Overwintering small colonies: stacking
Keeping a small colony fed over the winter, either with dry sugar, fondant or a candy board, presents fewer challenges than keeping it from getting too cold. When outdoor temperatures […]
Category Archives: Equipment
Overwintering small colonies: Candy boards
This fall found me with a number of small colonies ill-prepared for winter. I had anticipated a deluge of late-season queen requests, requests that, unfortunately for my lovely young queens, […]
What did you do in the bee yard today? November 12, 2017
I began changing out robber screens for mouse guards last weekend. This simple task has become something of a fall ritual for me. I delayed as long as possible to […]
Late summer gambling
It’s been a good season so far. With good foraging conditions and some timely splitting, I’ve made enough splits to compensate for some unprecedented winter losses. Increasing from survivor colonies […]
The good swarm
I discovered an unexpected benefit to negligence when a very large swarm found some of my equipment sitting around unoccupied. The hive bodies stacked in my yard awaiting a fresh […]
Fun with Queens
In the course of making my inspections over the past couple of weeks, I noted that my largest, strongest colonies still had significant drone populations. In my little valley, we […]
Moving Day, August 5, 2016
As I finally made my rounds after my month of travel, I discovered the colony at this out-yard was a dead-out. After a month, it’s a little difficult to say […]
