http://www.happyhollowhoney.com/ Richard Reid in a Virgina rural area in the US began with bees 1973. Beekeeping was simple, almost only it consisted of putting on and removing supers. By 1995 all of his bees died due to the Varroa mite.
Karin is a new beekeeper. She got thrilled when I took the feral swarm from the wall in one of her houses, so she wanted to keep bees. And got a daughter queen from the feral swarm. She is very
If you want to know the Varroa level in the bee colony this tool is handy. Twice a season can bee good if you use it for example in selecting your breeders. And which colonies need a new queen (high
Varroa mites multiply in bee larvae. After they come out of the cell when the bee is fully formed, they sit on the adult bees and suck hemolymph. It was observed many years ago that during the brood period of the
One mite from 300 bees. I understand that sometimes it’s a good idea to get an idea of the infestation level of varroa mites in bee colonies. You can take samples from a couple of colonies in an apiary to
I started taking down my bees to small cell size 15 years ago. 10 years ago I had combs with 4.9 mm, 5.1 mm and 5.4 mm cell size in the supers. At one time I did some measurements of
I have a honey loosener I havn’t used for year. Heather honey rarely yields where I live. But this year was exceptional. And heather honey is said to be as good for the health as manuka honey… And I happened
I had some free bees this summer. Especially one of the swarms is special, the container colony. http://www.elgon.es/diary/?p=722 and http://www.elgon.es/diary/?p=740 A couple of weeks ago I harvested two supers from it. It will winter with plenty of honey in the
Brother Adam often said that you should listen to our bees to be able to understand them and learn better how to manage them. Peter Donovan, who worked for him, expressed that when you went through a hive you read
I ended the last blog-post saying that the season wasn’t completely over yet. That was very true. August has been our summer here in Sweden. And it’s not over yet, August and warm summer. Though the nights are chilly. But