Recent content by joebeewhisperer

A young man on another forum discussing dyeing feed changed my practices a good bit. I had said I wouldn’t use food coloring or other dyes. He said, “It’s really a question of being honest with your neighbors.” at which point I did a hard target search to find the only colony at the feeders I...

Thank you more than you know.

I realize the risks of open feeding. This is the risk of sharing observations on an Internet forum. Wish you all well.

God help us all. Edit: Wrote a novel (quoted in later posts), but deleted. Apologies to future readers. Lost a close family member this week. Generally have more tact than to comment on something so controversial. I’ll keep in the bee lane if I return. Thanks much.

Is contract killing that common there? I’ve know several folks who have killed other folks over the years, with at least one conviction per individual. Reasons were varied, but never straight-up payment. Seems a bit extreme if you guys are serious. I’ve been policing family land since I was a...

My observations with CBPV are small sample sizes and not to be taken for anything more. Several years ago, I switched to bees imported into the US by USDA from the Primorski region of Russia 20+ years ago. I originally thought both the black shiny bees and the other common color variant of...

I sometimes do the grass thing if I have something particularly volatile (pine shavings or pine needles with heavy coals started). But 90+% of the time I find it does not matter. I generally open a lid, puff 2 very light puffs under it, set the smoker aside and begin. The smoker rarely gets...

As much as we like to innovate, most solid beek practices are probably at least 100 years old. Adjust for new(er) invasive pests/diseases and some older person figured it out and wrote it down before my grandparents were born. I found an article from a farming paper published in Nashville TN...

I was telling an older neighbor last night that years ago I made the mistake (repeatedly) of donating open brood when trying to prop up weak colonies. I didn’t understand how many 10s of 1000s of trips are made into the cells to feed a frame of open brood. At this point I almost never move brood...

Answering both at once in agreement. With multiple QCs, built under any condition(s), multiple swarms are possible, and during a flow I would go as far as likely. Last Friday I had a Lyson 6-frame (double deep, so 12 frames) spew out 3lb of bees which landed on a nuc box as well as covering...

While you end up propping bad with good, such is backyard beekeeping. Has more heart anyway. If I were putting in brood comb I would do it quickly/methodically and a maybe a couple frames over from the QC. That QC is likely 4-5 days from emergence (though it is more difficult to judge pulling...

If there are no visible signs of damage to fully capped honey frames, you can give them a good rinse, stick the in a freezer for 4-5 days (to potentially kill larvae/eggs), then allow to thaw and place in hives, splits, nucs, etc. Bear in mind if you don’t know what killed your bees, there’s...

I understand. I can look around my backyard and see many things that need either starting, or completing. But until now, I’d rather my time go to the bees. We have a small log home in the edge of a 4-5 acre field. Field hasn’t been mowed in entirety in 5-6 years. To onlookers, it probably...

Thanks for the detail. Honestly, I haven’t been concerned with time until now, but this year is getting to be taxing. Also realizing my other projects (some needful) will likely be put off another year if I don’t scale back. Going through 40 in a day would almost seem like a punishment now...

I think food is something which is overlooked as a lure. I have a friend who runs a circuit of 20-30 traps during the season, driving probably an hour from end to end. He generally catches around 30 swarms and has a video series on YT of how he does it. His mentor sets boxes in his yard in...