I first became interested in bees by attending local beekeeping club classes. These classes taught me information on bee biology, how to choose the right equipment, and how to set up my first two hives. There are free online courses available and excellent books on the subject, but I found that personal hands-on help was […]

It’s amazing the way a beehive can have a personality. While the colony is made up of thousands of individual bees, it is the overall collective demeanor of the group that makes it as if you are working with a single organism. If you have an overly-aggressive hive you can change the behavior of your […]

The governor of Michigan just declared a State of Emergency for our state due to record-breaking low temperatures. As I write this post (January 2019), it’s currently -6 degrees F with a wind chill of -30. So worrying if our hive is overheated is really not a concern right now…quite the opposite. However, coming this […]

Sunny yellow blooms fringed with a green ruff green poking through snow is my first sign that spring has sprung. Eranthis hyamalis, in the buttercup family, is a spring ephemeral, which means that it is a short-lived plant above ground with a burst of blooms, and disappears, remaining under ground until next winter. Beaming a […]

Finding the queen bee in your hives can be challenging — even for veteran beekeepers. Some queens are plump and shine like a gold beacon on the frame, while others seem to have camouflage. Not only does your ability to find her depend on her size and color, but her behavior, too. Some queens flaunt themselves […]

Winter is the time that I make use of all the beeswax that I collected during the summer. I melted and cleaned it right after harvesting in August and it is ready to be made into something creative and useful. To see how I clean the raw beeswax, go to Beeswax-Honeybee Gift. When I was […]

When my husband first showed interest in beekeeping, one of my biggest fears is that we would accidentally end up with a “Killer Bee” colony. I had heard rumors of Killer Bee colonies coming up from states like Florida to the north. Images of bee swarms chasing us in angry pursuit and thousands of deadly […]

Every honey harvest is exciting, but our first is something I won’t likely forget! We’d been waiting and tending to our bees for almost two years… hoping, wondering and (frankly) worrying. But that first taste of golden nectar made it all worth it. Since our first harvest quite a few years ago, we’ve somewhat streamlined […]

Now that you have harvested honey and the bees have been tucked away for winter, it is a great time to review the season while your memory is still fresh. An honest review of your beekeeping year will help to improve next year. So let’s get started! What worked This is the easiest and most […]