Christopher Colum-buzz.

A: Because they wanted more honey and shorter working flowers!

Jan. 1st, 2026! Happy New Year! Depending on where you are located in Western Washington (or elsewhere), you may have just experienced your first week of freezing weather this winter, as SnoKing did here in the Maltby Apiary. Photo below is the Maltby Apiary 10:30AM on the last day of 2025. Night temperatures have been in the high 20s F and day temperatures have been below 40 F this week. If you have been checking your bees and have not found dead bees blocking hive entrance

Beekeepers often observe their bees flying past nectar sources, sometimes the very flowers that those beekeepers have planted as pollinator forage!, to a single source the bees prefer. As beekeepers we can understand that the foraging population of a colony will collect nectar in the most efficient way, utilizing division of foraging duties, waggle dances, pheromones and all forms of communication to concentrate its efforts on a major, rewarding nectar flow. So, bees often p

An American pollen color chart is difficult to find. One of the reasons appears to be the size of the area of the United State, considering just the contiguous 48 states, and the number of climate and vegetative zones involved from the northern boreal zone to the subtropical. Our beekeepers (members of SnoKing Beekeepers Association) keep bees in Western Washington and find that pollen information to suit our cool maritime, temperate zone climate and vegetation can ofte

Not necessarily: even a color as unusual as blue appears in pollen in nature. The color of the pollen may even be different from the flower from which it comes. Rusty Burlew of honeybeesuite.com writes fascinating, researched articles on this sort of topic with illustrations. Here's one on blue pollen, possibly the most unusual color we beekeepers see in in our hives: https://www.honeybeesuite.com/bees-and-blue-beautiful-blue-blossoms-for-happy-honey-bees/#h-the-allure-of-

Swarm cells are planned by the workers and therefore are placed close to the center of the brood nest - the safest, warmest, most protected spot where the cells will receive the most attention. When the broodnest spans more than one box, the bottoms of the frames of the top brood box are prime locations for those royal cells. If there is no time to properly separate brood boxes for a full hive inspection, or too many hives to check them all thoroughly, often a beekeeper tilts

It's about the time of year that beginning beekeepers are watching for varroa on their mite count (slideout) boards of their screened bottom boards but aren't always sure what to look for. So here's a varroa mite right next to a standard size matchstick with 3 more mites in the picture. The one close to the match is shiny because you are looking at its back; the others may be belly-up, but the distinctive thing about them all is the "butter clam" shape. A varroa mite is not o

Propolis can be really built up inside the hive at the end of winter and makes the first full inspection difficult. One way to keep down the vibrations and resonance of hive inspection is to keep hive tools sharp and use those sharp edges to cut through propolis unstead of prying and forcing frames and boxes apart. Brute force always results in more banging and disturbance. Instead of prying each hive apart from the one next to it or from the side wall of the box, cutting bet

Or instead of harvesting that honey, the “honey bank” is right there in the beeyard, on hand to make up splits or nucs. No need to carry the honey frames in and out of the yard because they are where the beekeeper needs them. Sometimes internet videos call this having resource hives in your apiary, but all small scale hives are potential resource hives, and not just for honey frames. One colony has extra frames of pollen, another has capped brood, . . oh, this one has swarm

What can a smallscale beekeeper do if without enough freezer space and without the time (or possibly without the desire) to extract honey during those precious warm weather days of summer and fall? We are so busy at the traditional honey harvest times of year and we could enjoy the harvest more if we could delay the procedure. Solution: Leave the honey harvest on the hives, let the bees care for it, use what they need, and the beekeeper can harvest the excess in the spring wh

Freezing your “honey bank” frames is the easiest and best protection against insects, rodents, excess humidity and even crystallization. It also gives a beekeeper control of harvest timing: A frozen harvest can be thawed at a time of the year less busy for a beekeeper, maybe even during the winter holidays. At that time of year, perhaps some of winter extraction can even be directly packaged for gifts. Picture shows a couple 10-frame westerns and a 10-frame deep box fitting

If moving bees at night, use red light. If you don't have a red flashlight, red cellophane (look in the gift wrap section of a store) over a regular flashlight works. Bees seek body heat of beekeepers and land on their suits. If working with bees at night, these flying heat detectors are attracted to your body warmth and stay on your suit. After you finish with the hives, Standing under a bright light such as a porch light is one way to get them to fly off.

If a beekeeper sees anything odd about brood or the bees in a hive, s/he may leave the hive tool used to inspect that hive on the inner cover before putting the outer cover back on. The next time opening that hive, the beekeeper is reminded that this is the hive under suspicion and is reminded not to use any other hive tool in that hive. Dedicated hive tools are an important strategy to avoid cross contamination of hives if a disease , particularly of the broodnest, might be

A properly strapped hive with a 2-person hive carrier is a backsaver. On uneven ground, in the dark, on muddy ground, strapping and using a carrier avoids many potential problems and injuries. The hive pictured is ready for pickup by 2 people with each beekeeper taking the handle on a side.

When moving a couple hives, securing the boxes of a stack together with cam lock buckle straps can be the fastest way to move them. Run at least one strap over the inner cover but under the telescoping lid; then place the telescoping lid on and another strap over the lid. The inner strap can lie flat against the sides of the inner cover, the hive boxes and the bottom board and keep them all in line. This prevents the slippage of ratchet style straps that can allow bees to esc

Do not forget your disposable gloves and leave your tools in the car or at home unless otherwise requested. Use the tools and equipment of the host so as to avoid bringing any contamination, particularly brood disease, into the apiary. A clean bee suit or jacket is also recommended, although transfer of pathogens or pests by glove or hive tool is much more likely.

Not if it’s installed in the bee shed or on your porch . It's a great way to see how many bees you need to remove from the back of your suit before you start to take it off.

When persistent defenders of the hive stay with a beekeeper after walking away from the hive, sometimes walking around a tree or building to the north side to enter deep shade will cause the bees to return to their home. This avoidance of deep shade is also used when robbing is discouraged or stopped by leaning a large piece of plywood or other opaque panel to completely shade the entrance of a vulnerable hive.

In order to keep bees calm, avoid stepping on them by never placing frames or boxes of bees directly on the ground. Beekeepers often take the outer lid off, turn it over and place it on the ground as a base for the hive boxes they take off.Injured bees release alarm pheromone to alert the rest of the colony. In order to keep all the bees calm, avoid stepping on them by never placing frames or boxes of bees directly on the ground. Beekeepers often take the outer lid off, turn