This year has been odd in regards to honey production. We would normally harvest wildflower honey early June and sourwood honey in July, but June was a bust. We ended up with one medium plastic frame that wouldn’t seat in the extractor and one large frame that fell apart and dumped all the comb inContinue reading “Honey Refractometer”
Category Archives: Supplemental Feeding
2019 Pollen and Nectar Dearth
The Sourwood trees (nectar source) and Devil’s Walking Stick (pollen and nectar source) are on the cusp of flowering, and last week bees were not interested in pollen substitute or sugar syrup, but now they are ravenous waiting for late summer blooms to start. We’ve noticed a recent decline in resources stored in hivesContinue reading “2019 Pollen and Nectar Dearth”
Counting Our Blessings – March 2019
Tornadoes Last Sunday afternoon, we listened to so many tornado warnings that we lost count. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the watch/warning system, a tornado watch means that weather conditions are favorable. A warning means that an active tornado has been sighted or that radar has a strong indication that one hasContinue reading “Counting Our Blessings – March 2019”
Swarms and Storms
We have our first 2019 swarm capture! Swarm might be an overstatement, but while we were adding and removing supers yesterday, Hubby went to grab some frames from a hive I’d baited with Swarm Commander and found a fat, active queen with a handful of bees in the center of the brood box. We’d justContinue reading “Swarms and Storms”
A Joyful Buzz
Our strategy of combining weak hives, even if that meant sacrificing queens, in late fall has paid off and we are going into February with 25 strong hives. We did lose one NUC that we were on the fence about. They hung in there until the below freezing temperatures last weekend, but sadly didn’t makeContinue reading “A Joyful Buzz”
A Walk in the Woods
Over the past few days, we keep walking down to the bluff that overlooks the creek. It’s so peaceful there. Even though the water is up a little, there is still a soothing sound of water running over granite rocks. Add to that the sounds of a happy dog bounding through fallen leaves and theContinue reading “A Walk in the Woods”
Lots of Work: Lots of Progress
…but still so much more to do! Our RV upgrade was delivered on Tuesday, so we will soon have 765 square feet of living space and a shower that Hubby can stand under! Of course, we have to endure the waiting game first — waiting for the electrician to hook the home up, thenContinue reading “Lots of Work: Lots of Progress”
Lazer Creek Apiary 