Hives & Equipment
Natural Bees Comb Building: Boon or Bust?
The construction of natural bee’s comb is a wonder to behold. Festooning bees clasp legs to form hanging chains, a behavior many beekeepers describe as measuring, and set to work building hexagonal cells using wax flakes they excrete from abdominal glands and shape with their jaws. Each bee appears to work independently, yet somehow cells built by many bees working on different areas of comb come together seamlessly.
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How Do I Get Bees to Move out of a Birdhouse?
I have honey bees that moved into a birdhouse. They are very active and seem like they will grow out of the little cottage. I bought a nice hive box for them, but they are not showing any interest in moving over. Is there any way to attract them to the new, big comfortable hive body?
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How to Light a Bee Smoker
The first goal is to get a nice flame on the shavings. That takes some time and some patience. Fan the fire to build up the flame. Be careful, you don’t want to get burned.
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What are the Pros and Cons of Using Nine Frames vs 10 Frames?
What are the pros and cons of using nine frames in the brood boxes? If one wished go from nine frames to 10 frames, how should it be done?
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Common Langstroth Hive Setup
A Langstroth hive is the most common beehive in developed countries. Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth (the creator) observed that if 1 cm space was left between the cover of a hive and the top bars, that the bees would not fill it with burr comb or propolis—it was deemed walking around space.
Read MoreCan I Use a Reflector to Increase the Amount of Sunlight in a Shady Location?
Honey bees are extremely adaptable, so there is no need for a hive to be placed in direct sunlight. In fact, left on their own, honey bees often select homes in very shady areas, including forests, behind barns, under bridges, and in homes that get no direct sunlight whatsoever.
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How to Assemble a Deep Feeder with Cap and Ladders
Add to Favorites Feeding honey bees seasonally or when you start a new colony is critical to the success of your beekeeping initiatives. You have several options for feeders, and …
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From Point A To Point Bee
When I sell bees to a new beekeeper, the question of moving bees often comes up. I get questions like, “Why do you move them after dark?” or “Can I move them again once they are set?” or “Why do they have to be moved at least two miles away?” These and other questions about the subject are not easily understood and can be very confusing to beginners. Yet, the more we learn about bees the easier they are to understand.
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Supering up for a Honey of a Summer
In the beginning beekeeping classes, I encourage new beekeepers to go into their hives at least every seven to 10 days to see how things are going. While a healthy colony of bees in a healthy environment will follow a generally predictable course, growing in population as spring advances, swarming, building again, then capitalizing on the summer honey flows, there are a lot of variations on this theme and a lot can go awry in a relatively short time. Problems tend to propagate themselves if not dealt with early, a small problem uncorrected becomes a bigger problem, then an even bigger problem, then a disaster. The beekeeper’s role is to keep things on course.
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Beekeeping with the Warre Hive: The Original Homestead Beehive
Add to Favorites By Ernie Schmidt, Washington – Beekeeping with the Warre hive, for me, is the easiest way to care for bees. The Warre beehive was developed specifically to be …
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