Why are my bees going crazy?!
It happens to all beekeepers. You’ve done your homework (you think) on backyard beekeeping. You built (or ordered) a hive. You received your bees, and even managed to get them into your hive without getting stung! And then it happens…right around dinnertime…your bees go CRAZY! Are they swarming? Do they hate their new hive? Are […]
Read MoreWhy The Internet-Famous “Flow” Hive Is a Terrible Idea
Because I’m a beekeeper, anytime someone hears something interesting about bees, they tend to tell me about it. For that reason, I’ve probably been sent the Indiegogo page for the Flow Hive well over twenty times by now. And I’m not the only one, apparently. The thing has raised a startling $12 million dollars so […]
Read MoreBeekeeping 101: Replacing Your Queen Bee
There ain’t no drama like queen bee drama cause queen bee drama don’t stooooooppp. When we went into our hive for the first time this spring to see how the bees were doing after the winter, we got a nasty surprise. Our queen had gone rogue. Meaning, our original queen – the one we got […]
Read MoreSo…how much honey does a beehive produce?
It’s about the eight-month anniversary of this blog. Hooray! And since that time, one thing has been very consistent. I get a LOT of search traffic from the terms: “How much honey does a hive make?” “Beginner Beekeeping Guide” “How much does honey weigh?” “Backyard beehive setup” “Laws and restrictions backyard beekeeping” “How hard is […]
Read MoreBackyard Beekeeping 101: Our First Honey Harvest
This weekend, for the first time ever, we harvested honey from our backyard beehive. I found it incredibly exciting – and I was shocked at just how much honey our little hive had produced – we ended up with just under THREE GALLONS (!!!) of honey (which I canned in half-pint glass jars, for gifts). So how […]
Read MoreBackyard Beekeeping 101: Making Your Own Brood Boxes
As I mentioned in a previous post, Carl and I are enjoying our first season as backyard beekeepers. This weekend, an inspection of the hive showed us that our bees have been quite busy! In just a few short months, our bees had nearly completely filled their existing brood boxes. So, Carl got to work […]
Read MoreBackyard Beekeeping: An Introduction
Back in May, I became the proud co-parent of a few hundred or so bees. (By now, we probably have a few thousand.) Bees. Yes, beeeeeesss. And since then, we’ve had a lot of people ask exactly how to get started in this whole thing, so I thought I’d share what I know. Keep in […]
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