Blog
Signs Your Colony Is Queenless: How to Tell, Why It Happens, and What to Do Next
Finding out your colony is queenless is one of the most stressful moments in beekeeping, especially when you are not sure whether the queen is gone, just hiding, or somewhere...
How to Uncap Honey Frames: Tools, Technique, and Getting Every Cell Open
Uncapping is the step between pulling supers and spinning honey, and it is the one that determines how clean and complete your extraction will be. Every sealed honey cell has...
How to Install a Package of Bees: Two Methods, Step by Step, With a First-Week Timeline
The day your package of bees arrives is the day you become a beekeeper. It is also the day most beginners are the most nervous, because shaking 10,000 buzzing insects...
How to Install a Queen Bee: Introduction Methods, Acceptance Signs, and What to Do if She Is Rejected
Installing a new queen is one of the most nerve-racking moments in beekeeping, and also one of the most important. Get it right and the colony requeens smoothly, brood appears...
Colony Collapse Disorder: What It Really Is, What Causes Colony Losses, and What Beekeepers Can Do
Colony Collapse Disorder is one of the most talked-about and least understood terms in beekeeping. It has been blamed for everything from declining wild bee populations to rising food prices,...
Fall Feeding With Top Feeders: How to Build Winter Stores Before the Cold
Fall feeding is the most important feeding window of the beekeeping year, and it is the one most beginners miss. The honey supers are off, the nectar flow is over,...
Honey Harvest Equipment: Everything You Need From Hive to Jar
Harvest day is the payoff for a full season of feeding, inspecting, treating, and worrying. It is also the longest, messiest, and most equipment-dependent day in beekeeping. Showing up without...
How to Clear Bees From Honey Supers: Fume Boards, Bee Escapes, and Other Methods
Before you can extract a single drop of honey, you have to get the bees off the frames. A full honey super holds 20,000 to 30,000 bees on a busy...
What to Do With Leftover Beeswax Cappings After Honey Harvest
After you pull frames, uncap them, and spin the honey out, you are left with a pile of sticky, honey-soaked wax cappings that most new beekeepers treat as waste. That...
How to Feed Bees After Installation: Syrup Ratios, Feeder Types, and When to Stop
Installing a package or nuc is the exciting part. What happens in the three to six weeks after installation is what determines whether the colony thrives or struggles into summer....
Package Bees vs Nuc Colonies: Which One Should You Buy?
This is the decision that trips up more first-year beekeepers than any other. You know you need bees. You have the hive assembled. But should you buy a package or...
How to Choose a Honey Extractor: Types, Sizes, and What Fits Your Apiary
A honey extractor is the most expensive single tool most beekeepers buy after the hive itself, and it is the one that determines whether harvest day takes two hours or...
