The North Escambia Bee Association Chautauqua was held on February 20, 2010 and was a success!! We had, at my count, 80 people. Over half were new beekeepers attending for the first time. I think there would have been more if the road signs had have been put out. I had places for 12 signs, [...]

This is my way to clip & mark queens. Before finding my queen, I get my marker ready. This year it is Blue. I have a marking pin that I got from the bee supplier, Dadant & Sons, Rossman, Brushy Mountain, Walter T. Kelley, etc. Or you can buy them from Office Depot, Office Max, [...]

Do you know the reason for marking your queen  and/or clipping one of her wings? Do you think that mutilating the queen is a sign of Satanism?
You are not mutilating the queen to practice for later using larger animals. You are only branding them, not for identification, but to know when one has been superseded. [...]

I am getting ready to start the splitting process that I talked about two posts ago. My thoughts are to put two 5 frame nuc boxes side by side on top of the brood boxes so the bees can build comb. I am going to take one of them off when the comb is nearly [...]

Monday, my friend Doug, and I met at the Santa Rosa Extension office in Milton to talk about bees with an adult continuing education ladies group. We had a power point presentation and told of the bees coming to America in the 1600’s. Told about the pollination, honey, and the products that can be made [...]

Thanksgiving and Christmas are over and I just sent my wife to Texas to visit her mother for two weeks. My middle son and his family, who are staying with us, just left to go up to the New England area to preach at one of his sponsoring churches, and maybe several other churches. I [...]

First off, I forgot to wish my readers HAPPY NEW YEAR! I wish you all have a wonderful and prosperous year with your bees. Remember, you cannot go back and correct what is done and past. However, from this point on you can improve on your time, beekeeping practices, and attitude. So that leads up [...]

Just when I thought everything was working out just right, I had a bombshell dropped on me. I had made plans with the school where the Bee Chautauqua was to be held. Now only 2 months away and several speakers have confirmed the date, I find out that the school had placed the time a [...]

I have recently received information that explains the weight issue on less frames/more honey. You can go to my post that touched on this subject and go to the comment section,  so you can follow a little better.
A shallow honey super weighs about 25.30 lbs.
A medium (Illinois) honey super weighs about 30-50 lbs.
A deep honey [...]

I never did find where the bees were coming from. By the time it stopped raining, it got cold and the bees are not flying. So I will just have to wait until a warm day comes back and try again.
My grandson and I finally went to the apiary to get the bees off the [...]