Search:

Hmmm... It's my understanding the workers are actually the ones who control what the queen is doing - whether laying or otherwise. Certainly a queen who *cannot* lay will not lay even when she is...

I'm good at breaking things that aren't already broken, so in this case my plan is to watch her/them and see what happens. I did put in a frame of eggs/young brood from another healthy colony, and...

I have a colony from a removal done earlier this year that is queenright but completely broodless. I have seen the queen as recently as this week - she looks healthy and actually looks like she is...

If you read my post about using sulfur to kill a colony, you know I had my first encounter with AFB this week. The colony was on a screened bottom board, sitting on a double stand.

The bottom...

I had my first experience killing a colony with AFB this week, and wanted to pass along my experience using sulfur in a smoker to kill them.

I'd read here about using sulfur, and decided to give...

Ha! Haven't figured that part out yet. This will be an experiment, so it won't be done large-scale - probably just 2 (of my 15 or so) hives...



Feeding? In the fall?

Well... What I usually...

By the lack of replies, I take it I am breaking new ground? Nice! :)

-Pete

Thanks to Michael Bush, Mountaincamp, and BWrangler, I have come up with a new plan for my winter bee feed. Before I try it out, I'm wondering if anyone else has jumped to the same conclusion I...

I drop all of mine into a tall, narrow jar filled with grain alcohol. Once it settles, I skim off the clear tincture and put it into dropper bottles I buy at the local health food store.

I buy...

While much of what George has to say is relevant, bear in mind that some of his suggestions might be becoming a bit dated. George was a scientist, and I suspect he would have been the first to remind...

I've put my INDEXED (OK, partially indexed) copies of George Imirie's Pink Pages back online after nearly two days of cleaning up and reformatting. If you've been looking for these, sorry - I let my...

A longer-term suggestion...

Consider acquiring feral bees via swarm calls, removals, etc, then test them to select lines that do well without treatment. See some of the other threads for (lots...

BTW, I now charge $100/hr with a $250 minimum. I price most of my jobs by the hour, though I price some jobs (where I have a reasonably good idea how long the job will take) by the job - usually in...

I am not a lawyer. Use the below at your own risk - I assume NO RESPONSIBILITY should you decide to use any or all of the following verbiage.

Constructive criticism is welcome.

AGAIN: YOU...

For the backyard beekeeper (two or three hives), you can keep track with different colored thumbtacks on the frames. Monitor what's blooming at any one time, and stick the thumbtacks on the frames...

It's tougher to say b/c it sounds like there was some time between when the colony died and when you noticed it. How much nectar is there in the area? I couldn't tell from your description if all 3...

Dropped in on my most remote yard a few days ago to find one nuc (removal) dead without a single drop of honey anywhere in the hive. Very little if any honey in the other new removal colonies; only...

Any reason why I wouldn't want to store my extracted honey supers on top of my hives? Just trying to figure out my options aside from PDB and B401 AKA BT.

Thanks!

-Pete

Yesterday I got a bee call. When I got there around 7 PM, there were approx 50 dead (sprayed) bees inside the building, but I could see no activity outside the building nor inside the building above...

Nice. I'm starting to get removal calls here in southeast PA - not long before the swarm calls start coming in!

I'm in PA outside Philadelphia.

I charge by the hour - $75, with a two hour minimum. Thinking about upping this by $10 or $20 - what are others charging in the PA/NJ/NY area?

When I first...

Thanks all

I'm giving them the benefit of the doubt - I put 1:1 on these two yesterday, then made shims in the afternoon so I could put formic on all of my hives today - just finished.

We do...

Did full inspections of my surviving 16 (out of 18 :O) hives yesterday. All looked to be in good shape save two. In these two, I saw queens but no brood. The populations were not so low that I was...

I just got a very nice PDF from NOD (the makers of Mite-Away) describing exactly how to figure out when your spring treatment window is.

Go to the Mite-Away home page, then click on the "Free for...

Did a quick check last weekend - I lost two hives by Feb (one to starvation (late removal - didn't put up stores) and one to varroa/virus). As of last weekend the remaining 16 were all looking good!...