We currently have one Langstroth style bee hive in the orchard, but we would like to have a few more hives. We can buy a packaged box of bees that includes a queen for about $125. However, we may be able to catch local honey bees that are swarming, usually in the Spring. There are […]
Making Honey Bee Swarm Traps (Layens Bait Hives) Read More »
It was a warm day for the end of January and the bees were out and about. We were shocked to see them flying in with pollen. I thought the bees were done collecting pollen until spring, but on January 27th some bees were loaded with pollen on a warmish day.
Winter Bees Flying In Loaded With Pollen Read More »
We purchased a 5 frame nuc from The Bee Barn in Padukah, Kentucky. Installing the bees in our Langstroth hive was as easy as sliding in the nuc frames and putting the hive cover on. The hive is right in the middle of the fruit and nut orchard that we planted this spring. The bees
New Bees Installed Read More »
We are getting new bees in May after our disastrous first attempt a few years ago. We are putting a fresh coat of paint on a langstroth hive to house them in rather than putting them in our old top bar hive. Sarah wanted a soft yellow color.
Getting Ready For New Bees Read More »
Here’s a short video of our bees at 6 weeks. They’ve built up to top bar number 9. We’ve moved the follower board back to give them 6 or 7 more top bars to build comb on, and we opened the third entrance.
Top Bar Hive Check at 6 Weeks Read More »
Since our new honey bees don’t have any food we have to supply it for them initially. Instead of buying a plastic feeder we found a nice video explaining how we could make our own bee feeder from Philip Chandler, here. The roof of the hive is removed showing the top lid for the bee feeder
DIY Honey Bee Feeder For Top Bar Hives Read More »
We have talked about getting involved with beekeeping ever since we got our place. It helps pollinate our garden as well as some new fruit trees. We found an apiary about an hour away so we ordered a box of bees. The pickup date on the bees was March 25th, but we had a cold
Honeybees in Our First DIY Top Bar Hive Read More »