For my area, bees begin to swarm around the first of April. Swarming is a natural phenomenon in which approximately 60% of the bees, plus the queen, leave the hive to form a new colony. This happens mostly in part to overcrowding although other factors can come into play. Since I had lost a colony […]
I can’t remember if I told you or not, but last fall I had bees from one of my hives leave. Before we had left on vacation, both hives were doing well. I had inspected them a few days before we were to leave and both hives had a good amount of honey stored up. When we returned though, […]
When we built our house years ago, I planted ‘Goldflame’ Spirea in the front beds. 15 years later, those Spirea have seen better days. A few late freezes, an extreme ice storm, and brutal hot, dry summers have wreaked havoc on their old limbs. Many had dead centers, a couple were completely dead and the rest were just pitiful. Thus […]