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Yesterday I prepared 20 EZ Nuc boxes with frames and foundations, grafted 25-30, fed, assessed some mating nucs, went through a populous hive and made a cell starter from it. In total I spent 8.5 hours in bees. I’ve decided to keep some actual time totals. Tried to treat it like a job...

Yes. I use something from Harbor Freight US that’s about the same caliber. I have 2 pairs, each kept in the original box with a ziplock bag of grafting tools in the same box. How is the light on yours? Mine have the LED bulbs on each side, but I gave up trying to use them. For a couple years I...

Last year I told the inspector (who lives 2.5 hours away), that if I had AFB, he need not worry, I would burn them immediately. He said, “No, please call and I’ll be here in 4 hours any time.” - As dreadful as it would be, this measure has just about eradicated AFB, at least in managed hives...

I meant no disrespect. I’ll go back and look at the pics again and educate myself a bit more.

Thanks for the details. In the US it varies by state, but AFB and Africanized are the main things inspectors are looking for. I was inspected last week, and the inspection sheet has all the usual pests and diseases, and a blank for the number of hives with those issues. Don’t know what they...

I don’t doubt they have EFB, but they have brood emerging, no sign of deformed brood prior to capping (but my eyesight is admittedly lacking). There is poor but not horrible coverage on the frame before shaking, and I didn’t see a single cell full of pollen. They may have it stored adjacent to...

My guess is a serious protein deficiency. She is refilling cells where eggs that have likely been cannibalized (chilled and removed also possible). In my experience, a queen that fizzles out begins laying drone eggs and eventually has nothing else to lay. This girl is trying, and still laying...

Oh for real. 👍😃🐝

Had this exact question posed to me Sunday. If we assume foraging lifespan in cool spring weather at 3 weeks, then 1/3 of the foragers you moved are dead, 1/3 are new and have never been to the old location. This leaves 1/3 as possible drifters. An older gentleman here once told me to place a...

Hey Kevin, While I know some of the basic steps (trucking, grading, brokers, contracts), I only know one person well enough to get you a detailed answer (Jose’ Uribe @thecaliforniaberkeeper on social platforms). I dropped Jose a line this morning asking for such, but also told him it could...

You are very kind. I’m still amazed by them. 🐝😃

A friend of mine posted a YT video on raising queens if you don't know how to graft. He marked a box with the date he expected a bunch of QCs to emerge, then caught them one by one before they had time to "harden up and fight" It was fortuitous timing as I had a nuc full of cells. For the rest...

I think we still have remnants of Amm in the mountains of TN, though they are generally regarded as having been wiped out. When Dad eventually moved to Italian bees, they would generally breed in some defensiveness that was unprecedented. I've searched for them for years, and finally found what...

Wild blackberries are about 1 week from opening (roughly 2 weeks earlier than last year). We have maple and dandelion, along with several tree-based pollens which come in early, but we had a frost this morning and early blooms are often burned by freeze in our area.

We are experiencing wide swings in temps (still light freeze at night), and it is a balancing act to keep minis fed, as they don't generate enough heat to put out a foraging force on days when larger hives forage. Opened a mini to remove a mated queen yesterday to discover they had zero stores...

We are fortunate enough to live ~3hrs from his shop. My first visit was on a Saturday 2 years ago, and they were not particularly busy. Mr. Binnie came out of the office and engaged a conversation. After stating my name I said, "First of all I totally don't know what I am doing." to which he...

My wife and I were both raised in the mountains of TN, and moved back to a property behind where I grew up. Area is fairly isolated with a state forest on one side and several large tracts of land on the surrounding sides. First experience with bees was a Sunday afternoon where Dad taught me to...

Gleaning some knowledge from a different side of the pond.