Particularly useful in orchards, mason bees (also called blue orchard bees) can visit hundreds of flowers per day. They don’t make honey, but they collect pollen for nest holes where they lay eggs, and then plug the holes with mud. They look like small blue-black flies, and they rarely sting. The bee larvae and cocoons […]

The Polar Vortex landed a blow to the Midwest where Five Feline Farm is located. Many of the beekeepers in this area report a significant loss of colonies over the harsh winter. One beekeeper described opening a hive to find bees appearing frozen in place. The entire colony dead. Our losses are not confirmed at […]

Bees are one of the most important insects to us. Not only are they great garden pollinators, they maintain biological balance and recycle soil nutrients. Learn all about bees — from their appearance to the many unknown North American Species in Bees, Wasps, and Ants (Timber Press, 2010) by Eric Grissell. The following excerpt was taken from […]

Sometimes it is necessary to feed honeybees through the winter, which can be accomplished by using one of several methods. That is the position we find ourselves in here on Five Feline Farm after two colonies have struggled through the fall with apparent robber bees. A colony of honeybees needs anywhere from 30 to 60 […]

Israel Bravo has been on a quest for the past decade to help bees and beekeepers. He has been keeping bees professionally for over 17 years and, while working as a team foreman for a large-scale beekeeping operation in Idaho, he was inspired to help his fellow pollinator stewards. Over the years, Mr. Bravo became […]

Learn about three different varieties of pests in the beehive and how to deal with them effectively.

This refreshing cocktail uses a simple syrup made of honey that is simple to make indeed! No mead needed.