Featured Stories
Backyard Beekeeping December 2021/January 2022
Backyard Beekeeping December 2021/January 2022 — 1/3 is available now! Subscribe to Backyard Beekeeping for great stories on cleansing flights, buying bees, planning out your pollinator gardens, and making mead. PLUS how to make fondant for bees!
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You’re Invited to Become a Member of Backyard Beekeeping
We have some EXCITING news to share! There is something new in our community … introducing the brand-new Backyard Beekeeping Membership and Magazine!
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5 Honey Bees to Consider, Including Buckfast Bees
One of the first questions a beekeeper asks is, “What kind of bees should I keep?” There are many bees to choose from: Carniolan, German, Italian, Russian, and Buckfast bees, to name a few. Which is the right one to keep?
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The Ins and Outs of Buying Bees
Every spring potential beekeepers begin to get excited about starting to keep bees. They read beekeeping books and articles, and talk to experienced beekeepers about everything from setting up their apiary to buying bees.
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Learn How Bees Can Be Sustainably Managed
The most sustainable manner of keeping bees requires Beeks to learn skills beyond hive inspection, feeding regimens, and pest control. Learning to create splits and raise queens are, without a doubt, the most sustainable manner of reducing costs.
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Fire Cider Recipe with Raw Honey
Fire cider is an old home remedy for the runny noses and sniffles before they develop into full-blown colds or flu. Even if you already have a cold or the flu, drinking shots of fire cider can help ease symptoms and might even reduce the duration of a virus.
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Catch and Release Powdered Sugar Roll Varroa Mite Test
Knowing what a hive’s mite load is can mean the difference between a hive surviving the winter in a healthy state ready to tackle the next honey season and an almost guaranteed untimely death from the viruses and diseases contributed to high varroa loads.
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Conduct an Alcohol Wash for Varroa Mite Monitoring
Monitoring Varroa destructor’s infestation levels is arguably one of the most important tasks on a beehive inspection checklist — yet mite checks are also the most commonly forgotten task. This doesn’t have to be with so many fast and simple methods available.
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OAV: How to Treat Varroa Mites
Add to Favorites My wife and I took a beginning beekeeping class before becoming backyard beekeepers. We learned about wax moth treatment and how to manage ants in beehives. We …
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Bee Bucks – The Cost of Beekeeping
Keeping bees isn’t free and so I’m often asked, “What is the cost of beekeeping? If I’m looking to start a honey bee farm, what is the expected initial investment?” Let’s find out together!
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Which Bees Make Honey?
While not all bees make honey, there are many species that do—perhaps hundreds.
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Is Fondant Actually Detrimental to Bees?
When you cook sugar or add an acid such as vinegar or cream of tartar, you break the molecular bonds that hold sucrose together and end up with the two simple sugars. It’s the fructose portion that causes the problem. When fructose is heated it produces hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which is toxic to bees.
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