Did you know bees get just as thirsty and exhausted by heat as you?

If you keep bees or even if you just want to be a good neighbor or a thankful gardener, it’s easy to give bees a source of water.

Many pollinator species have suffered serious declines in recent years. Unfortunately, most of our landscapes offer little in the way of appropriate habitat, forage, and housing. Even the most beautiful gardens are not always healthy ecosystems for pollinators. Design choices, plant selections, and maintenance practices can make a huge difference in creating your own healthy […]

(scroll down for video) Summer time seems like such a great time of year, but if you are a honey bee you favorite time of the year is really in the spring time. Why? Because there is more forage than all the honey bees in the area can possibly collect. In fact it is such […]

Cranky Bees. They are one of the worst nightmares of a beekeeper. Cranky bees are not enjoyable to keep. They have aggressive tendencies and are overprotective of the hive. Often when you have cranky bees, you will be unable to get near the hive or you will get stung. Sometimes these bees chase you for just […]

Congregating bees on the front of the hive is called bearding and new beekeepers often panic at the sight. Bees can mound themselves up in layers or form a single layer on a large area of the front of the hive in a reaction to conditions within the hive. Methods that new beekeepers often try include […]

GRIT Editor in Chief Hank Will shares an extremely humbling experience and the visual beauty that accompanies a heart-shaped swarm.

Bees are expensive and you don’t want to lose the swarms that come off your hives and hopefully catch others to increase your population. For an investment of about $25 in materials with scrap wood, paint, flashing, and lemon grass oil, I ended up with three additional hives with very little effort.

If you want to increase your chance of successfully attracting a swarm, you can add an attractant to your bait hive. Lemongrass is very similar to the queen bee’s scent. Honeybees find the mixture of lemongrass and beeswax irresistible. Lemongrass Swarm Lure Recipe Yield: 3 ounces Ingredients 2 tablespoons beeswax 1/4 cup olive oil 40 […]

Bees get hot just like humans do. Be prepared to support them during extreme heat by taking a look at water, ventilation, nutrition and helping to make sure they have easy access to these. If you don’t, your beekeeping experience may be less enjoyable.

When temperatures rise to extremely high levels, your bees may be at risk. The world is suffering from higher than normal temperatures as the climate crisis rages on, but some beekeepers are also suffering colony losses. Most of the time, bees are best able to control the temperature inside the hive themselves, but when thermostats […]

Spring has sprung! March 19th marked the official beginning of the warmer seasons, and, for beekeepers, that means we’re back in business. There’s not a whole lot of beekeeping to do during the winter months. Before we get the jump on spring beekeeping, it’s important to know what the bees are going to be doing […]

With over 4,000 species of native bees in North America, many people understandably have trouble identifying one from the other. What’s more, curious naturalists often mistake other types of pollinators for bees. It’s easy to confuse a fly or a wasp with a bee because they all share similar coloring and markings. So, how can […]

Honeybees get all the press, but the fascinating story of North America’s native bees — endangered species essential to our ecosystems and food supplies — is just as crucial. Through interviews with farmers, gardeners, scientists, and bee experts, Our Native Bees (Timber Press), by Paige Embry, explores the importance of native bees and focuses on why […]

The queen bee is undoubtedly the most popular bee in the hive. Everyone knows that a honeybee colony has a queen. Vital to colony survival, the queen bee is the mother of all bees in the hive. Therefore, the queen bee must be the boss, right? She is the only one bee necessary for colony […]

Varroa mites can weaken your colony and make your hive susceptible to secondary pests. Oxalic acid is one of the best ways to manage your varroa populations in your hive. Oxalic acid kills 90-99% of the phoretic mites in your beehive. To reach these levels of effectiveness, however, the colony must be broodless. Your beehive […]