Ben

Got me some more bees! First new package of bees from Gilsum New Hampshire. Thanks Bee Tree Farm and The New Hampshire Honey Bee for a great package pickup! http://nhhoneybee.com/  Looking forward to 2 more pickups within the next month! Also, looking forward to helping you pick up your bees from McCormack’s Farm on Sunday (at least that’s the current plan). 

Did a hive-side Beekeeping consult last week! They wanted to know if the bees were ready for winter. 2 hives, but one didn’t make it. It was a late swarm that was left to its own devices. The pic with the wasp on it has lots of varroa pee in the cells telling me that this hive was likely too weak to deal with its local varroa population. They may have left weeks ago, there were no bees in the hive. The other hive is great though! Nice big cluster, plenty of stores. Will check back in January to see how they’re doing.

This year’s wares!!!!!

Kevin of Beekeeper’s Corner Podcast turned me into an entire segment!!!!!!!!!!!!

I use this kind of hive and it comes in nearly any size you need. I use 5 frame hives for small nucleus colonies. I use 8 frame hives experimentally to see if they work well in my area (smaller hive body to maintain for the bees in the winter). I also use a lot of 10 frame equipment simply because that is what I started with and is what is mostly used. Something of note when using a Langstroth hive is that the design is for the beekeeper's benefit. It may or may not be the best home from the bee's perspective. 

This website is a great addition to our beekeeping community! A lot of good information included in her beginner’s guide! Thanks, Anita!

First ever sighting of #smallhivebeetle in my hives. New Englanders don't normally have to worry about these because of our harsh winters... But our extended summer may be a problem! These little buggars can cause damage to comb and eat the bees' precious honey. #learnandadapt #climatechange?

Rendered some more wax this year! Added it to the pile. #mindyourownbeeswax

A post shared by @bennybeehoney on Oct 11, 2017 at 7:14pm PDT

#mitecheck #miteathon My hives are looking really great! No more than 1% mite infestation observed. Now it's just a matter of feeding to get their weight up and moving frames/boxes around for winter configuration!

#beekeeping #getsumnucs these bees are gonna do great! I know it!

www.bennybeehoney.com  WHERE DO I PUT THE BEES? This question is not necessarily simple to answer. There are a large number of possible places that bees can live successfully.  The important thing is that the bees have access to what they need to survive. So, what do they need to survive? They need a sheltered location in which they can maintain 95° F when rearing brood (baby bees). They need access to water preferentially within a mile. They need a varied source of nectar and pollen within a 3-mile radius (the more flowers the better!). And ideally, they need a spot where the sun won't overheat them and the shade won't keep them too cool and moist. Consider placing the bee hives on some kind of stand so that the woodwork will last longer because you're avoiding rot caused by too much moisture. The other problem we have to think about when placing bees is the wildlife. Keeping bees ~20 yards away from the treeline of your local wooded area has served my bees quite well. Depending on where your bees live, you have to account for seasonal weather patterns.  Here in New England, we're subject to all manner of weather. The weather that worries me most as a beekeeper is extreme wind, extreme cold, the combination of the two and lightning. The wind can blow my hives over. The extreme cold can reduce honey stores to dangerously low limits. The wind and cold makes the cold even worse, and lightning makes trees fall down sometimes... and trees could fall on my bees... which would be a mighty mess to clean up! Here, I show an example of one of my early bee yards. No bee yard is "perfect" but instead is a combination of all of the choices you have to make as a keeper.  My bees are on wooden pallets in a little "nook" bordered by two hills, a field and a line of trees. The hills guide heavy rains just slightly away from my hives as they are about a yard elevated above the lowest local point. This is important because water damage is a real problem in the same way that water damage is bad for a house! The hills also provide some wind protection in cooperation with the line of trees. I have never tied down my hives in this location and even so have never had the hives blown over. Honestly, I think I should have to tie down my hives but I believe they've avoided toppling thus far because of the immediate landscape around them.  This particular apiary gets morning sun and afternoon shade. Ideally, we might have at least a little midday shade but in my climate, we only get a few REALLY hot days that the bees can't deal with. Overall, keep a weather eye out! It matters where you put your bees, but they need sun, protection from wind, food and water. The ability to take pretty pictures each season of the year is a mere secondary bonus.

Well... there’s no longer any need for me to teach beekeeping. #brielle just says it all... #toocute #beekeeping