Category: Beekeeping
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Thank you!
2015 has been an exciting year in beekeeping. I started the 2014-2015 winter with ten hives, over wintering seven hives, losing three. Easter brought me my first swarm call of the year. One day, I had 4 hive inspecitions, queen cell removal and installation, and 3 swarm calls. That was a busy day! The blackberry…
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This Is Not A Honey Bee Hive
When the opportunity presents itself, I’m trying to take pictures of those insects commonly mistaken for honey bees or honey bee hives. This is a Bald Faced Hornet’s nest (which isn’t even a hornet). The Bald Faced Hornet is commonly seen around beehives though and can be quite harmful to the honey bee. I’m not…
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A Honeycomb Frame For A Wedding
I received a text from Lisa Phillips of Round Tuit Farms asking if I have a perfect frame of honey with nice fresh white cappings for someone who wanted a full frame of honeycomb for a wedding. I had just brought in a box of honey comb to process – so yes, I did and just…
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Getting The Bees Ready For Winter
You get past the honey harvest and there’s August – this is when you start getting the hives ready for winter. Yes – already. Time to make any increases, requeen, and make sure you young hives have enough stores to get through winter. Here’s a rare picture of me working the bees.
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Harvesting Honey and Raising Queens
With the Whidbey Island wild blackberries pretty much done, it is almost time to harvest honey. In fact I did harvest some honey from one of the backyard hives. A nice taste, strong honey with a slightly spicy touch at the end. Lighter in color from last year though. Always interesting to see how it…
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It’s Swarm Season On Whidbey!
I’ve only received a few but myself and others have been busy collecting lots of swarms recently. Most beekeepers want to save the bees and do free honey bee swarm removals. On one day, I received 3 calls. One swarm was mine – the same one that swarmed the day prior (read: http://shadylanebees.com/better-swarm-yours/). The second swarm…
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A Better Swarm Is When It Isn’t Yours
Caught a swarm in North Oak Harbor, close to Deception Pass on Whidbey Island. Unfortunately it was a swarm from one of my hives. No problem though, just have to make lemonade from those lemons and roll with what the bees throw at ya. Sometime you hope you’re guiding the bees but most of…
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Rearing Queens
I was glad to attend a workshop with Seth Smith of the Valley’s Buzz in Concrete, Wa on how to raise and graft queens. Learning how to raise your own queens expands local honey bee genetics, use local queens instead of those purchased from the southern states and allow you to increase your apiary with…
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Don’t spray when blooming!
There are lots of reasons to spray your fruit trees, organically or otherwise. But please don’t spray your trees when they are in bloom. Even fungicides can be detrimental to the honey bee (and many other native pollinators) in certain (and not-infrequent) circumstances. There’s no reason to spray your tree when it is blooming. This…
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Catching A Swarm on Whidbey
A beautiful Easter Sunday here on the Island and I get a swarm call (thanks to Lisa of Round Tuit Farms for the referral) about a swarm of bees outside an Oak Harbor home. I rush over and there’s a nice clump of bees hanging on some wisteria. So take a moment to picture this.…