Do you wonder who visits your bee hive at night? Have you thought about which of your hive’s many callers prefer the cover of darkness? Well, some of the smaller guests were recently caught red-handed by Cal Early, a beekeeper living near Olympia. Cal was wondering who was eating the dead bees on his landing […] Read more
Sometimes it seems like honey bees are incidental to all the other creatures in my hives. Beyond mites and moths, I have flies, spiders, beetles, springtails, and shrews. Sometimes I see frogs, mason bees, slugs, or earthworms. But this week, it’s mice. Beehives are warm and cozy shelters with plenty of food and entertainment, so […] Read more
After my last post, wherein I stated that only men sent me thermal images of their hives, I received the following images, all from women of course. But it turns out that IR (infrared) photography is more than pretty pictures; it can be a real asset for hive maintenance. Once again, I present the photos […] Read more
Not often. Mice frequently move into a hive because it is warm and because there is a lot of food inside. But the food the mice are looking for is the honey and pollen, not the bees. Mice are certainly capable of ruining the comb, eating the honey, and causing the colony to starve, but […] Read more
Over the years I have developed a specific way to store empties, but a lot will depend on how many supers and how much storage space you have. Another issue is pests. Mice and wax moths can be especially hard on stored equipment. I keep empty bee boxes—with or without drawn comb–in stacks in an […] Read more