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I had a Beesource member private message me about how a feeder works that he saw on my Photobucket page. He is looking for something simple (minimal carpentry involved) that will hold enough feed to...

I do catch swarms down here in Honduras, but I suspect it is more the Africanized bee than my trap hives. The trap hives I’ve designed, however, do work well for me. The way I’ve designed them and...

I usually make my starter strips by cutting newspaper or regular white photocopier paper into one-half inch strips and bathing it in melted wax. Putting it into melted wax two times has worked fine...

The entrances are about in the middle of the end pieces on my trap hives. Mine are about three-quarters inch high and four inches long. You may want to tack a piece of half-inch wire mesh over the...

I sometimes use a “candy frame” for feeding some of my tbh hives here in Honduras. It’s made to fit inside my Kenyan tbhs and will hold about five to six pounds of sugar. I like these for my hives...

This with my Africanized bees here in Honduras so take that into consideration. Also, I don’t do intensive management with my hives—sometimes none. Some I only enter to take honey.

So with that...

For those beekeepers who like to do cutouts and may not have seen this (because things get buried so fast over on the Bee Forum), I’ve had a thread there about a Partners of the Americas’...

For those top bar beekeepers who may not have seen this (because things get buried so fast over on the Bee Forum), I’ve had a thread there about a Partners of the Americas’ Farmer-to-Farmer...

Final thoughts on my Farmer to Farmer top bar hive assignment

My month of beekeeping in Jamaica is over and I have been back home in Honduras for about a week now. The whole Farmer to Farmer...

Cheech, I'm sorry we missed each other. There is a good chance that I will be going back to do some follow up work with the people in St. Mary and in Hannover. Hopefully it will work out next time....

Strawberry Fields Together cutout

About a week ago we decided to tackle our fifth colony cut out, this time in a duck ant nest at Stawberry Field Together, a small, laid-back resort/hotel next to...

Profile of a Jamaican commercial beekeeper

I was fortunate enough to be invited to spend a morning with a commercial beekeeper in one of his yards. The day following my top bar presentation in the...

Whiskers, fortunately there are no Africanized bees in Jamaica. It’s been a real pleasure to deal with bees here where I don’t have to where full protective gear like I must in Honduras. I went to...

JRG13--what you’re saying makes sense. I agree with you. If someone already has frame hives started, they can just go foundationless in the super and cut everything out. They get more wax. Space out...

Graham, sorry it’s taken a bit to respond. I double check with the people hosting my visit here and they say that yes indeed Jamaica will not import wax. They are very concerned about introducing bee...

Here are some more photos from Jamaica and some of the things we've done and that I've seen in the last couple days.

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For the whole month of July I’m here in Jamaica working on a Farmer to Farmer top bar beekeeping project funded by USAID and administer by Partners of the America. Right now we’re in the process of...

Odfrank,

You probably will beat me. Like I mentioned, I am limited by available equipment. I really need to make some more bait boxes for next year. The ponential is there to catch a lot of swarms...

Rafael,

If they are the same type of almond trees that we have in Honduras, I've had luck catching swarms in them also.

Two weeks should be enough to time. You are right about having to piggy...

By chance did you catch the swarm in the big mango tree that you mentioned to me?

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Tom

I made the rounds this weekend checking my trap hives--I've caught five new swarms within the last week or so. I actually thought the swarms were done for the season. For just about four weeks I...

Congratulations!

No perservatives or paint on my bait boxes. If I take care of them and not leave them out during the rainy season, the boxes will last me a good five seasons without problems. I also have to watch...

Cheech,

My bait boxes are actually just under 14 inches in width--the equvalent of ten bars (all mine are 1 3/8 inches in width). But like I said in my previous post, the bees can only build comb...

It's pieces of aluminum from printing press plates--like what they would use to print newpapers (I like to use recycled materials). I can get them fairly cheap and it helps to keep the box lighter....