BEE MUSIC

We hope you are enjoying the bee inspired music here on the site (please feel free to suggest any bee related songs). If you would rather not hear the buzzz, you can scroll down to the bottom of the page where the playlist is located and hit the pause button, it will keep the music off until you leave the page. If you leave the page, you will need to pause the music again on the new page.

Hope this helps.

Hive Management: MARCH

Here's a list of management practices for the month of March according to Hivetool.com some of these activities will depend on how warm it is.


Beekeeping Calendar of Management Practices: March

• Check brood chambers. If all of the brood is in the upper part of the brood chamber, reverse the upper and lower brood chamber units.
• Reversing the chambers will cause the queen to use both units for egg laying.
• In two weeks, the queen should be laying in the upper unit filled with brood. Reverse the units again.
• Feed an over wintered colony two gallons of one-to-one sugar syrup to stimulate brood rearing.
• Repeat reversing the units every two weeks or as often as necessary until the honey flow begins.
• Check the brood for diseases each time you open the colony.
• Feed a mixture of Terramycin to the colony during this heavy brood-rearing period.
• Repeat the use of the Terramycin at seven-day intervals until you have treated a colony three times or use an extender patty.
• Check the honey stores. Feed all colonies that have less than 15 pounds of honey stores.
• Prepare supers with foundation in a warm room and store under fumigation with Para dichlorobenzene crystals.

Reversing Brood Chambers
Inspect the brood chamber. The top hive body (Fig. 20) or super will be filled with brood and bees in early March. The bottom hive body will contain frames of empty comb.
Remove all the equipment down to the bottom board. Place the brood chamber (super or hive body) filled with brood on the bottom board. Place the empty brood chamber on top of the filled brood chamber.
Reverse the positions in two weeks when the queen is in the top brood chamber laying eggs.
Remove the entrance reducer after Easter.
Feeding a Colony
Mix 6½-7 pounds of granulated sugar in 1¾ quarts of hot tap water. Dissolve the sugar. Do not boil.
Using a small frame nail; punch 12-15 holes in the center of a friction top pail.
Fill the pail with the sugar syrup and close the lid. Invert the pail of sugar syrup over the opening (Fig. 23) in the inner cover (inside an empty super).
Place the outer cover over the super to close the hive.
Stimulative Feeding
Mix a one-to-one sugar solution using two quarts of sugar to two quarts of hot tap water. Dissolve the sugar.
Feed this sugar solution 10 the bees in early March and April. Begin this feeding when you reverse the brood chamber in the first two weeks of March.


Also remember:

• Make sure there is food for the new brood, you can place your protein patties on.
• Check that the entrance is clear. Clear away any dead bee accumulation.
• Check for dead-outs. (Bees all dead)
• Check for clean and repaired equipment for the coming season.

VERMONT BEES

If you are interested in Northern Survivor Queens, bred and raised in VT and can handle hardy Winters please check out Roland Smith's Singing Cedar Apiaries Roland carries a variety of queens including Russian, Carniolians, Purvis Golden and Canadian Buckfest. Five frame Nucs are also available.

Bee-Boy dance crew

Do the Honey Bee!

Decline of the honeybee

Chart showing the decline of the honeybee in the past 4 years. If you click on the picture you will be able to view it larger.

Important Information from PA Apiary Inspections...

To the left is information from Karen Roccasecca. She is responsible for Apiary Inspections for Pennsylvania, through the PA Dept of Agriculture. 

Essentially, the information attached has been made available because of a situation that arose in Plymouth Township, Montgomery PA. That particular township has an ordinance against keeping bees. Karen and others are working to resolve that issue. You will find the files listed under; "PA Apiary Registration", "Bee Laws" and "Beekeeper's Compliance Agreement"

BEEKEEPING SYMPOSIUM....

Check this out.....

NY Times Article on keeping bees in the city.

Importation of Australian Honey Bees.....

Importation Of Australian Honey  Bees has been halted by the USDA. They are afraid of a Possible importation of the Asiatic Honey Bee Apis Cerana which appeared under peculiar circumstances in Australia two years ago and have now spread to several locations.