Category: Beekeeping
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Cleaning Up and Wood Work
The winter comes and that means that it is time to prepare for next year. Time to clean up last years boxes and frames that are not being used and get ready new boxes and new frames for the new year. Last year was a growing year – sudden with the addition of 6 new…
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New Observation Hive
Just completed a new observation hive for my educational display at the Hummingbird Farm this weekend for the Whidbey Island Farm Tour on Saturday, September 20th – 10am to 4pm. I hope to see you there! The observation hive is a modified version of the Tew observation hive (PDF) Can’t wait to get some bees in…
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SLB Wins 2014 Best Of Show
I’ve never entered anything into the fair, or any other contest before. Another Whidbey Island beekeeper asked me if I would be interested. I never thought of the idea of someone judging my honey. Well, except for my customers. This would be an official judgement. Someone who would break down and score my honey under…
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Queen rearing update
Checked my queen cells in the finisher to see how many were capped. Seven. 7 out of 12 …frankly, I’m pleased even if that is technically an “F“. It’s my first attempt at grafting, so, yeah, I’m pleased. I think I need to work on creating better starters …packing them more. I should be able to…
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The Honey Jars Arrived!
The honey jars for 2014 have arrived! Ooh! I think they’ll look good with our new labels! Even better when filled with our honey!
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Raising Local Honey Bee Queens on Whidbey
I’m very interested in locally raised queens. As many beekeepers say, “Beekeeping is local.” and I agree. A locally raised queen has a “leg up” in our environment compared to one bought and shipped from hundreds of miles away. This is my first queen rearing attempt and these pictures are the result of my first…
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Bee Removal On Whidbey Island
I was called to do a cut out which is something I don’t usually do but as long as the owner was willing to do the work opening up the home to gain access to the bees, I would get the bees and take them away. The owner proceeded to remove trimming and then the…
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Trying to prevent robbing
I just did a cut down split. When you do so, the new hive might have foragers and the idea is that they’ll go back to the old hive. And they did. And also told their sisters where to go get some fresh syrup and they started robbing the new hive. So I added a…
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The First Package Install Wasn’t Mine
Spring is here and that means new bees — either from nucs (small starter hives) or packages. A package is solely a box of bees that were shaken into it, along with a queen and a can of syrup. Yesterday I was able to spend a bit of time with a fellow beekeeper that just brought…
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Honey Bee On Plum Blossom
It’s nice to see the fruit trees opening up here on Whidbey Island and that the honey bees are visiting them. It’s almost time for swarm season, so I inspected the hive. No cause for concern yet. In the meantime, it is good to see the bees out collecting pollen and increasing the size of…