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I dug into one of my hives earlier today and found what seems to be a lot of drones and drone brood. Workers are present in large numbers, but I don't think I've ever seen whole frames of drone...

I've got a bumble bee box. It came with a book I purchased called "The Humble Bumble Bee". About the same dimensions as a shoe box. Internally divided into two equal chambers with a removable top....

I picked up two last year. Just placed a brood box on top of them (with a couple of bricks to prop it up so as not to crush them). Both swarms climbed right in and I picked them up that night.

Look up "The Humble Bumble Bee Home". I usually keep a colony every year if I am lucky enough to find one.

It been mid fifties to low sixties. We're set to get our first "warm" spell towards the end of this week and it should make it into the mid 70's. Low 40's tonite, so I'm not sure they would have...

49 degrees and raining and I got a swarm call this morning. Took them out of brush pile waiting for pick up in a residential neighborhood. Not an ideal situation for survival so I am curious what...

As a follow up to my weather question, I have one more. Typically, when I open my hives this time of year the brood nest spans two supers vertically, but not all ten frames in either of them. I run...

I want to open my hives this Saturday and do relatively extensive checking for swarm cells. I'd also like to add some empty frames to open up the brood nest. Highs are supposed to be mid 60's. Is...

If they are bumble bees you'll see a nest close by. Normally they nest in places that provide some sort of insulation like bird houses with an old nest, insulation in walls, etc. The nest will be...

Haven't taught mine to fly from one box to the next, but I'll work on it :-). Funny thing was, I was convinced they were ground hornets when I got the call. The home owner was hysterical about the...

Picked up the easiest swarm of my short bee keeping career (6 years). They were in a front yard on the ground in a pile the size of a super. It was in a grove of trees so I'm assuming maybe a...

Mine are still bringing danelion pollen.

I moved mine last winter. About 20 miles. Loaded into the back of a pickup during the evening (temp about 18 degrees). Careful not to bounce them around too much. Worked out great.

Harvest away (the bear that is).

Requeened a hive this evening due to a constant chalkbrood problem that wouldn't clear up. Looking for confirmation that I followed good procedure. Found and destroyed the existing queen. Waited...

Thanks for the advice. I hate to just give up, but that's the route I'm leaning toward right now. I don't have the BKFD's book, but I'll stop by the local bookstore and read the pages referenced.

I have a hive that is perplexing me. Only made it through winter with a very small number of bees. Has struggled since spring. Always seems to be the same number of bees in the hive (roughly 3-4...

We get a couple of bumble bee hives in the barn every year (in the open insulation). I transplant one to the front yard where I can watch it from the porch all summer.

I am getting ready to pull honey for the first time. I want to "give" some of it back to a particular hive that doesn't seem to be doing so well. This is a different hive from the ones I am pulling...

Thanks!

Awhile ago someone posted a place in Ohio to buy queens. I can't remember it. Any ideas? If not, any other recommendations?

I was checking my hives over the weekend and noticed that what was once my strongest is now my weakest. This particular hive swarmed this spring and seems to have never caught up. I captured the...

I've got all my holes about 1inch below the curved end of the hand hold (all brood boxes and medium supers). Haven't been stung in the hand yet (as a result of lifting), although I've only been at...

I put my holes directly below the hand hold on the front of the hive. Rather than cork, I use dried corn cob ends to plug them. Bees seem to like them alot, espcially during flow periods.

Anybody have any experience with polystyrene hive bodies? I've got a source of free woodenware, so that's what I use. However, I have been itching to try one of Betterbee's polystyrene hives to see...