As the honey flow starts to come to an end we look towards fall. There are few key things that need to be prepared, to give your hive the best chance to survive the winter.
It’s August and both you and your bees have been working hard the whole summer to get that delicious honey. The next questions on your mind might be, when is it time to harvest the honey and how much should you take?
We all love hot summers, but too much heat can mean different things for our bees. Heat affects crops, water sources and so much more that affect honey bee colonies. Hot weather can affect colonies by:
This is something no beekeeper can go without. It makes our life easier to do hive checks and make sure that both beekeeper and hive are as calm as possible. A reliable smoker, like the Hiveworld Global Smoker, can last you for years if maintained properly.
There are many factors that can make or break the arrival of honey bees to Canada. Factors like how the beekeeping season is progressing overseas, the weather, flight availability and government requirements can affect the timing of the bees' arrival. Honey bees are considered livestock and need to meet a lot of requirement before they depart and arrive in Canada.
If you are a beginner beekeeper, knowing if there are enough honey stores can be hard to figure out on your very first overwintered hive check. The simplest way to check if there are enough stores is to gently lift your hive from the bottom board (without disturbing the hive too much). If it is very light and easy to lift, you DO NOT have enough stores.
The new beekeeping season is just around the corner, and we can't wait for the sounds of buzzing bees and sights of flowers blooming. Depending on what you’re beekeeping plans are for 2022, here are our live bees that will suit your every need.
We thank you for joining our hive and doing beekeeping with us. We have been busy bees behind the scenes working on exciting new projects that we want to tell you about.
Have someone on your list who wants to get started in beekeeping? A starter kit, course or tools always makes a great gift! We also have gourmet gift boxes with our signature honey to make your gift giving easy this year.
In our experience over the past two years, the most reliable source for receiving live bees in the spring has been to order package bees. If you are a new beekeeper, we would usually recommend starting with a nuc, but because they have becomemuch harder to secure, you may want to try things a different way this year.
You can move a hive in one day if it's over 1 mile away. The bees will be fine and reorient themselves. If you are doing a smaller move, less than 1 mile, you will need to take some extra steps to move your hive successfully.
In a two box, langstroth hive, your queen should be in the bottom box laying, and the top box should be full of the honey the bees need for winter stores. It’s important to give the queen enough room to lay eggs in the bottom box. This is called "setting the brood nest" for the fall.
