Fish Fry/Mini-Workshop

My state bee inspector called to see if we could look at my bees last week. I wasn’t prepared for him, but this is the best way to go. We inspected my active yards and found no diseases and didn’t visually see any Varroa mites. That isn’t to say I don’t have any, just that [...]

I had a call from a new beekeeper who said he had a swarm of bees in a bird house in his back yard. Being August, I thought that it would be a little swarm not worth fooling with. I told him that I would be over the next day to check them.
He called back [...]

I am questioning if I am a bee keeper or bee haver or maybe even if I am a Wannabee.  I have had 6 nucs (splits, swarms, etc) and one swarm that had moved into one of my honey supers to be cleaned. All these were in my back yard (I use the back yard [...]

I have been keeping an observation hive for the circle of bee speakers (three of us) that go to schools , 4H assemblies, and Garden clubs for Show and Tell about bees. It was used today, without me as I had another commitment, and when it was brought back, we, my friend Doug and I, [...]

Do you realize that the Bee Spring is here? Just think, the bees are laying frantically to have the full force of bees for the Red Maple and other early bloomers. That is — the queen is laying frantically, if —- she has the pollen and nectar available. Now is the time to check the [...]

I am happy to say that the seven nucs have living, working, and happy queens. I did not check the full hives of bees, but I am confident that they all took too. I will check them soon.
My wife said that since she was off on Veteran’s Day, she would go with me to feed [...]

I had a bee inspection the 1st week in November and we gathered some samples from each apiary to send to the bee lab.
I received a phone call from my state bee inspector yesterday saying that I did not have American Foul Brood or Africanized Honey Bees. I was very pleased with that report, [...]

I was abruptly, but nicely reminded that you cannot get out of an inspection even if you have a certificate stating that the bees have already been inspected. I received that same certificate in the mail from the Florida State Dept of Plant Industry, Apiary Inspection. I called [...]

There is an article that suggests a virus coming from Australia is the cause for the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Seems that the pathogen, Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus, is paralyzing the bees or at least weakening them to the point of death, that the bees are dying outside of the hive.
The bee packages, [...]