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...

Carpenter Bees Bouncing Back In The Bee Balm Video

Xylocopa virginica The Eastern Carpenter Bee is alive and doing well in my back and front yards. There are lots of them around and they seem to be easily please with any of my many flowers. the honey bees...not so much. Although I do have plenty of them bringing out the cucumbers and squash quite successfully this year. It's nice have these bees working the bee balm. I got some last year at...

Episode-196- Inspect The Top Bar Hive For Eggs And More

This is a pretty cool video of the latest top bar hive inspection. I show how I inspect and manage the hive and it is wonderful to see so many active bees raising brood and making a real home sweet home. The other two hives in the yard are Langstroth hives and they are struggling with raising new queens in both. But this hive is the Thrive Hive. It is a kick ass colony really gearing up for...

Episode-188- Make My Own Screened Bottom Board Sheets

This episode shows how I make my mite drop count boards with corrugated plastic sheets I got online cheap from Signwarehouse.com. I had been looking for a long time for a cheap supply of co plastic sheets because just one from the beekeeping supply companies costs $5 (shipping not included). That's ridiculous! From Signwarehouse I got 10, 24 inch by 18 inch sheets for $10 (shipping not included...