Tag Archives: Treatment-free

Swarm Traps – baiting and staging

All but 6 traps have been baited and staged, out of the way. You might be wondering, “why so early?” Bees won’t be swarming yet in Indiana.  To that I’d say, you are right, but there are TWO good reasons to … Continue reading

Posted in Methods, Scouting, Swarm Trapping, Uncategorized, What's going on.. | Tagged , , , | 10 Comments

Swarm Trapping on the Survival Podcast – air date 9/31/2013

Swarm Season is approaching in the Northern Hemisphere, I can see that interest in the subject is growing from my Stats.  In the coming weeks I will be talking about some podcasts I have been on about Bees.  They will be … Continue reading

Posted in HowTo, Posts, Swarm Trapping | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Frame Rehab

Re-working old frames can be tedious, especially if you attempt to put new foundation in them. This task is greatly simplified by switching to foundationless. The most difficult part is getting the old comb and foundation out of the frame. … Continue reading

Posted in Foundationless Frames, HowTo | Tagged , , | 11 Comments

Check Your Wooden-ware

Tried to order stuff from Kelley’s again and had the same issue as last year.  The mill-work on this wooden-ware is poor compared to standard Langstroth boxes I have received from Brushy Mountain and Mann Lake.  I always purchase either commercial … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping Equipment | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Robbing 3 –> Obtain ferals and LetMBee

If you’re reading this and you haven’t read Robbing can teach us about honeybees or Robbing – 2: What do you do? you might want to start there.  Just to summarize, last time I came home from work to a robbing episode.  Two colonies were being … Continue reading

Posted in animal husbandry, Feral Bees, Methods, Observation, Posts | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Robbing – 2: What do you do?

What’s to be done about robbing? “How do I stop my bees from getting robbed?”  It’s the question I get, after an account of the some brutal insect behavior. In the spirit of PermaCulture the answer this question is a “slow solution”. This will NOT be … Continue reading

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Predictions, and what happens

Early this year I attempted a prediction on a colony overwintering. see Animal Husbandry – Understanding Vigor 2016-02-05. In the post I was comparing 1512 and 1514. I stand by the observations, 1512 had less vigor than 1514. HOWEVER, even … Continue reading

Posted in animal husbandry, Experiments, Genetics, Hive Reports, Observation, Posts | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Non-Targeted Species – ants in Trap01

Over the years I have had several e-mails about a number of non-targeted species taking up residence in swarm traps. I have been really lucky, as I don’t generally have problems with this. That being said, I had something happen this year … Continue reading

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2016 Trapping Update

It’s time to give a little progress report for summer 2016. This year has been the most successful trapping summer YET. The first swarm was caught almost A FULL MONTH earlier than normal on 4/20/2016. HITS occurred steadily 3-5 per week … Continue reading

Posted in HowTo, Posts, Swarm Trapping, What's going on.. | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Because of honeybees

Trapping bees has given me an opportunity to witness some interesting things over the years. It’s easy to get preoccupied with the beekeeping and forget to mention some of the other things I have seen just because I was OUTSIDE MORE due … Continue reading

Posted in Methods, Observation, Posts | Tagged , , | 2 Comments