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One of my six hives has turned genuinely nasty over the last month — followed me 30 meters to the shed last week, stings through the suit, neighbors starting to comment. …
İzmir, second year, 3 hives on a wooden stand in the garden. This morning I found a proper ant highway going up one stand leg and straight into the back seam of my weakes…
Finally built the solar melter I've been talking about for two years, and Alentejo sun turns out to be extremely good at this job. Build: plywood box painted matte black …
Ontario, second year, 4 hives. One colony has been queenless for a while — my fault, a requeen attempt failed and by the time I admitted it they were down to maybe 3 fram…
Caught a lovely prime swarm on June 6th here in Kent — big one, filled a skep. Hived it on a mix of drawn comb and foundation and it has gone like a rocket: two deep boxe…
PSA post, because I nearly talked myself out of acting this week. Inspecting my Willamette Valley hives on Sunday I spotted two bees with the classic K-wing posture on th…
Yorkshire, first year, so please be gentle. My stronger hive swarmed two weeks ago (my fault, missed the cells) and I left it to requeen itself with the cells that remain…
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…
Central Texas here, 8 hives, and the tap turned off about ten days ago like it always does. Last year I missed it and fed too late, so this year I wrote myself an actual …
Quick report from the Valensole plateau: the lavandin has been open about ten days and my 30 hives that I moved up here at the end of June are absolutely hammering it. Su…
Minnesota, first year, two hives, and I walked out this morning to something awful: hundreds, maybe more, of dead and twitching bees in front of both hives. Many have the…
İzmir, second year. My strong colony swarmed in mid-June despite my efforts (lesson logged) and I let them requeen themselves. I actually saw the new queen emerge from he…
Quebec, five years in, and I'm planning next spring's queen orders already because winter here is the final exam. My results so far: Italians build huge beautiful colonie…
We hit 36C this week and I got the top-bar keeper's summer tax: one fresh comb, heavy with nectar, folded off its bar in the afternoon heat. Seven years in and it still h…
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…
Fifth season in Małopolskie, up to 12 production colonies now, all mediums for honey. Extraction weekend is coming and my cold knife and I are not friends. Half my combs …
Galway, second year, two hives, and the west of Ireland is doing its thing: forecast is drizzle every day I'm off work for the next week. I'm due an inspection — it's bee…
Mid-winter here in Victoria and I did my July checks on a mild still day: quick look under the crown boards, hefted for stores, and pulled the centre frame on two of my s…
Devon, fourth year, strongest colony I've ever run. Inspection today: little queen cups along the bottom bars and comb edges on practically every other frame — I counted …
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