We recently bought two honey bee nucs to expand the number of hives we have. The kids and I watched as my husband installed the nuc in the hive. It was so fascinating to see the buzzing boxes of bees be rehomed into the bee hives on our property! I took pictures of the process so we could share how it was done since we've had several people ask how to put a nuc into a … [Read more...]
The Bee Friendly Garden
I've been growing perennial flower and herb gardens for a number of years but it has only been in the last few years that I've started focusing on intentionally attracting bees to our gardens. I was thrilled when I had the chance to get a review copy of The Bee Friendly Garden to read and share about here on the blog. I always get excited when seeing the … [Read more...]
How to decrystallize honey
It is not unusual for raw honey to crystallize, or turn hard. We're going to show you how to decrystallize honey without destroying the health benefits of raw honey. Last year, our first year beekeeping, our honey crystallized about six months after we harvested it from the hives. Most of our honey was gone by then so only about a quart was left and it wasn't a big … [Read more...]
Capturing a Honey Bee Swarm
This spring we had several friends catch honey bee swarms. We were intrigued by this but didn't know how to go about actually finding a swarm to catch. There are already several beekeepers who post ads on the local Craigslist looking for honey bee swarms to capture. The usual time for honey bees to swarm is spring and early summer. Well that time passed us by with no swarm … [Read more...]
Buying Nuc vs Package Bees
Buying a nuc vs package bees is something to consider, especially if you live in a colder climate like we do. Here in Montana where we only have a few warm months out of the year, honeybees spend a good portion of the year inside the hive because it is too cold outside to leave the hive. This means that our honeybees have less time to make honey than honeybees living in a … [Read more...]
Harvesting Honey from Bee Hives
Last weekend we embarked on the sticky adventure of harvesting honey from our bee hives. Here in Montana, our season is short so when we first got our bees this spring we weren't sure if we'd even have enough honey to harvest this fall. Luckily we are blessed to live in an area where there are a couple hundred acres of alfalfa growing and our bees loved it! Our bees produced … [Read more...]