natural
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; unfortunately, so do summer and pests.
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A List of Plants That Attract Bees
For thousands of years, bees have been helping feed people, but now in the face of an onslaught of chemicals and disease, they’re in need of a helping hand. One course of action you can take is growing plants that attract bees.
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Top Bar Beehives vs Langstroth Beehives
Not long after our teenage son started raising honey bees, a family friend built him a top bar beehive with an observation window using beehive plans from a homesteading book. It was such an amazing gift.
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5 Honey Bees to Consider, Including Buckfast Bees
One of the first questions a beekeeper asks is, “What kind of bees should I keep?” There are many bees to choose from: Carniolan, German, Italian, Russian, and Buckfast bees, to name a few. Which is the right one to keep?
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Steps for Successfully Filtering Beeswax
When people find out that we are honey bee farming, they always ask about the honey. But bees also produce beeswax and something will need to be done with the beeswax when you harvest honey.
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Why do Bees Swarm?
Add to Favorites One of the most disappointing things that can happen to a beekeeper is to have a hive swarm. After it happened to us, we decided we really …
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How Do I Know if My Bees Are Too Hot?
Add to Favorites 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 …
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How do Bees Mate?
An interesting and deadly dance takes place all across the world; in fact, it’s necessary for human survival and yet goes unnoticed by humans year after year. The dance is actually the mating ritual of honey bees.
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Emergency, Swarm, and Supercedure Cells, Oh My!
I remember seeing the queen in our first ever hive and thinking to myself, “I’ll never find supercedure cells since I’m going to do all I can to keep her alive forever.” Of course, that’s not the reality of beekeeping.
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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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