April 29, 2018 It’s been over a week since I last wrote my blog. The weather finally broke, and I had things to do! I have been feeding the bees every other day, and adding to the 5 gal pail outside feeder

A Minnesota Beekeeper in Spring April 20, 2018 Another glorious day. Sunny and 54°. Today, I took the outside of the hive feeder out and filled it for the girls to snack on. While filling, several bees

April 19, 2018 Spring has sprung! T-shirt weather today, 50° ! The girls were out flying and doing the things that bees do. Well, most of them were. I went out today to check sugar syrup, to find my queens,

A Minnesota Beekeeper in Spring April 17, 2018 Just a short update today. The weather got all the way up to about 42° F today, and it was nice and sunny. I checked out the window often, and finally about

April 16, 2018 Winter storm is done. I hope! We did not get all of the snow that they threatened us with, but we got a fair amount. The wind was howling! I peeked out the window this morning, to check

April 15, 2018 Springtime in Minnesota. That’s what the calendar says. This year though, winter is hanging on tough. While we did not get all the snow that many places just south of us did, we still got

A Minnesota Beekeeper in Spring April 12, 2018 I checked the hives to see if they need any more sugar syrup. All 3 hives were fine. I did mix up a new batch of Healthy Bee Healthy, as well as another gallon

April 11, 2018 Yesterday, I hived the last package of bees into the Langstroth hive. Earlier I had a first of hiving bees while snow was still on the ground. Today, I had the first of hiving bees while

A Minnesota Beekeeper in Spring April 10, 2018 Yesterday, I did something that I had never done previously. I hived bees while there was still snow on the ground. We picked up the bees on Saturday evening.

A Minnesota Beekeeper in Spring April 8, 2018 We went down to visit my father on Friday. Nice discussion about bees and beekeeping. He is reducing the PH level in his sugar syrup by using Ascorbic acid

A Minnesota Beekeeper in Spring March 31, 2018 With the pickup day for the bees fast approaching (7 more days) you would think that the spring would be here in all of its glory. Not in Minnesota. We are

A Minnesota Beekeeper in Winter March 18, 2018 I spoke with my father yesterday. He said that he lost most of his hives this winter. Only has 4 left (out of 30). Those 4 are weak, and may not make it either.

A Minnesota Beekeeper in Winter March 17, 2018 48° today, so I thought I might just see where we are with Hive Stripe. My conclusion… Hive Stripe is a “Dead Hive Walking”. The cluster is very small. Maybe

March 15, 2018 45° Yesterday. It was glorious. Opened the windows to help air out the house, and heard Robins. Couldn’t see any yet, but they were close. Will have to start paying attention now. Also saw

A Minnesota Beekeeper in Winter March 14, 2018 Three weeks. Three weeks until the bees arrive. So much to do in that time. I have already told most of what needs to be done, and will probably rehash that