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Tag Archives: honey bees
Ruinous and OverBearing
When I looked out the window the other morning, I was checking to see how much snow we’d gotten overnight. Huge snowstorms and power outages had been reported, but we’d only gotten about six inches. The sun was shining, making … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, bear, beehive, beekeeping, Bees, black bears, deer, honey, honey bees, honeybees
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Give Bees a Chance
I love bees. Because I love (and respect and admire) bees, I maintain some hives. I am, however, in the category of what one might call “super hands-off” when it comes to manipulating those hives. What this means is that I keep … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, bumble bees, carpenter bees, chicken coop, coop, fire, fireman, gasoline, goats, ground bees, honey bees, pig shed, pigs, pollinator
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Waiter, There’s a Bug in my Sap!
Collecting sap late last night, I was surprised to find sallow moths in nearly every bucket. In some cases, the moths were on the inside wall of the bucket and could be saved, but largely they had met their watery demise … Continue reading
My Bees are Freezing!
Last year, one of my hives didn’t survive the winter. The long, cold days took their toll on the inhabitants of that hive so, over the summer, I made a split from the remaining hive. Everything was going along fine, but now, … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, bee hives, beehives, Bees, freezing, honey bees, winter
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Sticky Fingers
At the end of the summer, I pulled honey frames from my two bee hives. As long as the bees are left with at least 70 pounds of honey to get them through the winter, the beekeeper can take any surplus. … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, bee frames, bee hives, Bees, honey, honey bees, honey extractor, honey spinner, spinning honey, sticky fingers
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Spring Queening
Because one of my bee hives did not survive the bitter cold winter, I am learning to split the surviving hive. The goal here is to both try to avoid a swarm and to start a new hive to replace … Continue reading
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Tagged antennae, applewood farm, bee hives, Bees, brood, capped brood, drawn comb, hive, honey, honey bees, queen bee, queen cells, queen cups, split, splits, super honey super, swarm
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Minding My Own Beeswax
Going into the winter, I had two thriving beehives. One was a nucleus colony (or nuc… pronounced “nuke”) purchased from a local beekeeper and the other was a package from somewhere not-local. The difference between the two is that a nuc … Continue reading
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Tagged bee hives, bee patty, Bees, Colony Collapse, freezing, honey, honey bees, honey supers, nuc, nucleus colony, package bees, Sisyphus, supers, swarm, varroa mites, winter
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Just Like Honey, Baby, From the Bee
“There are certain pursuits which, if not wholly poetic and true, do at least suggest a nobler and finer relation to nature than we know. The keeping of bees, for instance.” -Henry David Thoreau Last weekend, my friend (and beekeeping … Continue reading
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Tagged applewood farm, bee hives, bee suit, bee supers, Bees, centrifuge, Da Vinci, feed buckets, goldenrod, harvesting honey, honey, honey bees, honey extractor, honey frames, organic farming, Shakespeare, small-scale farmers, Thoreau, triangular bee board, uncapping fork, uncapping knife
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The Bears and The Bees – A Not-Love Story
On Monday, my friend Maggie came over to help me open my hives and see what was going on in there. Maggie is into her fourth year as a beekeeper and I’m in my first, so having an experienced set … Continue reading
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Tagged bears, bee boxes, bee hives, bee stings, Bees, brood, honey, honey bees, mite strips, mites, smoker, varroa mites
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The Truth About Honeybees
Ready? Okay. Here’s the truth about honeybees… They are in no way terrifying. They want nothing to do with you. They will only sting you when they feel that their queen is threatened. The only stings I have received since … Continue reading
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Tagged bearding, bee brood, beehive, beekeeper, Bees, brood, hives, honey bees, nucleus colony, package bees, queen bee, re-queening, robbing behavior
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