It’s an old story that sweeteners can be bad for our health if we use them excessively, but the question is which one is better for our health – sugar or honey? While the effect of honey is similar to sugar’s effect, honey is well known for being more nutritious, and therefore healthy. But the […]

Beekeepers have so much knowledge and experience when it comes to honeybee behaviors, biodiversity, and weather impact on bees, and they’re often very passionate about sharing their knowledge with others. If you’re a beekeeper at the market, you want to make sure your booth will attract and keep customers’ attention so you can increase your sales, share information, and keep customers engaged. Read on for 4 suggestions to improve your booth at farmers’ markets.

Cuckoo bees are closely related to their host species. Their appearance and size will depend on the host species. For example, if their host species is bumblebees then they will look like bumblebees. The difference is, cuckoo bees will always be solitary.

Capturing a swarm from your hive or from others is an essential skill that every beekeeper should learn

When swarm season comes, you never know when you’ll get the call for bee rescue and there’s no worse feeling than missing the opportunity to catch a swarm because it left before you arrived. That’s why I always keep a swarm catching kit in my car! Read on to find out what to include in your own kit […]

1. Don’t get overwhelmed Langstroth or top bar? 10 frame or 8? Plastic foundation or wax? There are a number of various hive configurations and complimentary equipment available, so much so that it can quickly be overwhelming! Bees are adaptable. Pick whatever is in your budget, and know you can always make changes later as […]

Many new beekeepers and prospective beekeepers are urged to join beekeeping clubs and organizations to learn more about the art of beekeeping. Even experienced beekeepers find themselves with questions and want to connect with other beekeepers in the area. Locally, your state’s Beekeeping Association is one of the best resources for you to tap into. […]

Sometimes it feels like you need to be a lawyer or a chemist to really understand what you’re buying from the grocery store. Wouldn’t it be nice if food was just food and we could read a label and take it at face value? Unfortunately, that is not the case. In recent years, many companies […]

Uncapping our honey harvest is probably the most satisfying job on our farm. Watching that luxurious curl of wax that slices off the frame and rolls away revealing the smooth golden honey is one of life’s great pleasures. There are several ways to uncap your honey frame. Whichever you choose, the end goal is to […]

One of the most important factors in marketing honey is what to place on the honey label. Clearly, the goal of any product labeling is to capture the attention of potential customers through creative design. If you sell your honey at farmer’s markets, or some other local store, you must abide by state laws. The […]

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 […]

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 […]

We all know that beeswax makes great candles, but did you know that it has many household uses? This is especially true in the movement away from commercially-made cosmetics and cleaning products. Beeswax can be a useful ingredient to have around the home. What is beeswax? Beeswax is created in eight wax-producing glands on a […]

You have decided you need to feed your bees. Maybe you just installed a package in a new hive, and they have to build out all of the frames. Maybe you just moved a hive to a new location and you want to give them a boost. Maybe you caught a late season swarm and […]