What do Honey Bees want?
It’s interesting to consider that most beekeeper management practices come, as might be expected, from the perspective of the beekeeper. Many questions being asked are answered based on what the beekeeper knows, wants or thinks. I guess that is to be expected as well. I mean, you can’t actually have a discussion with bees, and […]
Ask Why: The Hobbyist Beekeeper
I’m seeing a lot of beekeepers online asking questions, which is great…keep it up, but they seem to be wrestling with topics that have a lot more to do with running a commercial business than keeping a few hives in their backyard. Yes, both the commercial and backyard or hobbyist beekeeper keeps bees but equating […]
Extracting Layens Honey Frames
Below is the process that my wife and I (Wild Hives) take to extract our honey each year. Many steps may be familiar given that uncapping and extracting honey from comb has been done for thousands of years by those keeping honey bees, but I hope you may find something new and helpful. Enjoy! Pulling […]
The Old Beekeeper – The natural rhythms of the colony.
This blog will be a little different than my normal research focused topics. No summarized reference materials. No data or numbers. And no long confusing terms needing a Google search to understand. This one is simply my thoughts. I hope it makes you think too… Now I’m old enough to know you can’t “turn […]
How to Safely Make Frame Shoulders
So, you’re a DIYer, Maker, Woodworker, or just someone with a few tools in your garage or basement and you want to create those smooth shoulder cuts on the frame side rails that you see with purchased frames. How do I make those cuts and try to protect my fingers? How do I make the […]
Robbing Stress
Introduction Honey bees forage for kilometers across the landscape, and they have sophisticated adaptations that allow them to take advantage of sparse, ephemeral floral resources. During extreme resource scarcity, they can deploy a comparably extreme foraging tactic known as robbing. Robbing is a high risk, high reward, and a tactic whereby workers attack and often […]
Harbo Assay, Varroa Sensitive Hygiene Testing
From Wild Hives More than likely you could simply Google “Harbo Assay” and get all you ever wanted to read on this topic, but my hope is that the organized extracts below might take you from “knowing” about this topic to actually getting involved. Yes, you as a backyard beekeeper can participate. Commercial breeders located […]
Mold, should I be concerned?
It is early spring, and your beehive seems too quiet. You pop the lid only to find mold everywhere. It cloaks dead bees, top bars, and on the comb. There is no doubt in your mind: mold killed your bees. But did it? In truth, mold in a beehive is a result of colony death, not the cause of […]
Solstice Splits
Introduction No matter the style of hive or experience as a beekeeper you likely have heard about a nuc or nucleus colony. Often, it’s regarding purchasing honeybees that come with 4-5 frames of drawn-out comb, honey, brood, worker bees and a queen. These can range from $180 to $200 plus to purchase. What if you […]
