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I had some pretty dark old comb on many frames. Just curious how folks clean up the foundation after scraping off the comb or is that as far as the cleaning proceeds! Thought about using a...

Hi Everyone,
Curious if anyone has purchased a honey extractor from pigeon mountain trading company. Prices seem very reasonable (to the point where I want to make sure they are good quality). If...

I'm in Wisconsin where it's in the 30's and 40's for the rest of this week and not much warmer next week. I expect to be getting a call possibly this weekend letting me know my packages have...

I noticed late last fall I had 4 hives that seemed to be in a robbing freenzy. I reduced entrances and things seemed to have settled down. I'm not sure how long it had been going on, but when I...

Hello,
Does anyone here know much about the tolerance of bees to freezing? I cracked a few of my weak hives this past weekend (concerned about food supply) and of course had a few bees fly out to...

Hello,
I'm thinking about ordering some virgin queens this spring for a few of my hives (which will be queenless). Is there anything different about how virgin queens are introduced versus mated...

Hi Everyone,
One of my friends neighbors had a tree fall over last night. Apparently it has honey bees livining in it. I have 5 frames of drawn out comb plus frames of foundation I can use for a...

Thanks johng.

Hello,
I'm going to pick up a ripe queen cell tomorrow evening and install into a hive that has a queen but she is not laying on Saturday. If I pinch the queen and install the queen cell at the...

A great book about swarms (not really about making swarm traps although it provides the optimal dimensions of the box and entrance) is called Honeybee Democracy by Tom Seeley. I made a few traps...

Hi Everyone,
I have 5 nucs (each five frames) I started this summer. Not that winter is around the corner, but I've been wondering what is the best way to winterize nucs. I'm in Wisconsin (where...

Hello,
I'm planning on using the newspaper method to combine a weak hive with a hive that has a laying worker. Do you think this is an acceptable method to use for this issue?
Thanks,
Chris

Hello,
My hives are in an area that gets very windy. The last few winters I have put up windbocks (plywood) around the hives. I do have a large open shed where I could move the hives.

1: Is...

Hi Everyone,
I discovered about 10 frames that I had stored in my basment have wax moths. I caught it early enough where the the worst damage is on one frame that has probably 50% covered with the...

Hi PCM,
I believe I read it here a year or 2 ago. No published data as far as I know.
Chris

Hi All,
I have extra medium frames of honey that I was hoping the bees would move down to the deep frames of the 2-brood boxes in prep for winter. I tried putting an empty deep box (no frames) on...

Hi Everyone,
Just curious what people think about using HopGaurd for varroa mites.
Thanks,
Chris

Hi Adrian,
I have 2 deeps (brood boxes) then the medium honey supers. I actually have another hive that has a deep honey super that is all capped (with 2 deep brood boxes).

Hi Everyone,
I've pulled my share of the honey for this year and still have multiple med. supers that are full and capped. I thought I would save this for the bees to use this winter. Do I just...

Hi Everyone,
Is artificial insemination used much for queen production? Theorectically, could I collect drone sperm this summer and freeze it (like farmers do for bulls) and when March rolls around...

I don't know about anyone else here in Wisconsin, but the cold, windy and lack of 2 days in a row of sunshine is beggining to frustrate me! Not sure how the bees feel about it. We are suppose to...

Hi Everyone,
Just curious why bee's produce 2 different colored waxes. The nice white cappings for honey and then the brown wax for brood. Any thoughts on this appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris

I was inspecting one of my more prolific hives yesterday and initially thought I had 2 queens. Saw the queen on frame 2 then less than a minute later saw a queen 4 frames from that one. I ended up...

Don't wear a black fleece/fuzzy jacket and not smoke your hive (I was being lazy). Just wanted to peek in to make sure the queens were released in each hive. They thought I was some kind of furry...

I wonder why bees will not readily take sugar water when the temp is below 50 (at least this seems to be what I have seen), but will consume honey at the same temperature. I'm a little worried about...