Bee School
Pre-season:
Nucleus Colonies: To get started you will need your bees, which come in a nucleus colony. This is a waxed cardboard box, roughly larger than a shoe box, and contains 5 deep frames, approximately 10,000 bees and a mated queen. Generally speaking, the bees will be a hybrid race, bred by a commercial beekeeper. It is in their best interest to breed the strongest bees suitable for their climate. They typically arrive in the spring (April), and can be pre-ordered as early as December or January.
Queens: In the event your queen is killed by the colony, crushed, has exceptionally bad temper, or is not producing enough, you might need to "re-queen". This is typically done in the Spring and early Summer months. Handling and installing queens is a delicate process.
- Re-queening blog
Boxes & Frames
Hive Components
Equipment
Tools, Suits & Jackets
Feeders
Bee Season
Nuc Installation
Hive Splits
- Hive split blog
- Swarm Prevention
Food & Feeders
Hive Inspections
Mite Management
- Mite Testing
- Mite Treatments
Honey Harvest
- Extracting
- Nectar Flow
Winter
Insulation & Hive Wrap
Feeding
Winter Hive Check & Treatment
FAQ: Common questions we've heard in 20 years of the beekeeping business
Useful Links: Where we do our research and helpful websites, videos.