I was at the Escarosa Beekeepers Assn meeting and one of the new beekeepers made mention that she could not find her queen.  She said that the bees swarmed while she was out of town and she decided to check her hive. The lady said that she went through the brood box and still couldn’t [...]

The last 2 posts are about swarms and splits. This one is for absconds. My definition for absconding is: Every last bee leaves the hive leaving anything they have put in the cells. No adult bees are left, only brood, pollen, and honey. Why do they abscond? That is a very good question and only [...]

Splits are artificial swarms. You are making the bees think that they swarmed already. Actually, you are causing the congestion to disappear and makes the bees to have to develop another queen.  By splitting, you cause the bees to swarm at your convenience and not lose any of them. You save the bees and grow you apiary at the same time. [...]

Why do bees swarm? Why do beekeepers split their colonies? Why do bees abscond (leave in total) a new or used box? Bees die for various reasons due to old? age (naw! they work themselves to death), Frogs (amphibians), birds (fowls), other insects (insectoids), spiders (arachnids), and beekeepers (homo sapiens) . In order for the bees to remain [...]

I cannot believe that the old year has passed on and the New Year is already upon us. I really didn’t get done in 2012 what I had hoped to. I got busy and didn’t do the things I told you should be done.  This is where I have to say, “Do as I say [...]

This past weekend, I was at the Pensacola Seafood Festival showing and telling about the honey bees. After I gave my ‘almost-not-quite-hardly’ canned speech (I do not have a written script), one man in one of my audiences said that I should write a book about what I just told him. I told him that [...]

It was brought to my attention that not all beekeepers and especially the general public really knows just where the American Honey Bee originated. Welllll – Let me ‘splain’ what I know and what I suspect. There is speculation as to who discovered America: Amerigo Vespusi (sp),  Christoper Columbus, or the Vikings. Lets just agree it was [...]

I borrowed this information from an email sent by Doc Bullard, Pensacola, FL. It is information that all Florida beekeepers should be doing. Signing up with the state apiary inspectors section is strictly voluntarily. Folks, BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR MAINTAINING EUROPEAN HONEY BEE COLONIES 1. This is a voluntary program designed to minimize the threat of Africanized [...]

Instead of going to my last hive and splitting, adding honey supers and maybe put on another brood box just because, I went to my young friends, Matt and Rashell’s house to see what could be done about a swarm of bees that elected to leave after they split the hive a week prior. When Matt [...]

For all ya’ll that do things in a timely manor, this is not for you. But for all ya’ll others, this is something to read and rejoice with me about. I have now joined the ranks of beekeepers that gets things done. Remember I have been telling you to get your equipment ready and in [...]