After a few years of beekeeping, it’s natural to assess a colony and predict what will happen next. But this year, as so often happens, I totally misread a colony that lives in my backyard. Twice. Or more, depending on how you count. The backstory Last fall, during a pre-winter inspection, I checked all my […] Read more
In order to prevent swarming and keep my bees at home, I did the logical thing. By the end of last week, I had split each of my hives into two parts. And because I wanted local queens, I made simple walkaway splits, assuring both halves had eggs and young larvae. I didn’t worry about […] Read more
Splits and Varroa: An introduction to splitting hives as part of Varroa control by William Hesbach. Copyright © 2016. Northern Bee Books, West Yorkshire, UK. Paperbound. When a colony is without a laying queen long enough that no open brood is left in the hive, varroa mites have no place to reproduce. This lack of […] Read more
Since I’ve written many posts about Taranov splits, I’m not going to belabor the whys and hows. Still, I’m always amazed that it works so well. For me, it is the best way to split into non-compatible equipment. In this case, I was splitting a top-bar hive into a Langstroth. I had thought this hive […] Read more
On Saturday, the Puget Sound Beekeepers Association held their annual Field Day at the Washington Park Arboretum. The event was well-attended, expertly organized, and truly fun. The featured speaker, Dr. Zachary Huang of Michigan State University, is a wealth of information and a great photographer. During the long day he displayed a pleasing combination of […] Read more
No, I’m not going to write another lengthy post on Taranov splits, but I wanted to share some photos. The Taranov is my favorite way to split my top-bar hive because the bars don’t fit into my Langstroths. With the Taranov, I can move just bees and not equipment. Best of all, it is fun […] Read more
I am fascinated by the Taranov split, at least partially because it defies logic. Until I tried it, I was not convinced: What’s this? I’m supposed to believe that nurse bees dumped from their hive will not cross a four-inch air moat to get back home? What gives? Bees have wings, last I checked. I […] Read more