I’m not sure what it is, but the foragers are bringing in tonnes of butter yellow pollen today!
Inside a swarm
What comes to mind when someone says the word “swarm”? Instant death, right? Bees attack and don’t stop stinging, right? What if I told you that a swarm is generally the least aggressive that you’ll ever seen honeybees? No, seriously. A swarm is the colony’s way of creating a new hive: about half of the workers and the queen leave the …
A beautiful day in the yard
It was a gorgeous Spring day today! Hopefully it’s here to stay and not another tease. I was fooling around with a borrowed GoPro camera and shot a but of video at the entrance of the swarm hive. Yes, I talk to my bees. Don’t you? 😉
They’re ALIVE!
Winter is a difficult time for a beekeeper. You can visit the bees, but they don’t come out to play. You can’t open the hive and you certainly aren’t likely to get stung. (Is it weird that I kind of miss that?) You have to satisfy yourself with trying to hear the bees inside. A stethoscope helps in that regard, …
It was way too hot for hive work today
The thought of pulling on the full bee suit, gloves, boots and veil was revolting (the temperature was 24C at 10am), but they had to do it. The swarm hive had to be cleaned up a bit before it got so bad that nothing could be done before Spring. But, Foolish is as Foolish Does, so Greg and Gord suited …
Stepping back, re-tooling, re-thinking, back in beesinus
Hey there, long time no hear. It’s been a tough year for us. We went into winter with 11 hives and came out with none. Yep, we lost everything. We feel every loss like a death in the family, but the one that upsets us the most was our last colony on Simcoe Island. Our survivor bees didn’t make it. That …
Don’t Go With the Flow, Go With the Wax (A Few Words on Saving the Bees … and Us)
I’ve had a very difficult time with the Flow™ hive. It’s awe-inspiring to see someone take a project that they’ve obviously poured their blood, sweat and tears into and see it not only get funded, but exceed the ask by more than 100x. But, I’ve had this vague uneasiness that’s been incredibly difficult for me to put into words: plastic frames …
The Great Hive Design Trial!
Holy moley, it’s live. The Kickstarter page for the Great Hive Design Trial just went live. If you’re interested in helping honeybees or know someone who is, have a look. You never know, you could wind up being part of something really special.