Episode-217- Check In On The Top Bar Hive

The video for today's episode presents the thrive hive which is the sole remaining bee colony on my property. This colony has remained strong from the time it was placed in the top bar hive in April 2013. It was doing so well that I took three top bars full of brood (bee larvae and pupae), pollen and honey in early June in an attempt to rescue colonies B and C. That turned out to be a waste of...

Episode-216- Defend Honey Bee Colony From European Hornets

    Vespa crabro better known as the European hornet is an additional menace for honey bees that I see hovering around my hives. They typically can be seen in my backyard in northern Virginia between the months of July and September. Today's short video shows some of the steps I take to identify the presence or these hornets as well as the defensive and offensive measures in place to prevent...

Episode-215- Provide Water For The Honey Bees

             In today's episode I present four of the many ways in which water can be provided for honey bees. If you are a backyard beekeeper like me or wish to become one then a vital thing to consider is how to provide water for the bees. Sure, they could try to find it on their own and they will with possible consequences that may not be received well by the neighbors. Bees need water...

Episode-211- Fruitless Fall Book Review

Fruitless Fall book review: 1. What I learned The difference between the waggle and tremble dances foragers perform upon their return with goodies from the field. Foragers do waggle dances when recruiting others to a good nectar or pollen or plunder site. The tremble dance is what foragers do when in need of receivers of their bounty. If the two are in competition bees will head butt one another...

Episode-209- Get The Word Out About A World Without Bees

This episode was intended be a review of A World Without Bees but I left my notes elsewhere. So before that one I present A Fruitless Fall  by Rowan Jacobson, which is a play on words much like Silent Spring by Rachel Carson in 1962.   Fruitless Fall is no less foreboding in its depiction of a Fall without the buzz of the honey bee. But first a little more on the plight of the honey bee and...

Episode-208- Where Are The Bees In Colony C – Part 4 – Eggs, Larvae, And Hornets Oh My!

The saga of honey bee hive C continues and the colony struggles along. During today's inspection I saw eggs and larvae which could be reason to believe that the colony had a successful supercedure. There were a few of the large European hornets flying around the hive and that is not good for a young struggling colony. Thus, I added a crude home made robber screen to keep them and other unwelcome...

Episode-204- Where Are The Bees In Colony C – Part 3 – Despair Then Hope

Welcome to Where Are The Bees In Colony C - Part 3 - Despair Then Hope at ToDoListHome.com. If you have watched parts 1 and 2 you know it has been a frustrating start for one of the new honey bee colonies installed on April 22, 2013. This one month old colony was doing well and I made things worse as noted in Episode-203- Where are the bees in colony C – Part 2 – Down On Their Luck This...

Episode-203- Where are the bees in colony C – Part 2 – Down On Their Luck

Episode-203- Where are the bees in colony C - Part 2 - Down On Their Luck. The saga begins in earnest with this episode as the one month old colony is inspected and no eggs, larvae or queen are found. This is very disconcerting and I am not sure what could have happened to a brand new queen. If I did something to bring about her demise I will try to learn from the lesson. The inspection started...