natural
How to Talk to Vegans About Honey & Bees
I have yet to meet a beekeeper—commercial or hobbyist—who doesn’t adore his or her bees. There is a beauty and a romance to beekeeping that begins with the sun, and, if you are lucky, ends in a bonanza of the best tasting honey you have ever known.
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How to Treat Varroa Mites — A New Perspective
My wife and I took a beginning beekeeping class before becoming backyard beekeepers. We learned about wax moth treatment and how to manage ants in beehives. We also learned how to …
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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 …
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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 …
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How to Decrystallize Honey
Every so often someone asks me how to decrystallize honey. Now, they don’t use those exact words. Usually, the conversation goes something like this. “Um, I’m not sure what happened …
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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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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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Let’s Talk About Losing Bees
Like many beekeepers, we lost bees this winter. New packages failed to build up in a normal way last summer and were unusually slow to build comb and put away stores into fall. In September, aggressive yellow jacket predation weakened them further leaving them unable to carry themselves through the cold.
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What To Know As Spring Unfolds Into Summer
If April is the beekeeping equivalent of planting time, then May is when our efforts start to germinate.
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Propolis: Bee Glue that Heals
Honeybee propolis is a brown or reddish resinous substance made by bees to protect the hive against animal and bacterial invaders. The word “propolis” is a compound of the Greek words “pro” and “polis” and translates to, “Before the city.” Bees use propolis as a building material to fill gaps and crevices, varnish combs and shape entrances, sometimes creating fantastic gobs that supposedly aid ventilation in the hive.
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