Nature NEVER gives up. Here’s my record of 1520. Last swarm captured in 2015. This is a distant outyard so you can see I don’t make it there much. 🙂
NOTE they were hived 8/16/2015. I decided to LetMBee and things are looking good. Case in point of allowing nature to make your selections.
NO feeding, NO treating.
I’ve written previously about the sayings my grandfather used to repeat. Some recent interactions with people on Facebook have me thinking of yet another one. He would say, “if you accept mediocrity, sooner or later mediocrity is all you will get”. With all of the media attention that honeybees have been getting in recent years there’s been a lot of interest in beekeeping. That’s great! It’s why I got into beekeeping too!
Here’s the thing though. Not everyone understands animal husbandry. Animal husbandry is the Science of breeding and caring for animals. The responsibility of animal husbandry is bigger than anticipated when one gets started with beekeeping. When selections are made there are consequences. I touched on this when I wrote about the Russian Fox experiment. Making selections based on the bite response alone resulted in totally unexpected changes in those foxes. Therefore we need to be careful EVERY TIME we do something that could alter selection. Any time we perpetuate traits we are committing to future actions. Continue reading
Crazy as it may sound I have what is looking like a potential problem in my beekeeping life. There’s a real possibility that almost all of my hives are going to overwinter this year. I hate even mentioning this because when it comes to beekeeping I’m a little superstitious. I’ve been burned before in February and March.
That being said unless something terrible happens with the weather the next 2 or 3 weeks I’m going to need a lot of DEEPS this Spring. Most newly caught swarms last year were put in 2 deeps to see if they would overwinter. The plan is to place ANOTHER deep under them in a little less than a month to make 3 deep colonies for production. Since the swarms I caught last year survived, I’m theorizing that the parent colonies probably did too. Therefore not only do I need deeps for last years catches, there’s a good chance I could have another good year trapping.  Continue reading
In beekeeping catching swarms is the most exciting thing I do. It’s pretty much all I want to think and talk about because it’s interesting.  It has been a LONG time since I have discussed tasks I don’t like as much. I will say it….  The repetitive “boring” task of building bee-ware is my least favorite beekeeping activity. I have been spending a lot of time building frames lately and after hours and hours (and hours and hours……) it hit me!  I hadn’t ever discussed time savers I use to make the process run more smoothly. Continue reading
Being a TREATMENT-FREE / NON-FEEDING beekeeper is EASY when everything is going well. The gut-check comes when pests show up, weather conditions are poor, stores are low, or it’s apparent that something just isn’t right in one or more of your hives. I have seen this a lot in Facebook groups and e-mails over the years. It normally goes something like this: “I know you are treatment-free, but how do you TREAT <insert bee malady>?”
Beekeepers, particularly new ones, are always worried about their bees dying on them.  Oftentimes their worry leads them down the path of treatments.  I discussed this in Fear-Based Beekeeping.  Your anxiety can be alleviated by remembering one simple thing…. Nature’s got this $%^& covered! It doesn’t mean your bees won’t die at times.  It just means it’s NOT the end of the world.  You’re a human you were MADE to do this!
Any time I find an aspect of beekeeping where a yield can be realized I try to maximize it. Financial viability of a bee operation by honey alone seems like it could be difficult. Wax is a common product that people think about when they think BEES, but propolis is one of the products most new beekeepers may have never heard of. You definitely know what it is after you rip some top-bars off some frames that are glued in a box, or get it on some clothes that will forever afterwards have a dark resinous stain on them. Many beeks have the typical beekeeper response. They scrape it, put it in a container and then store it somewhere….. forever…… Others scrape it off and discard it. If you aren’t utilizing it as a marketable product it is a waste. I didn’t really know what to do with it the first several years I kept bees. My wife will attest…. I had one common “beekeeper tendency” way before becoming a beekeeper. I DO NOT throw things away! Continue reading
Part of being a beekeeper is becoming aware of the yearly cycle of the Seasons. It’s amazing how disconnected humans have become from nature. I am reminded of this every time a friend or co-worker asks me in January or February if my bees are, “……making any honey?!?” It doesn’t take long to determine that activity within the hive is totally dependent on the time of year and Season. Bees have seasonally dictated routines.  Being aware of this routine and adapting routines of your own will help increase efficiency in your beekeeping methods.
One of my yearly rituals is deer hunting so I spend a lot of time in the woods every fall. It’s an important time of year for us to stock our freezer’s with wild game AND since I’m out in the woods anyway it’s also a time for me to collect smoker fuel. My fuel continues to be a mixture of TWO components, Punk Wood and Pine Needles. I did posts and video on lighting a smoker several years ago (See How to Light a Smoker and Deer Stand and Smoker Fuel). It is easy to light a smoker when it is filled with pine needles and punk. When done correctly the smoker will stay lit, smoldering for hours and you will not have problems with it going out. Continue reading
If you haven’t read GOALS AND METHODS – PART 1 might wanna start there.  This is part 2 of 3.
Your individual beekeeping plan is going to depend a lot on scale.  A gardener will have a different plan for managing production on 2,000 square feet than the 10,000 acre farmer. If you’re doing this as a hobby you should NOT utilize methods of industrial or migratory beekeepers. Their goals, methods, and resources WILL be different than yours. A novice utilizing methods practiced by industrial beekeepers will be fraught with misery. A migratory keeper will be continually stressing their colonies each time they are moved. That stress has consequences that necessitate frequent inspection. A “hobbyist with a plan” is less likely to be repeatedly stressing their colonies so the need for frequent inspections is just not there.
How often and HOW should you inspect?  It depends on your goals.  If you are inspecting because, “……someone else said you should……”, SEND ME MONEY!! Just kidding… It was worth a shot. If you care enough to GET bees determine whether certain methods are beneficial and or necessary. Continue reading
Beekeeping has gotten a lot of media attention in recent years and interest in beekeeping has increased. In the last 5-10 years there has been an influx of new beekeepers, many with no previous experience in agriculture or animal husbandry. A lack experience caring for animals with productivity as a goal can be a stumbling block, but conscious observation, focus and planning are all tools that we as humans have to overcome inexperience. In the last several hundred years many humans have become disconnected from agriculture.
Today most people in the US at least take food and its production for granted. When low on food stores all that most have to do is go to a grocery. This is an illusion. Most have never thought or cared about the preparation, months in advance, the physical WORK, the pests and weather conditions that threaten, or any of the other trials and tribulations faced by individual producers to PUT THEIR FOOD in the grocery. That food would NOT be there if SOMEBODY did not formulate a goal based plan.  Becoming an Aparian is an important step towards a better understanding of food production and Agriculture in general. If nothing else it will give insight into all of the worries of a producer.  Continue reading
It’s been good getting back into the swing of regular posting. In doing so I have discovered a couple things that need updating on this site. I have been talking about different aspects of swarm trapping for several years now. One thing I have failed to do is give a guide in one easy location for those wanting to get started.
Therefore I have put together a Page called the Trapping Quick Reference. It will be accessible from the HOW TO… menu on the Main Page. It starts with building traps and goes through pretty much every aspect of the process.  When reviewing this reference remember that it is NOT the definitive plan for everyone everywhere. I have only been doing this since 2011. I’ve just begun to scratch the surface on understanding of swarming behavior. Every year as I have made hypotheses, tested them, and modified my practices to become more successful. That is what beekeepers have historically done. This reference is intended to get you STARTED. Take what you can learn from here and begin experimenting on your own where you live. If you observe something profound don’t be a chump cricket about it. Pass it on!
