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Second year, two hives in eastern Ontario. After six weeks of dearth my luggage-scale hefts are finally going UP again — one hive put on almost 3 kg in the last week. The…
Extractor's clean, jars are filling, so it's time for the annual damage report. Post your region, rough average per production hive, versus last year, and what the flow d…
Eight years keeping bees in Provence and this is new: after a long session scraping propolis off frames and boxes last week (dry, crumbly, lots of dust in the air), my fo…
Six seasons in Flanders and first time using Apiguard (formic every other year until now, fancied a change while temps suit thymol). First tray went on two weeks ago, sec…
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 in İzmir and I finally extracted — 19 kilos from two hives, which felt like winning the lottery. But now my borrowed-turned-bought secondhand 4-frame extracto…
Fourth year in Hokkaido, where autumn arrives early and hard. I lost a colony two winters ago to mice — found the nest in spring, a fist-sized hollow chewed through two c…
Third year, Uppsala. Inspection on Tuesday found a single capped queen cell mid-frame in my strongest hive — classic supersedure position, not a swarm-cell fringe. The ol…
Coastal humidity got me this year. Late harvest off two hives in Istria refractometered at 19.2% — right on the edge. My drier June harvest was fine at 17.5% and that's a…
Victoria, Australia — late winter turning, and the silver wattle is flowering with the willows about to break. My colonies have noticed: brood nests expanding fast on the…
Fourth year in Devon and this is the first season I've got real quantity to sell — probably 300+ jars worth. Time to stop buying jars twelve at a time from the farm shop.…
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…
Planning winter configurations now while I can still feed accordingly. Fifth season in Małopolskie, southern Poland — real winters, weeks below freezing, but nothing like…
Third year in North Carolina, and my best hive from spring is suddenly showing a pattern that would've made me panic in year one. Instead of solid slabs of sealed brood, …
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…
Wasps have gone from background noise to constant siege at my Perthshire apiary this week. Fascinating and grim to watch the difference between colonies. My two strong do…
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…
Pulled the second Apiguard tray last weekend after the full four weeks, waited a few days, then did my recheck wash yesterday. Pre-treatment I was at 8 per 300, now I'm a…
Second year in İzmir and just finished my second-ever extraction, 5 hives. The extraction itself went fine. What nobody warned me about: the uncapping tank. I have maybe …
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…
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