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I am also in Florida, though north (Alachua County). You can ask a doctor to test you for allergies...even if you're not, you may find like me that you live in fear of being stung until it happens....

These are well-known books -- I've read Constructive Beekeeping a couple of times and am still trying to understand just how ventilation works, especially given contradictory findings about entrance...

A beek on the top bar FB uses this same method but with 2 pieces of wire mesh, essentially forming a clamp -- sort of combines the best of hair clip (which failed miserably for me:-)) and your rescue...

Both hives are down to a handful of bees and their survival appears doubtful. A few days ago I still had the split queen, but I haven't seen the old queen for a few weeks. Now there are so few bees...

Would using a periscope entrance (a la Phil Chandler) help prevent robbing? Particularly if a piece of hardware cloth just large enough for workers to get through were placed over the entrance -- the...

The droppings are my problem, too. I have many more on Mama Hive, my first one with a gabled roof, eco floor, and a "ledge" that was added as a last-minute fix and has proved a bad idea. To raise the...

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughts. Starvation seemed unlikely to me, too, and there was neither honey or pollen left in the hive. I don't recall them ever having much in the way of capped honey,...

Hi, All.

It's been a while since I checked in. And it's been an interesting second season. Thus far, of 5 new colonies I've started, I'm batting 0 for 5. Sigh. Three I can attribute to things...

:D

Ditto:D!

Went to the hives to move a bar of brood comb over to the split (which finally has a genuine queen cell) and decided to wait a few minutes while the new foragers began their training:D
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I didn't know Anarchy had a FL apiary! Last time I looked them up, it was only in NY. Thanks for the tip on Sierra's Bees.

Hmm. I did not know this. My assumption is that they'd ship from GA, but I didn't ask.

Two sources that I know of: BeeWeaver, in E. Texas, and Goldstar Honeybees, whose bees are raised in GA. Both sellers are treatment free; both feature "mutt" bees, though BeeWeaver seems to have a...

That's good to know! They ate 12 bars of honey in 2 weeks back in February, so I was expecting something to change. My guess is they probably swarmed, though I'm not sure of that. But all of those...

Hi, All. Boy, I can't tell you how much I wish I had your experienced eyes during inspections now. Last year, it was all pretty straightforward. Now, I'm not sure what I am seeing!

I did a fairly...

I've confirmed that I'm not allergic to bee stings;). Though I don't see myself rushing to go gloveless, the sting was not that bad all in all -- I was wearing nitrile garden gloves, so the stinger...

LOL! That's pretty much what I say about men...

I can attest that hanging the queen cage can cause crooked comb, so if you go with that method (I did), be sure to correct problems quickly (I...

If you need a queen, you might be able to find one locally. While most of our local major suppliers are already spoken for, many backyarders are letting people know they've got swarm cell queens...

They were not unvented. The seller uses a pretty cool plastic device with different kinds of exit holes, from fully open, to queen excluder, to vent holes.

The inside of the hive does have those streaks. That is what worries me most. I pulled every dead bee I could find. There are still some with their bodies buried in cells. But do I need to move them...

They were sealed in for the trip home. I was told not to open them at night, but I think I should have. They were placed in their new hive the next morning, and it was chillier than 50 -- about 40....

I bought my first nuc last week. I was so anxious to get a nuc from an actual TBH-er that I ignored bad weather and bad timing. Bees came home to pouring rain, at night, so couldn't be hived until...

I struggle with this, too, though it seems to depend on the hive. I just bought a nuc (not doing all that well, unfortunately), and the moment the hive gets opened, they come out to hang out on the...

Aah, thank you, Michael.