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I'm in my second year of beek-ing and have had the worst time this year keeping my two hives queenright.

The climate is high desert (7000' elev), pretty poor foraging, can snow as late as May and...

Good to know. I guess my bees will be mating with wild friends, since there's no other beekeepers (that I know of) in my area. Its pretty rough in terms of foraging.

I wonder how far drones will...

Thanks for the encouragement. We've been having sun and up to 55' for an hour, suddenly followed by a snowfall for 15 minutes, then the sun is back out and time to take off the jacket....crazy...

When your hive starts making drones in the spring, what does that tell you? That they are ready to requeen or swarm? Or is the presence of drones just part of all brood cycles?

Also, do you...

Okay, not sure what to do at this point....

This is the second season for my first hive. They wintered in double deeps, and had plenty of fall feeding. The first full inspection on April 9th...

Thanks for all the advice. I'll be slipping in a frame or two of the small cell before winter, just to see how they take to it. Otherwise I think I'd be safer to wait till spring when this new...

Thanks Derek! : )

A local person offered to sell her top bar hive with glass observation window, so maybe that will work out instead of an indoor ob hive. I would love to hear them in my room all...

bhfury-
Thanks for the info about your hives in Farmington, and the welcome! I'm interested to hear how your wintering goes, and if you make out with the 25 you're hoping for next year. We'd like...

Thanks Derek! Was inspired by your posts btw :)

I'd like to build an observation hive this winter to start a colony in the spring - anyone have recommendations for the best plans?

I'd like it to be at least 4 deep frames or larger.
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These are things people actually said in court, word for word, taken down and now published by court reporters.

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Judge: "Well, Sir, I have reviewed this...

bhfury - how are things in Farmington? How many hives do you have? I'm interested hearing about how beekeepers in NM cope with our extremes of climate.

It seems that my hive is doing better -...

I'm a first year beekeeper with one colony started from a nuc about 1 month ago. I've been following some of threads about small cell beekeeping, and also have read BWrangler's articles on his...

Thanks for the advice. I just refilled another 1/2 gallon baggie today. A little spilled down the combs and ran out the entrance, and boy is it attracting other insects! My bees are fighting off...

Hi - I'm just getting started and wondering if I'm doing the right thing...

We got our first nuc hive about 3 weeks ago on July 17th. Put the four frames into our 10 frame brood box. The 4...

We just got our first hive on July 17th - a nuc from the local bee-master.

So far, so good....however it seems there is not enough nectar flow in our area as the bees are very slowly drawing out...