Spring is here! No wait, it isn’t, where are my gloves? Never mind, look at those blossoms—spring is here. Um, is that tulip actually shivering? Spring, gone again… Spring has somewhat sprung; BEE SEASON definitely has. SW Michigan has received a couple major package...
We’re getting swarmed (pun intended) with calls from new and first year beekeepers wondering about spring bee activities. Here are some of the FAQs, and my responses. As always, these are my answers. Others will have different opinions, experience and insights. How do...
These occasional warm days have probably revealed, for far too many newbees and plenty of us oldbees, that some colonies did not survive the winter. Whether you’ve just killed your first hive or your 41st, it still stings. The beekeeping learning curve is long and...
It’s the first week of January and we still have all but one of our hives alive, knock on wood! How do we know this? We knocked on wood. We’ve been (dreadfully) missing both our bees and sunshine, so when the clouds parted January 4, we did what I recommend all...
I’ve been keeping bees since 2008, and this is the first time I’ve been able to wish them a Merry Christmas in person. On one hand—that’s a good thing. Until I aggressively treated Varroa (this was the first year that I would classify my treatments as aggressive), I...
