I think I’ve been shorting summer as a season. Fall usually gets my vote for favorite…the colors and cooler temps win my heart. Winter is always welcomed with hopes for a white Christmas. Although, winter often feels so long and when spring finally arrives it almost convinces me that it’s my new favorite. All theContinue reading “Sweet Summertime”
Author Archives: workerbee
Super Season
It’s here and the bees are working hard. Bee terminology is still sometimes confusing to me. When I speak of “supers” I think honey supers. These are shallow boxes that get added on top of the deep brood boxes. I’ve read that “supers” can mean box. But in my head it works better to callContinue reading “Super Season”
Happy Hives
Yesterday our bee mentor returned to professionally assess the status of both hives. This spring swarm season has been confusing to me as I learn to understand more about bee behavior. Hive #2 had a few swarm cells. We did leave one…I think because if they are going to swarm they are going to swarm.Continue reading “Happy Hives”
Mistakes were made
Today the little beekeeper and I were anxious to get into hive #2 to be sure there weren’t any swarm cells. This was an inspection we did on our own without our mentor present. We, of course, want to become independent beekeepers and there are a lot of things we have become confident in throughContinue reading “Mistakes were made”
“Oh Bother”
It’s almost embarrassing as a beekeeper to acknowledge that you are out of honey. Last August, as part of our first season of bees, we successfully extracted honey from two supers (one super from each hive). This equates to about 40 pounds of honey that was poured into countless jars. We were able to giveContinue reading ““Oh Bother””
Free the Queen
Remember my queenless hive #1?!?!? My bee mentor was kind enough to build me a new nuc with some of his bees, frames of brood and some of my bees from hive #1. All of this PLUS a new queen in a cage. The caged queen was sitting on top of the frames inside theContinue reading “Free the Queen”
Bee Day 2022
One year ago today we picked up our first two bee nucs. Today our apiary holds one thriving hive and one nuc box (thanks to our amazing bee mentor). Quick recap, hive #1 was queenless this spring. Our mentor was able to hook us up with a new queen, brood frames, bees and the beesContinue reading “Bee Day 2022”
Earth Day – April 22nd
Do you celebrate Earth Day? If you know our family, we’ll look for any reason to celebrate. Earth Day is a fun one because it can be so simple. It seems fitting that we brought our first two nucs of bees home right around Earth Day last year. Prior to bees we might make aContinue reading “Earth Day – April 22nd”
Spring Inspections
Today my bee mentor came over to help me with the initial spring inspections. I still have the one hive with very little activity and the other with high activity. Sadly, upon opening and inspecting hive #1, we found the hive to be “queen less”. 😩 Not what any beekeeper wants to hear. I guessContinue reading “Spring Inspections”
Spring!
Finally. Longer days, warmer temps, green grass and blooms all over. Normally, this is the time of year I would be putting down fertilizer. I love a crisp, full, weed free and green lawn but this year is different. I’ll bypass the fertilizer (saving some money) to help please the bees. In looking around I’veContinue reading “Spring!”
Howards' Hives and Honey 