Before I explain how to do it, I want to repeat that checkerboarding is done above the brood nest. Many beekeepers believe that checkerboarding a hive is done in the brood nest. But on the contrary, you do not disturb the brood nest in the process. Checkerboarding is often confused with opening the brood nest, […] Read more
A discussion of checkerboarding gets men all riled up. And I don’t mean “men” as a pronoun for all genders, I mean male humans. Come on, you’ve never seen a group of women all vexed and loquacious over checkerboarding. It doesn’t happen. Furthermore, checkerboarding induces these self-same men to deceive, inveigle, and obfuscate. They make […] Read more
In everyday English, to “backfill” means to refill. So if you want to plant a bush, bury a conduit, or repair a water main, you dig a hole, do what you have to do, and then put the dirt back in. Simple enough. The meaning is only slightly different in beekeeping, but different enough to […] Read more