Beekeeping

I started the year with two beehives that successfully overwintered. After splitting the hives, I now have five with a six on the way.

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

If a beehive swarms, the bees may be gone for good. It's a good idea to inspect your hives and take steps when you see signs of a swarm.

With my beekeeping reputation on the line, I was hoping for at least two of my three hives to make it through the winter.

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.

You could consider bees preppers. They stock up nectar (carbs) and pollen (protein) to help carry them through the long. cold winter.

We are working to make fall plantings, clean up the homestead, stock up, and generally make sure we are ready for winter.

We face our second hurricane in two weeks, prepare for cooler temperatures and ready our bees to get through the winter.

It's finally time to harvest some honey and see how our bees performed this year.

I didn't expect to harvest any honey this year, our first with the hives, but just 60 days later, we pulled our first frame of honey from one of the hives.