Winter Beekeeping
Your Seasonal Beekeeping Calendar
When you are new to beekeeping, it’s good to have a game plan. Today let’s explore a seasonal beekeeping calendar and your to-do’s throughout the year.
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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 not attempt to enter the hive — after all, that’s an intimidating proposition.
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Do My Honey Bees Have Nosema?
I was inspecting my hive today for the first time this season and noticed the bees were not very interested in sugar syrup. It made me wonder if they had Nosema. A friend who knows more bee science than I do mentioned it, but I’ve never had it before and don’t really know what to look for.
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15 Easy Beekeeping Projects for Quiet Days
Just when you think winter will never end, you suddenly awaken to an azure sky. You hear sounds you haven’t heard in months: frogs, birds, kids. Without warning, honey bees you haven’t seen since fall are circling overhead, stretching their wings and looking for nectar.
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Can 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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Moisture Control in The Hives: A Four-Season Approach
We work with the seasons and the bees’ own incredible ability to self-regulate to keep heat, cold, and moisture in check. While it is useful to look at how bees live “in the wild” to understand their natural preferences, it’s good to remember that honey bees are adaptable and live all over the world, in all climates.
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Do My Honey Bees Have Nosema?
Honey bee dysentery is often confused with Nosema disease, so when beekeepers see feces on or near a hive, they automatically think the worst. But several recent papers have reiterated that dysentery is caused by an excess of moisture in honey bee feces. It may occur simultaneously with Nosema or not, but the two conditions are not related.
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Can I Feed Frames of Honey Back to My Colony?
I live in the NC Piedmont. I prepared my hives for winter last Sunday by removing the top supers and adding a quilt frame and a candy board. These are two first-year hives. The honey was not capped last month. This month it’s all capped including eight full frames in the supers and four that are about half full.
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What Bugs Your Bees in Winter? Know the Lineup of Beekeeping Pests.
Add to Favorites Even before we open our first beehive, we are warned about pests that may live within. Small hive beetles, wax moths, and varroa mites are things we dread, so early in our training …
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I Found Dead Moth Worms on My Bottom Board
I was out inspecting the bottom board of my strongest hive. I found 3 dead moth worms. The hive is three deep and packed. Is there anything I can do / should do this late in the season to treat? I did the OAV treatment this fall from your tutorial and it worked great.
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