2017 will be our first full season at our Kenai Mountains Beeyard. We built the beeyard so that we could bring surviving colonies together to breed queens that have a track record of survival. This requires that we find a place far away from other beekeepers, so that we can insure that only queens and […]
A couple pictures of one of our queens, taken July 18 and August 5. The top picture is the day we released her, and the bottom was at a hive check. She has been laying a beautiful pattern of brood.
The series of Michael Bush videos from the Shenandoah Valley Beekeepers Association is excellent. The programs are between 45 and 90 minutes long, and are very informative. This video is called Lazy Beekeeping, and while it certainly focuses on reducing work, it also addresses a lot of important issues that all beekeepers can appreciate. Check […]
… and its only July! I’ve been keeping bees for five or six years now (I don’t remember exactly, it is all a blur), and this summer is the first time that I actually tried to make my own queens. I have made some “by accident” in the past, but this is the first time […]
There has been some discussion recently about requeening your hive in July with a surviving queen daughter from Alaska Bee Initiative. There are some good reasons to do it. Many beekeepers will allow their hives to requeen (remove the old queen) right as the nectar flow starts. The reason to do this is to allow […]
Package bees will be arriving in Alaska almost any day now, and at least one person I know successfully wintered his bees. If you did that, congratulations! We would very much like to get in touch with you if you have surviving bees from this past winter. Alaska Bee Initiative is embarking on an ambitious […]