Category: Bees
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Harvested The Last Dugualla Honey
This year I’m bottling (jarring?) my Whidbey Island honey locations separately. Yesterday I harvested the last pull of honey from the Dugualla hives. Just one box, 22 jars so far and I might get another jar or two out of this batch (I don’t heat my honey, so it flows a bit slowly). Earlier in…
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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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The 2015 Blackberry Bloom
It has started! The 2015 Himalayan blackberry bloom has begun! Ready or not, this is what we on Whidbey Island have been waiting for. This is our primary honey flow ..really, the only once that matters for harvesting honey. The Himalayan blackberries is Whidbey Island’s most important nectar producer for honey bees and accounts for…
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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.…
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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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Thank you all for a wonderful 2014!
We’re out! No more honey til 2015. What a wonderful year though! And thanks to all of you, our honey was a hit! Now it is time to get the bees ready for winter. Nice and fat and ready for the cool, wet season.I just want to thank all of you and I also want to thank…