Category Archives: Uncategorized

It is now mid-March here in Kentucky and temperatures are starting to get warm enough to inspect hives after the long sleep of winter. What do we look for? What should we want to see on the frames and what are our concerns? We should be looking for brood, food and bees.

First, check for brood, both larvae (uncapped brood) and pupae (capped brood). If it has been warm where you live (extended temperatures above 60°F) and the bees have been carrying in pollen, your colonies should be rearing brood. Look for larvae (uncapped brood) and pupae (capped brood).
          Photo by Mary Parnell Carney – click, hover over photo and click to enlarge

If you are seeing pollen being brought into the hive and frames of brood this will tell you that Continue reading →

This music video was uploaded to YouTube in 2009, but I just became aware of it. It is by the Canadian band Beast and the song is called Mr. Hurricane. The video was nominated for a Grammy award for Best Short Form Music Video in 2010. You must take a look!

How was it made? Well, I hate to disappoint beekeepers, but I think it was entirely created in a video studio. I still think it is pretty neat. You can view or read an interview with the video producer.

Beekeepers, growers, and non-beekeepers alike may all find this new Canadian pollination website interesting and helpful – http://www.pollinator.ca/canpolin/about.html#. Though produced in Canada, the information is relevant to all of North America and beyond. For the beekeeper, there are detailed guides for pollination of different crops, information on pollination contracts, pesticides, and more. Growers will be aided by much of the same information as well as by suggestions on numbers of hives needed to provide adequate pollination. The general public and students may learn from the sections on the basic biology of pollination of flowering plants, pollination by honey bees, non-honey bee pollination, and non-insect pollination. The guide is also an excellent reference for middle and high school students’ research papers.

Did you detect an unusual smell in your beeyard this fall? Every autumn brings calls from beekeepers about a funny, funky, dirty socks odor emanating from their beeyards and hives. So what’s that smell? It probably comes from aster or goldenrod nectar. This funky odor can be detected upon opening a hive, and sometimes even from outside it. In 2011, it was so prominent that it could be picked up from my driveway – 25 feet from the apiary. While ripened aster and goldenrod honeys have a strong flavor and so are less preferred by some, they would not be considered bad-tasting. However, their raw nectar often produces a sour, unpleasant odor which can permeate the hive and the apiary.

There are many species and varieties of aster. The common nectar source plants are described as small flower asters, and vary in color. I commonly see two types, Continue reading →

After posting the recent article on varroa control research, I received several questions regarding current varroa treatment. We have two classes of products to control varroa. The first consists of the older, more toxic chemicals, Apistan (with active ingredient fluvalinate), and Check-Mite Plus (active ingredient coumaphos.) These are traditional agricultural pesticides which have been in use for many years, and most beekeeping professionals have serious concerns about their negative effects upon honey bees. In addition, due to the length of time they have been employed to control varroa, the mites have developed varying degrees of resistance to them, rendering these chemicals less effective than they once were. There is a newer generation of varroa control products on the market, products like ApiLife VAR, ApiGuard, the Miteaway Quick Strip and Hop Guard. These products use more natural materials like thymol, formic acid and hop oil. These products are considered much safer for bees, if used correctly, and they are effective.

I recommend beekeepers use these newer line of products. I also recommend that you contact your apiculture extension specialist or your local bee inspector for advice. Some products may work better than others in your area. And always follow the label instructions that come with the product.

It is fall, which means cool nights, frost in some places, and Friday night high school football. It also means that it’s time to make sure our hives are ready for winter, and time to give the bees some assistance where needed.

While it is possible for bees to prepare themselves for the big sleep of winter without the intervention of a beekeeper – feral colonies have been doing so for eons – with good management, beekeepers can make hives better prepared for the hardships of winter. And by doing our job as beekeepers, we can improve on the survival rates of managed colonies over those of unmanaged (feral) colonies. Actually bees don’t sleep in winter; Phil sleeps more in winter. Bee cluster together, eat honey, and flex their wing muscles to produce heat. They do not hibernate. (I would like to.) Bees are very much awake – most of the time. Continue reading →