Package Start-Up Tips

Lots of packages arriving in SW Michigan this week and next. Following are suggestions for dealing with a few rare, but alarming, install issues, and some key first-week advice. Install Issues A sealed feeder can! (NOT GOOD) This has happened to two beekeepers I’ve...

Letting Them Bee

Bee season has started in Michigan, but I’m ever-so-attentively managing a single bee—a ba-bee, in Oregon. Our first grandchild’s parents returned to work in April, and Grandpy and I are totally enthralled with little Thomas. I don’t know how we’ll ever leave...

Easy Package Installations

Oh my. I just looked at my “recent” posts … and it has been since December. So sorry; I’ll try to do better! Part of that is because I post frequently on my Facebook page, “Charlotte Hubbard, Beekeeper and …” I also post on...

Dead December Bees

In these dwindling days of 2016, we SW Michigan beekeepers wouldn’t normally know the status of our colonies. But Mother Nature wanted us to give us more to worry about than the peaceful transition of democracy and whether Detroit beats Green Bay. Temps in the mid-50s...

Winter Prep

The most important thing you can do to prepare for winter is to ensure your colonies are healthy. Hopefully you’ve been monitoring religiously for mites, treating if need bee, and have the counts under control. For any colonies that don’t make it through...