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I too have started a number of unintentional fires with my smoker. Here are two safety practices that are essential for me now: Keep a water pressurized hose [shut off valve on the end] at the bee yards that have lots of combustible items such as dry grass, wood chips, etc. At moments notice...

Me too! I learned a lot. Thank you for posting!

Great stories! A couple of words of caution... Stay hydrated when working in a bee suit on super hot days and also take some cool down breaks... One day I was working for hours in 100+ degree temps with my wife and a friend. Next thing you know, I am laying on the ground, unable to get...

Nice write up!

We've used Costco sugar for years...

31 Atmospheric rivers, 73 ft. of snow, massive wild flower blooms in California...can it get any better for the bees? Honeybees here had a challenging time due to massive levels of rain and snow. Most honeybees in our locale couldn't even fly to pollinate the almonds this year to too cold and...

Well, how are you honeybees now? Still going strong?

There have been times when we are super busy and do not have time to split a colony that is bursting at the seams...and we have actually stacked 5+ supers on colonies...it doesn't hurt, but over the years I started to notice a pattern where some of the super large colonies began to get hot...

Hi everyone! Hope everyone is ok! So sorry, haven't been able to get into my account for a long, long time! Lost the password, and couldn't get in until this evening when I was fortunate enough to finally guess it! Anyway, as you can see, we are still catching the little critters... Not...

Excellent posts fellow beeks! I have a few suggestions that may be helpful. 1. If you live in the northern states the best honeybee I have found for strong over-wintering is the Carniolan honey bee. No joke! I have pulled frames in January that were 85% full of sealed brood and this is...

Beekissed, Thank you for the super informative post. I was beginning to think I was the only person that was struggling with trimming the hooves! Katahdin...wow, that is the exact breed we were gonna experiment with next. My neighbor offered to sell me some 8 week old lambs...but our ranch...

Wow, haven't checked this thread out in many, many moons! Here's some of my thoughts after trying many, many different methods: 1. I believe there are various successful ways to use sheep chairs...yet, for us, they never really worked. 2. We also built a really, really nice sheep squeeze, but...

We only use queen excluders when utilizing the Cloakeboard queen raising method. I prefer plastic.

No problem! It is super simple. We purchased one of the 10 gallon stainless steel boiling pots off of Ebay. Next, we purchased one of those large propane burners as well. The 10 gallon stainless steel boiling pot fits perfectly on top of the burner. I fill the pot about 6 inches full of...

I sure admire your desire to raise honeybees! I advise you to contact your nearest honeybee association/club. Usually they have several members that enjoy taking people "under their wing." For me personally, I learned more from a few days working with a professional beekeeper than I did...

Nao,, Vinegar helps. We add 3 tablespoons of clorox per 10 gallons of sugar syrup...totally takes care of the yeast, and more importantly the black algae. We learned this from one of the most well known beekeepers/scientist around: Randy Oliver.

There are pros/cons of maintaining large colonies. Some of drawbacks of large colonies we have found: 1. They tend to be MUCH MORE AGGRESSIVE [for me personally, this is the greatest drawback]. 2. Much, much heavier if you need to move them. 3. After nectar flow ceases, they tend to attack/rob...

Purchasing package bees and nucs are not a problem in 2021. I would advise you purchase your bees locally...greater possibility they will be able resist the diseases in your local area... Package bees available all over the nation this year...

Hello Seamac! I am happy to do my best to help you with good advice. Yes, those were custom made anti-robber screens that we designed and created. I actually used computer screen parts for the construction! They were very effective during robbing season, but we no longer use that version...

Hi everyone! I thought I would post some pics of the 2020 swarms we caught! Enjoy!