SWARMS
It's a bee colony's reproductive behavior. Can you and should you stop it in your apiary? How to catch swarms, and more.
PREDATORS
Yes, bees have predators! Learn how to identify them and prepare your colonies for possible threats.
PREDATORS
Yes, bees have predators! Learn how to identify them and prepare your colonies for possible threats.
SOCIAL MEDIA
A great way to get information, both good and bad, from fellow hobby beekeepers.
SOCIAL MEDIA
A great way to get information, both good and bad, from fellow hobby beekeepers.
SOCIAL MEDIA
A great way to get information, both good and bad, from fellow hobby beekeepers.
WAX & OTHER HIVE PRODUCTS
Wax, propolis, pollin, bee venim for lip balm, tinctures, soap and more. It's not just about the honey!
PREDATORS
Yes, bees have predators! Learn how to identify them and prepare your colonies for possible threats.
SOCIAL MEDIA
A great way to get information, both good and bad, from fellow hobby beekeepers.
SOCIAL MEDIA
A great way to get information, both good and bad, from fellow hobby beekeepers.
PREDATORS
Yes, bees have predators! Learn how to identify them and prepare your colonies for possible threats.
PREDATORS
Yes, bees have predators! Learn how to identify them and prepare your colonies for possible threats.
PREDATORS
Yes, bees have predators! Learn how to identify them and prepare your colonies for possible threats.
PREDATORS
Yes, bees have predators! Learn how to identify them and prepare your colonies for possible threats.
SOCIAL MEDIA
A great way to get information, both good and bad, from fellow hobby beekeepers.
SOCIAL MEDIA
A great way to get information, both good and bad, from fellow hobby beekeepers.
SOCIAL MEDIA
A great way to get information, both good and bad, from fellow hobby beekeepers.
HONEY
Learn everything you never knew you didn't know about honey! Sweeeet!!
Let's start from the beginning, just how do bees make honey? As honey bees go from flower to flower they are collecting pollen and nectar. Bees have a long tongue (proboscis) that they use like a straw to suck nectar out of flowers. The nectar is temporarily stored in a 'honey stomach' where it is not digested. Upon returning to the hive, a younger 'house bee' sucks the nectar from the worker's honey stomach, adds her own enzymes to the nectar to break it down into a simple syrup. She then distributes this syrup into cells of wax comb which have already been prepared.
But it's not honey yet! The bees now wait (and help) evaporate excess moisture until the honey has a 17-18% moisture content... wet enough to be liquid, but dry enough to not ferment. Lastly, when the honey is the perfect consistency, the bees cover each cell with wax. That's a very brief explanation of an extraordinary process. For a deeper dive, here are some links with much more detail.
https://www.perfectbee.com/learn-about-bees/the-life-of-bees/how-do-bees-make-honey
https://www.beeculture.com/catch-the-buzz-how-do-honey-bees-make-honey/
https://www.sciencefocus.com/nature/how-do-bees-make-honey/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZlEjDLJCmg
HONEY HARVESTING
The three most common methods of harvesting honey are the Crush & Strain, Frame Spinning, and Cutting Comb.
TYPES OF HONEY
Honey comes in as many different varieties and flavors as there are flowers... more than could ever be covered here. So let's take a deeper dive into what makes up cut comb honey, creamed/crystalized honey, Manuka honey, and more...
IS YOUR HONEY REAL?!
This is actually a serious question, especially with the millions of pounds of honey imported into the U.S. each year.