Here is a quick reminder about the amount of food a winter colony can burn through. Contrary to logic, your colony will eat more during a warm, balmy winter than it will during a colder one. On warm days, honey bees will leave the hive and fly around looking for food, but flying is extremely […] Read more
Every few years we raise a new crop of beekeepers who want to feed bananas to their bees as a winter supplement. The forums are filled with anecdotal stories of bees thriving on ripe bananas while overcoming every imaginable pathogen and parasite. A recent Instagram posting explained that the potassium in bananas will help the […] Read more
If you haven’t heard, the Purina company is marketing a new protein supplement for honey bees, called Hearty Bee. The ingredients include something called “spray dried poultry blood,” which may sound unsettling. Since my mail is running strongly against feeding animal blood to vegetarian bees, I decided to look at the issue more carefully. Rewriting […] Read more
You recently fed sugar to your bees, either to supplement their winter stores or to cover an emergency shortage of honey. You figure the extra calories will see them through the cold months. But as you watch them come and go on a warmish day, you see them carry the crystals in their mandibles and […] Read more
What is it about the sugar syrup recipe? What makes sugar syrup so hard to comprehend? Based on the questions I see, making a simple solution of sugar dissolved in water seems to be the hardest, most mysterious, most whisker-pulling task a beekeeper ever confronts. Several times I’ve promised myself that I would never again […] Read more
Tim Gabbert, a second year beekeeper from Williamsburg, Virginia, noticed honey bees congregating at one of his birdbaths and wondered how to keep the bees from drowning. His solution? Ancient seashells perforated with worm holes. He writes: I live in area rich with ancient ocean sea shells that are constantly being pulled from the cliffs […] Read more
Several years ago I planted lamb’s ear to attract wool carder bees. I wanted to get pictures of the bees collecting fibers, but so far, I haven’t seen a single taker. Instead, the wool carders stay on the lemon balm. However, every morning the honey bees congregate on the lamb’s ear to drink the condensation […] Read more