As you plan for the arrival of your new bees, you have many exciting things to consider. Is your equipment ready? Do you have all the tools and protective clothing needed?  But one factor that is sometimes overlooked is hive placement. While any beehive can be moved to another location, the beekeeper and the bees will be […]

I can see in their face that they expect a finite answer. They want my blessing or a warning against a certain hive style, but they are destined for disappointment. As with so many questions in beekeeping, my answer is not a simple “yes” or “no”. Read on for an exploration of this common query.

Once again, I find myself gloriously behind the times. In this particular case, a few thousand years behind the times. I built and maintain a wall beehive — a colony housed in the wall of my bedroom. I have been calling it my Observation Hive because it has a plexiglas cover on the inside wall, […]

It may sound counter-intuitive, or even irresponsible, to suggest that new beekeepers should plunge full-stop and buy two hives right off the bat. But it is in that inexperience where keeping two hives proves the most beneficial. By all means, if you can only afford one hive, then one is better than none, definitely. But […]

Is this not the coolest ever?! LEGO Bee Hive. Designed to cover a standard 3 level OATH hive, top layer is the honey box mmmmm! This is a species of Australian Stingless Bee, Tetragonula. . . . Reposting @shane.artisan @lego #tetragonulacarbonaria #stinglessbees #sugarbag #sugarbagbees #tetragonula #habitatsculpture #honey #pollination #pollinating #pollinationstation #beehotel #beeart #bee #savethebees #🐝 […]

Mason bees, also known as orchard bees, are docile pollinators that are easy to keep and provide a myriad of benefits for the pollinator community. In nature, mason bees build solitary nests with mud in hollow reeds, woodpecker holes, or other small openings. To keep mason bees, all you really have to do is provide […]

We have decided what to do with the top bar hive for winter. We last examined it in mid-October to check out how much food it had. There are 14 or 15 full-size combs drawn out. The four in front had each had brood, but were mostly empty when we examined them. There was honey […]

Making nucleus hives or “nucs” is a good way to expand your apiary without spending a lot of money and without the worry of introducing Africanized genetics from packaged bees. (Now that Africanized bees inhabit our more southern states, this is a concern.) You also will be creating queens that are best acclimated to your […]

This is my first summer keeping bees in straw hives called “skeps.” Come follow my journey!

Now is the perfect time to get a jump start on spring time preparations by building equipment like frames. Using a frame jig is an excellent way to build lots of frames and cut your work time down considerably. Here’s how:

If you have multiple hives you want to elevate, you may want to consider a hive stand. You could easily fit four production colonies on just one hive stand, and if you’re using only nucs, you could put even more. Learn how to build the hive stand in this great video tutorial below.

If you like the idea of getting bees for free then you’ll want to check out setting up bait hives.  Bait hives are just that – a bait or type of lure designed to attract a swarm of honey bees that are looking for a new home.  Prior to the actual swarm casting from a […]

Last night we opened the bee hive for the first inspection in three weeks. Our goal in this inspection was to do some maintenance and to see if our queen was laying brood, and if the hive seemed to be growing. We trimmed some of the overgrown grass around the hive entrance. The weeds have […]

You may be surprised by the many benefits of using a top entrance either exclusively or in addition to a bottom entrance in your hives. Check out this DIY piece including a video tutorial.

For readers who live in areas of the country with winters as harsh as those in Northeastern Pennsylvania, colony loss is expected in the spring. As we try to grow our apiary from year to year, winter losses are always a disappointing setback. Two years ago we decided to not just replace the hives lost over the winter, but to […]