Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Miscellaneous

Hi Fellow Beekeepers - Many students have taken advantage of their free hive visit.  So far, my most successful student is Tom Griffeth out at Harding Lake.  His queen has been laying eggs in full patterns in every box.  Although we could not find his queen, we are certain she is in the hive and doing her job!!  All four stages are present.  Good job, Tom!!  My top bar hive did swarm and there is no queen present so I am trying to get a couple queens from Steve Victors.  Hopefully he can ship up some queens in the next couple days before I leave for Puerto Rico.  I will be back in Fairbanks on July 24th.  Our next big job will be to cage queens the first week of August.


Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Keep Doing Hive Checks!

This has been what I call, "A Swarm Year" and I've heard of several swarms this season.  I've also heard of two beekeepers who have caught their swarms.  Don't get lazy!!  Keep checking your hives every 10-14 days for queen cells (which you need to remove), eggs and larvae.  The bees are already storing our winter's supply of honey.