QUEEN MAKING
David Payant and I spent last Saturday under the tutelage of beekeeper extraordinaire--Tom Nebel of Gladstone. He demonstrated the procedures of finding young larva and successfully removing them from the cells, placing them into queen cups and placing them into a nuc for care by nurse bees. What a fascinating process. Sorry for not getting pictures but we were dodging,rain, thunder and lightening and a 20 degree drop in temperature. We hope to learn enough to begin passing it all forward.
FEEDING
Generally feeding of the bees takes place up until the middle to the end of June. Usually the bees will slack off when they are getting enough nectar coming in. I have stopped feeding a couple of hives-one of these was overwintered and I have put a queen excluder on and put a honey super on. I was going to split this hive but decided to go for the honey. My biggest worry is whether it will swarm or not.
FLORA
The wildflowers are "on a rip" to bloom. After a slow start,they have more than made up for lost time--most are now ahead of last year at this time. You can follow along by going to the wildflower gallery page--compare to what is happening in your area.
David Payant and I spent last Saturday under the tutelage of beekeeper extraordinaire--Tom Nebel of Gladstone. He demonstrated the procedures of finding young larva and successfully removing them from the cells, placing them into queen cups and placing them into a nuc for care by nurse bees. What a fascinating process. Sorry for not getting pictures but we were dodging,rain, thunder and lightening and a 20 degree drop in temperature. We hope to learn enough to begin passing it all forward.
FEEDING
Generally feeding of the bees takes place up until the middle to the end of June. Usually the bees will slack off when they are getting enough nectar coming in. I have stopped feeding a couple of hives-one of these was overwintered and I have put a queen excluder on and put a honey super on. I was going to split this hive but decided to go for the honey. My biggest worry is whether it will swarm or not.
FLORA
The wildflowers are "on a rip" to bloom. After a slow start,they have more than made up for lost time--most are now ahead of last year at this time. You can follow along by going to the wildflower gallery page--compare to what is happening in your area.
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