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Lauri, that is a totally cool nuc box! Thanks for all the expert advice. If that ever happens again I might be a little more prepared. I got pictures from coworkers so you can now see the whole saga....

Oh, I should mention that I work at a federal facility that's been real antsy since 9/11. They wouldn't let me bring in my smoker and probably would have frowned on chemicals such as "Bee Go".

This afternoon at work a friend of mine emailed me that there was a swarm in the parking lot. She's not a beekeeper, so I thought to myself "Sure, a 'swarm'. It's probably nothing but I better go...

If you subscribed to this thread I thought you might like an update. My surviving hive is going gangbusters - I've already harvested about 50 lbs of honey and think I can reasonably expect that much...

I had my baby October 2010 (my second year beekeeping) and I'm a public health microbiologist, so I can make some educated guesses here. I wouldn't worry about stings too much. If you're not allergic...

I'd never heard that powdered sugar actually killed bees! I know people who think it doesn't do any good, but I didn't think it could cause harm. I will certainly keep an eye on that.
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I don't have any sunny place on my property to place them. In the winter there's no leaf cover, but in the summer they're in dappled shade. I had a bit of a problem with SHBs the first year but not...

Lillith had one full medium box. Galadriel has two, but she had overwintered in somewhat less than one the year before.



I've never had more than 3 boxes at a time! What am I doing wrong?...

All of my equipment is 8 frame medium boxes. I left the SBB open and just put in an entrance reducer (not a mouse guard) in November - the same as last year. The dead hive had mostly filled the...

This is mostly a vent but I am also interested in all opinions on going forward. I started beekeeping in April 2009 with two packages from Rossman which is less than 100 miles from here. Both queens...

Some enzymes are more active in an acidic environment so they might only be good when ingested as opposed to applied topically or such. I've never heard of a true enzyme that was negatively affected...

I have 2 hives now and would like to get to 10 with a combination of splits, swarms, and a couple of packages.

Did anyone else see this? I'm not sure whether to lament the way we frivolously poison the environment or celebrate the ingenious efficiency of the honeybee.
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You may be right, Arthur. It may have been too late before I saw live larvae (plural - there are usually one or two, not half a dozen.) They just quickly made a bad situation irreparable. SHB didn't...

Sorry to hijack the conversation, but SHBs are my nemesis! It's not the adults that do the damage but their larvae. You will always have SHBs if you live below the Mason-Dixon. It's how your bees...

There may be some regional preferences at play here. Arthur is in Texas and his temperatures may be blistering where a little afternoon shade is appreciated by everyone. In my part of GA it can be...

I have all kinds of problems with small hive beetles in my shady apiary. If I had the option I'd put my hives in full sunlight. It's also easier to see eggs and small larvae when there's full sun...

I'm a second year beekeeper who could use some advice. My hive made it through the winter and seemed to be progressing "according to the books" but now I don't know what's going on. The ladies looked...

They cast up the usual suspects: diatomaceous earth, H. indica nematodes, sunny yards, etc. It was suggested that everyone try a combination. There's no panacea for SHB, alas!

I got the impression...

In my short course last year, someone said that SHBs could live off melons when they weren't mooching in a hive. He said large compost piles with lots of vegetable matter like on a large farm could...

That means keeping the temperature of the honey at 120 degrees for 24 hrs, not just heating it that long. It may take you up to 48 hours to achieve a constant sporicidal temperature. Even then,...

From the BeeWeaver FAQs:

Q. Is the BeeWeaver Breed Africanized?
+ A

Our mating grounds are in an area where Africanized bees have been found. We feel it did effect our stock's temperament for...

Perhaps a little background is warranted. I have an overwintered hive that got superseded last year, have a package on order from Rossman, and am on a local swarm list. So, I will have lots of local...

I'm thinking of doing a small split in May from my overwintered hive and giving the nuc a BeeWeaver queen. Their description seems perfect for my area, riddled with SHBs and mites of all sorts. What...

My sister and father have Crohn's, I happen to be a scientist, and am also (obviously) a beek. I haven't seen much in the peer-reviewed journals about apitherapy for Crohn's but I wouldn't discount...