Hey all you beekeepers Happy New Year!

Thus far it has been a very warm winter with only one small cold spell.  This is both good and bad as weaker colonies won't struggle as much to stay warm but all the colonies will consume more food as they are bound to be more acti...

Everything got off to a slow start this Spring and during Memorial day weekend I finally completed a structural removal!

The colony had been in the house for approximately 2 years and was VERY successful.  This was by far the largest population of honeybees I'd removed...

Ever wonder if the swarm with multiple queens have a favorite?  Here's a swarm I caught that had 3 virgin queens and clearly the girls had a favorite 

After catching the first queen I noticed the bees payed very little attention to her so I decided to keep looking....

 During colony inspection today I noticed that I broken open a queen cell.  I could see her abdomen and she was being very still.  I'm betting she was a bit confused as the cell shouldn't have opened behind her!

I did go in and find her to move her to another...

Well folks...didn't see this coming.  I went through all the colonies less than a week ago looking for swarm signs.  Must have missed a queen cell.

Now these girls have a new home, just not as far awayas they had planned I'm sure.

-Kevin

In the first picture you can see quite a few drone cells in the bottom middle of the foundationless frame. Enabling the bees to build the comb thier instinct tells them to build results in more drone brood.  Turns out to be good for queen rearing!

In the second picture...

Looking for love...the drone honeybee

After a late cold snap the girls are out on a crisp 47F day.  I left a couple of unused sugar boards leaning against my shed with the intention of picking them up later (2 weeks ago).  

The ever industrious girls are siezing the opportunity to improve their ch...

Brood rearing means lots of water will be required for the bees.  You'll see te girls drinking from any pool of water they can find.

We can't wait for our colonies to get growing but brood too early can trap the cluster without food in reach during a cold snap.  

These warm days we're getting is a good opportunity to make sure the girls have plenty of food.  As brood rearing starts in the next few we...