MATING YARD

The idea is to create an isolated mating yard to propagate queens purchased from the Russian Honey Bee Breeders Association (https://www.russianhoneybeebreeders.org/) for use by me and other local beekeepers. This is the first grouping of colonies. 

BASSWOOD BLOOM

 

This is what it is all about late June, early July.  The American Linden, or Basswood (Tilia americana) is a major source of nectar.  Because the trees are common along the river valleys and the forests of SE Minnesota they bloom over a fairly long period of time.  The ones in towns and cities seem to bloom first and the ones in cooler, shaded areas bloom later.

DRONE COMB TO AID IN MITE CONTROL

 Some beekeepers, including me, use cultural methods to help with control of the Varroa mite (Varroa destructor).  One of these methods involves putting special frames into the hive which the bees recognize as drone comb frames.  When the queen lays eggs in these cells, she makes sure they are unfertilized - resulting in drone larvae.  Drones take a much longer time to develop and they have more 'fat bodies' making them preferred by the mite mothers.  In short, once the cells are capped by the workers and the frames are removed by the beekeeper, the mites are removed from the hive.  The chickens are happy to take it from there, making a meal of the Drone grubs and the attached mites.

A closeup view is below.

NEW QUEEN LAYING PATTERN

I took this photo earlier this week.  You will note that there are some cells that have multiple eggs, or eggs placed oddly in the bottom of the cell.  This sometimes happens when a queen first starts laying following her return from her mating flight.  But, happily, she'll get the hang of her job pretty quickly.  In the meantime, her attendants will sort it all out.

There are some who believe the workers will move the eggs to a new cell, but others believe the extras are just recycled as food.

The following photo is a picture of the new queen a few days later.  You can see that she is doing marvelously!  She is marked with a white dot to let me know she is a 2026 queen.

 

 

 

 

New BLOGGER Profile Photo

 Photo credit to AD Murray II

OUR HONEY FLOWS EXPLAINED

 

AI GENERATED IMAGE FROM CHAT GPT

This image was created by Chat GPT responding to my request to make "a honey label showing a queen bee foraging in a native prairie flowers near the banks of the Cannon River in S.E. Minnesota".  

It is interesting that it picked up the oak savannah common to the area, the meandering nature, and general width of the Cannon River.  The crown was a nice touch from the program, but the bee itself is remarkably correct for a virgin queen on its maiden flight - the one time in her life that a queen would be seen by herself outside the hive.  Fun for a cold day.

 

SPRING BOOSTING WITH POLLEN SUPPLEMENT AND FONDANT

 

It is never a bad idea to make sure overwintered colonies have both carbs and protein to give them the best chance during early spring.  We get warm days and (at least here in Minnestota) a few "false spring" periods, where you think the cold weather is over.  The result is the queen starts to lay increasing quantities of brood - really stretching the resources of a hive that has been closed up for 5 months!

Providing supplemental feed gives the colony a fighting chance if they are kept from everyday foraging due to a cold snap or rainy weather.

This 6 over 6 frame double nuc (Lyson) went into winter a little light to begin with.  And the queen is starting her 3rd year.  She is a good candidate for grafting new queens late this spring ;-D

2026 WHOLESALE PRICING UPDATE

We are still selling 2025 crop honey, but expect to begin harvesting 2026 crop in July. The refill price is still $6.00 per lb. ($9 Pints and $18 Quarts). 

Text 507-291-1409 for refills.

Mason Jars are $1.00 for Pints and $1.50 for Quarts, if you do not have any to exchange.

FIRST POLLEN

 First pollen arriving in the hive today, courtesy of the Winter Bees working the Red Maple and Aspen(?) buds/Willow(?).

KENYON, MN HIVES SURVIVED FIRST WINTER!

 There are some VERY nice folks in Kenyon, MN who started 2 colonies from packages in 2025 on their farm.  I have been helping them get started in beekeeping, and it has been a lot of fun.

The big news is that they both made it thru the winter and are growing fast this spring.  So, we plan to split them in May.  Good going team!

DO HONEY BEES HIBERNATE? WELL, KIND OF... BUT NO.

 This is exactly what you want to see when you take your infra-red camera to a bee yard in January in Minnesota.  The camera shows the temperature gradient.  The "glowing" is heat from the wintering honey bees, keeping the queen very cozy inside the hive.  No, bees do not hibernate, but they do cluster tightly around their queen and keep warm as a group by "shivering" their flight muscles.  Much like Emperor Penguins, individuals take turns migrating to the outside of the cluster.