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Third year, four hives in the North Carolina piedmont, and we're in that ugly gap before goldenrod really opens. My neighbor (lovely woman, endless patience) texted me a …
Second year, three hives in Vermont. I know the bees being raised from now onward are the fat winter bees that have to live until March, and I know mites had to be dealt …
Every year the forum fills up with 'is it too late to X' threads in October, so here's my pre-equinox list from north Georgia, 22 seasons in. Adjust timing north or south…
Every August I tell this story to our club's first-years, so here it is for the forum's. Years back, during a hard Georgia dearth like the one we're in now, I opened a nu…
Second year, two hives in Galway, and sometime in the last month my bees turned into grouters. Every frame is cemented to its neighbours and the box. The crown board migh…
Second year, two hives in double deeps in Vermont. Supers came off last week and both hives feel lighter than I'd like — one especially, maybe 60% of what its sister weig…
First year, one hive, Minnesota. Went out this morning and there's what looks like FIGHTING at the entrance. Workers grabbing other bees, dragging them off the landing bo…
Quebec, 5 years, and every August it's the same: inspections that were smooth in June turn into a demolition job. Frames cemented to the rests, inner cover practically we…
Fourth year in Devon and having a comb reckoning. Some of my brood frames are from my very first season and they've gone properly black — heavy, opaque, can't see light t…
First year, two hives in Minnesota. I mixed up a big batch of 1:1 last weekend (about 2 gallons) and filled both top feeders. Went to top them up today and there's grey-w…
First year in Yorkshire, one hive from a May nuc. The flow's clearly stopped — hive's lighter than three weeks ago when I heft it, and inspections show them backfilling n…
First year, two hives, Minnesota. I put a bucket of syrup out in the yard yesterday because everything looked hungry and the flow is clearly over. Huge mistake apparently…
First year in Minnesota, one hive, and I put it somewhere dumb in May — right where the snow slides off the garage roof, which future January me would not forgive. The be…
Third year in Uppsala, two hives. Sat with my coffee yesterday morning and watched workers wrestling drones out of the entrance — some getting dragged, some just blocked …
Hi, Should I add sugar to my hive?
First year, one hive, Minnesota. It hit 34C here today with awful humidity and when I got home from work there was a beard of bees the size of a dinner plate hanging off …
Retrospective thread! Last spring I started with one package and one nuc, side by side in the same Vermont yard, partly as an experiment. Now feels like a fair time to co…
First year, two hives in Minnesota, and I have a confession: I've seen my marked queen exactly twice since April. Every video says "make sure the colony is queenright" an…
Ontario, second year but first time raising a colony from a nuc instead of inheriting a going concern. Picked up a 5-frame nuc mid-May, it hit a full deep by mid-June, I …
Third year in Uppsala and I'm noticing a trend I don't love. Year one, stings were a red bump for a day. Last year, hand stings puffed for two days. This spring a sting o…
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