Spring bee colonies grow linearly, not exponentially, adding just 500-600 bees per day for 10 weeks. This single insight changes everything about spring management, from split timing to super placement to swarm prevention.
Why do walk-away splits work in spring but fail in fall? Why does fall protein feeding matter so much? The answer lies in what happens during the six days of larval development. Understanding larval nutrition transforms beekeeping from random rules into logical decisions.
Learn to diagnose colony health problems by reading brood patterns. Spot early warning signs of disease, queen issues, and Varroa damage before they become crises. A comprehensive guide to prevention and intervention strategies.
Discover how honey bees transform from short-lived summer workers into winter survivors that live ten times longer. Understanding vitellogenin, fat body development, and cluster age structure reveals why August Varroa treatment timing determines February survival.
Learn to predict bee swarms 2-4 weeks in advance by understanding your queen's laying patterns. Discover the key signs of backfilling, reduced laying, and pre-swarm behavior that give you time to prevent swarming.
Colony collapse often starts weeks before you notice it, in the nursery, where nurse bees care for brood. When nutritional stress, Varroa mites, or disease disrupt these critical caregivers, a destructive cascade begins that can doom the entire colony.
Queen development takes exactly 16 days, but the first 36 hours determine everything. Understanding this timeline and recognizing emergency versus supersedure cells helps you decide when to intervene and when to let your colony handle queen replacement on its own.
Oxalic acid kills varroa mites through cellular disruption and osmotic stress, but why do bees survive? Understanding the mechanism helps you make better decisions about concentration, timing, and application method, turning treatment into success.
When you place that formic acid strip in your hive, what's actually happening inside those mites? Understanding the mechanism explains why timing matters, why temperature affects efficacy, and why formic acid penetrates brood cells while oxalic acid doesn't. The science is fascinating.
From the varroa crisis of the 1980s to today's cutting-edge RNA interference technology, the evolution of mite treatment reveals crucial lessons about resistance, adaptation, and innovation. Explore how treatments evolved from synthetic chemicals to organic acids, genetic selection, and beyond.
As a small beekeeper, should you invest in an extractor? The answer is: not necessarily. While renting or borrowing extraction equipment is always the best option for preserving your valuable drawn comb, there are proven methods for harvesting honey without specialized equipment.
Varroa destructor is the most damaging parasite of the Western honey bee. Modern research reveals why this mite is so destructive, how it weakens colonies through feeding and viral spread, and which strategies offer the best chance of long-term control.
Inspections
Fall is the most critical inspection season in beekeeping. Unlike spring and summer, where you're managing growth, fall is about assessment and preparation. The decisions you make during these inspections directly determine which hives thrive come spring and which won't make it through winter.
Pests
While Varroa mites and diseases get most of the attention, physical predators like wasps, hornets, mice, skunks, and bears can devastate hives. Learn how to protect your colonies from these threats with proven prevention strategies and seasonal defenses.
Pests
The Varroa mite transformed beekeeping forever. From its origins in Asia to its devastating global spread, learn how this tiny parasite became honey bees' greatest threat and what beekeepers can do to fight back.
Behavior
Bees wrestling at your hive entrance? Learn to decode unusual landing board behavior, from robbing and drone eviction to balling and washboarding. Discover what's normal, when to intervene, and how to keep your colony strong.
Behavior
Temperature controls honeybee development speed more than most beekeepers realize. Understanding how heat and cold affect your brood timeline helps you inspect smarter and interpret what you're seeing in the hive.
Disease
Understanding what can go wrong during the first 21 days of bee development is essential for keeping colonies healthy. From temperature problems to disease, nutritional deficits to queen failure. Learn to recognize warning signs early.
Behavior
Drones aren't lazy. They're one of your colony's most honest signals. Learn to read when drones appear (or vanish) and you'll know what your bees are planning weeks in advance, from swarming to resource stress.
Nutrition
Bee colony health depends on balanced nutrition, not just quantity. Learn what bees eat to thrive, including optimal protein levels, omega ratios, and essential sterols that determine winter survival.
Biology
Every honeybee starts as an egg, but three different paths emerge. Understanding how workers, drones, and queens develop helps you inspect hives better and recognize what's happening inside those cells.
History
When most people picture a honeybee, they're imagining Apis mellifera, the Western honeybee. This species dominates beekeeping worldwide, but remarkable diversity exists within it. Understanding these variations helps beekeepers choose colonies suited to their environment and management style.
History
Discover the 8,000-year journey of honeybee domestication, from ancient honey thieves to modern beekeepers. Learn how humans transformed wild hive raiding into a sustainable partnership and what it means to join this rewarding tradition today.