Swarmus interruptus

Posted by on May 25, 2010 in Swarm removal | 0 comments You win some and you lose some. We lost one today. I got a call early this evening form the manager of a local truck stop. They had a swarm on the canopy over the gas pumps. Apparently, the came from a hive on the back of a truck that was there earlier. I’ve never heard of a migratory hive swarming in transport, but I guess it happens. The problem: he sheepishly admitted that his first...
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Swarm season has arrived

Posted by on May 19, 2010 in Beeyard, Swarm removal | 0 comments It’s been a busy day in these parts. First, the scheduled bit: I headed over to Simcoe to check on a split that Greg made on Monday and to split the other hive. All is well. One hive is still defensive and grumpy, but I made the split tonight with zero problems. I wasn’t wearing gloves and could very well have done it without the veil and suit. They’re amazing, these bees and...
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Beeyards, beeyards everywhere

Posted by on May 13, 2010 in Beeyard | 0 comments It figures. We’re down to three hives (four with the new split! Whoo!) and we suddenly have offers of space for hives coming out of our ears. We literally have enough available space for 150 hives or more. One thing that some folks may not understand is that we’re being very picky about locations. Our focus is healthy bees, so we have to be sure that there’s enough and a...
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Thank you Monsanto

Posted by on May 10, 2010 in Media | 0 comments The New York Times reports that, along with a host of environmental effects, the massive use of Roundup in North American agriculture has led to something that should have been anticipated: superweeds. Just as the heavy use of antibiotics contributed to the rise of drug-resistant supergerms, American farmers’ near-ubiquitous use of the weedkiller Roundup has led to the rapid growth of tenacious...
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Teaching the kids

Posted by on May 4, 2010 in Beeyard | 0 comments A big part of what we want to do involves outreach/education. Bees have such a bad reputation that anytime someone gets stung by something, they blame bees. The truth is that stinging is really a last line of defense for bees. Especially honeybees: one sting and they’re dead. I’m also an assistant leader for a local Cub pack: 1st Bayridge ‘A’ Pack. Last fall, when we were...
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