A beekeeper in Kenya, Nicholas Mbugua, is looking for some advice on keeping bees in the extra-long Langstroth hives shown below. His objective is to have fewer hives that are more productive and well managed instead of many small hives that are difficult to manage. Nicholas writes: I have been keeping bees since 2008 in […] Read more
Why? Because conditions are not right. Pure and simple. This time of year, new beekeepers are asking why their bees will not fill the honey supers or even visit the supers. Some report their bees walking around inside only to leave again, uninterested. Some blame queen excluders. Others believe they are doing something wrong. But […] Read more
When should I treat for mites? When should I reverse my brood boxes? Should I add honey supers in May or June? How much sugar should I feed my bees? Should I replace my queens now or in the fall? The problem with these questions—and many similar ones—is they can’t be answered without more information, […] Read more
I missed the summer solstice this year; I wasn’t paying attention and it slipped right on by. The summer solstice is important because it signals the end of bee season, just as the winter solstice signals the beginning. “The end of bee season?” you say. “But it’s just getting started!” Here’s the thing: In temperate […] Read more
Most of my Hive Tracks-related mail comes from Hive Tracks, but this comment from Kiwiland stirred up my old impatience with digital bee-ware. Hivetracks is a simple and brilliant piece of software. I am from New Zealand and we have just starting to use it as my Son is a beekeeper. I will be putting […] Read more
Varroa destructor hit the North Island first. It established around Auckland and spread gradually south. At first, beekeepers negotiated quarantine lines. Some apiaries were split down the middle, and boundaries had to be renegotiated every time the infestation spread. And in the meantime, an infested feral colony rode a hollow log into Wellington and Frank’s […] Read more
You open your hive but you can’t find your queen. Worse, you see no young brood—no larvae, no eggs. Several things are possible: What should you do? At this point, you wonder what to do. You could buy a queen, but maybe you have a virgin queen or a newly mated queen and you just […] Read more