On July 5th I headed to Harvard to check in on all three hives there. Since I would be leaving to Norway on July 7th and be gone for 25 days, I wanted to do a very thorough inspection of the hives before that. The Willow Hive was split 2 weeks ago, the Orchard Hive …
The last time that I was in the Meadow Hive they were close to being nectar bound and I had to remove three bars of honey. Now I am getting ready to go to Norway for twenty five days and I am concerned about them being completely nectar bound and swarming while I am gone. …
On June 21st, it had been about two weeks since I had inspected the Meadow Hive. This hive is one of my two hives that is growing at a rapid rate. The goal now is to make sure that they are not nectar bound. When a hive is nectar bound or honey bound, there is …
This season has been off to a mostly good start. All of the colonies have been doing well and growing quickly. The plan is to get out to the hives every two weeks when I can to keep an eye on their growth. In the past, I had a first year colony that grew quickly …
It’s been almost two weeks since I have inspected the hives. When it is early in the season like this, I like to inspect the hive about every two weeks. This allows me to be checking for cross combing or other comb issues and checking on each colony’s growth. Checking the hives frequently in the …
Some new top bar beekeepers had reached out to me to talk about top bar beekeeping. We met up at The Maynard Honeybee Meadow and spent some time talking about top bar hives and their management. They had recently installed their bees into the top bar hive that they built and they had lots of …
On May 8th it was a great day to get back into the hives. The weather was warm and sunny. The bees were all very active and enjoying that more forage is becoming available to them. All of the hives are pleasant to work with and the bees are very calm. These colonies are growing …
Massachusetts residents, it’s time to contact your legislators. The main purpose of this bill is to reduce the use of neonicotinoids. The plan is to require certification for those using neonics on their plants. It will also be required of certified users of neonics to inform their customers about potential effects of of the chemicals. …
The last time that I was in the hives, I did not inspect the Meadow Hive. They seemed to be slower with growth than the other three hives and I didn’t want to bother them too much. I had been in the hive a few times to check on their syrup intake, but not a …