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Why Keep Honey Bees?

Honey Bee on Marigold

We started two honey bee hives this year; and a common question is why?  The obvious answer would be the honey, but it’s actually more complex – honey bees are very important; but their numbers have been declining rapidly the last several years.

They’re Important

Honey bees are important because their pollination is estimated to be responsible [...]

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Third Hive Inspection

Filled Brood Frame

We inspected the hives for the third time today; and were really happy with what we found.  When establishing a new hive, it’s obviously extremely important to have a queen that’s laying eggs, workers that are feeding the resulting larvae, and new bees that are emerging.  Today, we found lots of eggs (the little white things in the bottom [...]

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First Honeybee Hive Inspection

Removing Burr Comb

This past weekend marked the first week for having honeybees (see Hiving Honeybees); so it’s time to go in and inspect to determine whether the queens have escaped their boxes, and hopefully see some eggs to verify the queen’s are alive and laying.  Before inspecting the hives, the first thing to do is get the hive smoker going.

It’s [...]

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Hiving Honeybees

Adding The Bees

We (well mostly Randy) spent the past weekend getting honeybees into hives.  First, we picked up two 3 lb. boxes of bees (the picture below is of one 3 lb. box), and hive parts: 

Next, the hive parts that will be exposed to the elements were primed and painted.  It would have been better to have this step done before picking up the [...]

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