Hive tools should be sharpened. Sharpening is easy maintenance but easy to skip doing as often as beekeepers should be doing it. Sharp...

Is a hive tool just a prybar? Different hive tools have different uses. Purchasing and trying an assortment is an inexpensive way to...

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...

Beekeepers keep feed close to the spring broodnest, so that the bees are encouraged to use it. Broodnest temperature must be maintained...

Rain dearth exists also in other areas but is often ignored in beekeeping manuals, whereas drought dearth is usually discussed. In...

A nuc should contain a queen and at least 2 frames brood, about 2 frames honey and pollen stores, and the 5th frame is supplier’s choice,...

If the queen is caged, you must return in about 4 days to verify the queen was released from the cage by the workers. If not released by...

When purchasing a package, you can not see the queen until you are actually installing the bees into their hive box. So, check the queen...

The queen can not be inspected in a package, but when purchasing a nuc, she can. If still in the queen cage, you can ask to see her. If...

Although you should ask all possible questions BEFORE the pickup time, do not leave with the nuc or package without asking about the...

Ideally, bees are not transported in the passenger compartment of a car because a few will always fly around inside the car. If doing so,...

With various kinds of nucs (cardboard, plastic, wood), it is not always clear which openings are for ventilation and which are entrances....

Bees will be flying around the nucs and packages when you go to pickup. Some may have escaped from the packages and nucs, but also, other...

When siting your apiary, you are trying to achieve maximum sunshine and wind protection, entrances that face east or southeast,...

The solutio This solutionn requires setup and the materials are expensive but once this type of hive stand is installed, the adjustment...

While you are lighting the smoker and flaming the fuel to create embers that will last, burn the propolis, etc. off your hive tool, while...

The easiest system I have found, which also cleans hive tools so that they can't transfer diseases to the next hive inspected is a...

Not just hive tools, but the queen catchers, scissors, tape rolls (duct, painters, etc.), carpenter shims for leveling hives, pens &...

2nd. edition, Macolm Sanford & Richard Bonney by listing the historical discoveries by date below. Look how far we have come! 1586 queen...

The first use of beeswax that comes to mind for most people is candlemaking and sculpting in wax. Next, one might think of the batik...