The drastic decline of the honey bee population is a crisis that is being felt worldwide. Our greatest pollinators are in trouble. Since the introduction of neonicotinoid-containing pesticides, honey bee loss has reached a record high.

In this article and video, learn the dos and don’ts of inspecting newly installed bee colonies for health and productivity.

April in north Georgia means swarming season. I tried for about three years before I finally caught my first swarm last year. I put one of my nuc boxes up in a Bradford pear tree about 7 feet off the ground and put some lemongrass oil on it in mid-March. I caught a swarm in it about a month later. But I failed many times before.

In this post, I wanted to pass along what has worked for me and what has not so far.

The land of milk and honey…literally.   When our goats are in milk, we can potentially get over two gallons of milk per day. That’s a lot of milk for two people to consume. I’d love to sell it, but unfortunately milk laws being what they are, make that difficult.   Over the years, I’ve […]

Honey is a unique food in that it never spoils. Properly saturated honey should stay safe to eat forever.   In fact, one study found “stored honey from Ancient Egypt to be over 3000 years old and still completely edible”. http://www.compoundchem.com/2014/08/21/chemistryofhoney/   So Why Doesn’t Honey Spoil?   Honey safely stores for long periods of […]

Bees are important to anyone who likes to eat, and not just those who like honey. Bees are responsible for the pollination of many different foods including coffee beans, cacao beans (where chocolate comes from) and many fruits like apples, squash, peas and many, many more.   The bee population is in turmoil right now […]

When it comes to keeping bees, one of the sweetest rewards is that of a splendid honey harvest. No matter the reasons for keeping bees, often folks get most excited when the time comes to harvest the delicious and highly nutritious honey from their hives. Most beekeepers with existing hives do two harvests, one in […]

Each hive inspection is different because each colony is different, and there are other variables to consider like the time of year for example. These variables will determine what you will do upon inspection. With practice you’ll get the knack, so be patient and you’ll soon be a seasoned beekeeper ready to tackle any situation.

The snow has finally melted and we’ve been enjoying warmer temperatures here in Michigan. The days are around 50 degrees and the nights hover around freezing. We just finished our maple syrup boil for the year and got 9 and a half quarts from 55 gallons of sap. It’s such a small yield considering what […]