and Beverly Riley – Raising honeybees is a challenge. One day your hive looks good and a few days later you wonder if it’s going to live. There are all …
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Raising Honey Bees with Pets and Livestock
When we decided to start raising honey bees, one of the things we needed to consider was the safety of the other animals on our property. If we had a …
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How Do I Know if My Bees Are Too Hot?
One of my favorite places to be on our property is in the bee yard. I will occasionally sneak in there with camera in hand and just watch. Bees are …
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What Bugs Your Bees in Summer? Know the Lineup of Beekeeping Pests.
While many creatures may choose a honey bee hive for its warmth and protection in winter, other animals are attracted to bee hives in summer. Most of these animals do …
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How to Manage Ants in a Beehive
There is nothing quite like the sights and sounds of bees buzzing around, gathering pollen and nectar on a warm summer day. Summer and bees just seem to go together; …
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Why Did My Bees Leave the Hive? What is NOT a Swarm!
Cartoons and movies give us an (incorrect) idea of what swarming bees look like. So when the time to ask questions came up in my first beekeeping class, I asked, …
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