The Pickled Prepper
Plastic nesting boxes

Prepper Diary May 8: Chicken Coops, Bee Hives, and Cold Weather

The weather interferes with our plans, but work progresses on the homestead as we continue to ready for our chicks and bees to be delivered.
Chicks in their brooder

Wow, Talk About a Busy Day

They say that when it rains it pours. That was the case today when all the livestock we had ordered months ago showed up on the same day.
Rows of honey jars

Good News from the Bee Yard

It's finally time to harvest some honey and see how our bees performed this year.
The Lorob Bees oxalic acid vaporizer

Rain, More Rain, Snow, and Gassing my Bees

We got warm weather, but there was no sun, just rain and more rain. As soon as it clears up and warms up, we're going to kill some varroa mites.
This frame pulled from my beehive shows brood in multiple stages. If you look carefully, you can see the eggs.

Working on my Farmer Tan and Splitting Bees

A long day spent int he bee yard getting stung and splitting hives, but we're nor done yet as we expand to seven hives.
Placing a white dot on a queen bee.

It is Queen Rearing Time in the Bee Yard

Finding and marking recently mated queens is like finding the proverbial needle in a haystack, but we managed.
A honeybee in flight.

Busy Bees and the Honey Harvest

Summer is busy on the homestead. We have to take advantage of the warm weather to grow and harvest what food we can in a limited time.
This is a good looking frame of capped brood for this early in the year. he queen laid a good pattern and if you look closely, you can see just-hatched bees emerging from their cells.

It was a Tough Winter for our Honey Bees

The weeks of bitter cold weather in January took their toll on Pete's bees, but enough hives made it through he can rebuild his apiary.
Bees on a frame of capped honey

A New Beekeepers Guide to Feeding Your Bees

You would not think twice about feeding your chickens, your goats, your pigs, and other livestock. Feeding your bees is important for hive health and honey production.
look closely and you can see the larvae

The Exciting Part of Bee Season Comes to an End

Bee season has peaked and the brood nests will get smaller and smaller. What you do now will determine if your bees make it through winter.
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