Beekeeping

Our Bee Colony Died

Sadly, our bees didn’t make it. I had been checking on them fairly regularly, and all through the winter, they were going strong. The last bad snowfall we got through, came with strong winds, and the next time I checked – there were no signs of life anymore. No heat signatures, no dead bees outside. …

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Our Honey Bees – December Update

Well, outside I went again this morning to check on the bees. It was a little chilly at -4°C (25°F) for shorts and a t-shirt, but I was only out there for a few minutes. I just wanted to check to see if we still had bees, as you might be curious as well.

Bees and Cold Weather

Quite a few people have asked how the bees are doing with the cold weather. Hard to say. They’re definitely still in there. I took a picture with an infrared camera and you can see the air coming out of the top entrance of the hive is warmer than the boxes. It’s not huge difference, …

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Going Treatment Free

Since yesterday was sunny and about as warm as it’s going to get for a bit, Brynnley and I decided to check out how the bees were doing. Christina stayed inside, because she had gotten stung again, this time in the face, causing a lot of swelling, to the point that she couldn’t open one …

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Our First Honey Harvest

Last time we opened the hive, it was packed. They were starting to build comb between the boxes because they didn’t have anywhere else to store nectar. So, after thinking about it for a few days, I decided to grab one frame out of the hive and give them back an empty one (with comb …

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Our Hive Smells Bad

This is pretty much all day every day lately. They’re pulling in goldenrod nectar and pollen which, unfortunately, makes the hive smell a bit like sweaty socks. It doesn’t have the usual nice smell of honey and beeswax at the moment. But apparently that’s normal and once the nectar becomes honey, it will taste perfectly …

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