A very non-aggressive bee raised in a nurturing chemical free hive, smelling the sunflowers. Since sensationalized stories about aggressive bees seem to be hitting the news lately, I thought it would be a good idea to post about dealing with an aggressive hive. The first step is to do nothing. Refer to the previous post about observation and management. Maybe the “Mean…
Hive management is an art, not a science. There are some basic principals I try to follow in an attempt to make hive management a more predictable and consistent art. First off, if you are in doubt, do nothing. You can’t make the bees do anything. What you can do is provide an environment which will encourage…
The options are many: Langstroth, Warre, Top Bar, Long Hives. The impassioned reasoning to favor one or the other is endless. For someone trying to get started it has to be overwhelming. I am going to make some very specific recommendations for your first hive and give you the reasoning for each part of it. What works (or lately…
The continuing process for changing over to foundationless hives is very simple. Keep adding new frames to the center of the bottom box two at a time. When you add a new pair, move a pair of old contaminated foundation based frames up to the second box. Each time, you should place the new pair of foundationless empty…
What is natural comb? What is foundation? What do you mean by foundationless? It is apparent there is a lot of confusion out there surrounding this. I think this post will make things crystal clear! Most chemicaly managed hives are full of nasty old comb drawn over foundation by a hive of bees in the late…
I started out beekeeping on my own just the way I learned growing up. With foundation. I had heard the old saws: 1) “It takes twenty pounds of honey to make a pound of wax.” 2) “You can’t extract if you don’t have foundation”. 3) “You will end up with a hive full of drones”….
From Gerald in Cullowhee, NC So–I am now an organic beekeeper. But am cheating a bit–we have no other bees that we know of within a couple miles so no chance of catching something from other hives. Hi Gerald, Glad to hear you are interested in moving to a more beneficial environment for you bees. Regarding the distance…
I could barely sleep last night because of this. Manifesto alert, proceed at your own risk. Everything we post about here on Backyard Ecosystem. Everything underlying the movement toward greening our cites over the last several decades. The very title of the excellent book written by Erik and Kelly over at the blog formerly known as Homegrown…
Here is another reason to keep your bees in town. Dennis Murrell of BeeNatural talks about being Malathioned. I remember our bees getting overspray from soybeans planted across the road when I was growing up and the resulting pile of dead bees in front of the hives was heart wrenching. Crop dusting specifically andchemically addictedagribusiness…
This is a great article from the BBC on the better diet that bees in urban and suburban beehives have access to. It talks about research into my long held suspicion that bees, like humans, love the variety that urban life has to offer.
Backyard Ecosystem began as an expression of my determination to make a difference in our own backyard. Literally and metaphorically making a difference at the micro level of my yard and to operate at macro level of treating the entire planet as something I am an integral part of and whose destiny is shaped everyday by what I do in my corner of the world.
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