Massachusetts is in the process of putting together a pollinator protection plan and so far what they have is not very protective of our pollinators. Here is the link to the final draft, http://www.mass.gov/eea/docs/agr/farmproducts/docs/mdar-pollinator-plan-final-draft.pdf. We have until April 30th to email MDAR (Massachusetts Department of Agricultural Resources) supporting the use of the Pollinator Protection Plan …
It was really nice to attend the top bar beekeeping intensive weekend with Christy Hemenway of Gold Star Honey Bees. I got to meet other people who are interested in top bar beekeeping and more natural beekeeping. After speaking with Christy on the phone a bit last year, it was great to finally meet her. …
The season went by quickly, but I have learned so much. The one thing that I found most interesting was how in tune the bees were with my emotions. They really had a good sense of how I was feeling and they reacted accordingly. Once I figured that out, I worked very hard at keeping …
The weather has continued to stay unusually warm and the bees are eating more honey due to their increased activity. I had put sugar syrup feeders in the hives. When I checked on the bees a few days after I had installed the feeders, they had not been eating the sugar syrup. The bees in …
The weather here has been unusually warm and the bees have been flying quite a bit. I was out in the garden on Saturday watching the bees. It looked like the bees from the Langstroth hive we’re going into the top bar hive abs then going back into their hive. I am not completely sure …
Rachel called one Sunday afternoon and told me that she had not seen much activity from the hive. She had looked in the window and only saw two dead bees, she couldn’t see any others. I went over to check on the hive. It was getting late in the afternoon and cooling off quite a …
I have been thinking about winter preparation for the hives since before I installed the bees. There are so many different ideas and ways of doing things. The problem is that no one knows for sure what helps and what doesn’t. During the spring, summer, and fall the honeybee hives seems to run like a …
Best Bees came out and inspected the Langstroth hive. The beekeeper looked at one of the frames in the top deep and it was full of uncapped honey. She took out another frame and found the same thing. She decided to look into the middle deep. In the middle deep there was a lot of …
Now that I have completed an inspection on the top bar hive in my yard, it’s time to tackle the host top bar hive. I have put off inspecting this hive for a long time. The last couple of inspections were unsuccessful and really painful. I have some extra hands helping out with this inspection. …