The Bee Space

Entries categorized as ‘Sustainable Beekeeping’

How to Become a Natural Beekeeping Jedi Faster than You Can Say “Warp Speed”

March 11, 2009 · 4 Comments

Bee me up, Scotty!

Do you want a crash course in Natural Beekeeping? No, it won’t hurt a bit. (Unlike the bee sting I got last week.) The best way to learn about natural beekeeping is…

(insert drumroll) Use the Force! No, just kidding. There is a better way.
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Categories: Free Downloads · Sustainable Beekeeping
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Warre Hive Spring and Summer Feeder – How to Feed Your Honeybees Without Freezing Them

March 4, 2009 · 15 Comments

In one of my recent posts I talked about feeding your bees in the early spring. Well, my method works fine if the weather is warm enough for your bees to be flying around outside the hive.

But, how can you feed your bees if the weather is too cold for them to leave the hive?
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Categories: Beekeeping Advice · Hive Management · Sustainable Beekeeping
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Introducing the Quick Start Guide to Natural Beekeeping (download your copy here)

February 26, 2009 · 4 Comments

Get your Quick Start Guide to Natural BeekeepingEver since this blog was started, many of you have been asking a lot of great questions. Questions about backyard beekeeping, the Warre Top Bar Hive, how to keep bees naturally…the list goes on!

(By the way, if you have a beekeeping question, shoot me an email through the Contact page.)

After a while, I realized that I was being asked a lot of the same questions over and over. Which is good! It means that you are thinking about how to keep bees in a sustainable manner. I like that! The bees like it too!

So, in order to answer your questions in a better fashion, I packaged a lot of the most common questions in a free Quick Start Guide to Natural Beekeeping.

I need your help to make this Quick Start Guide better. Go grab a copy at http://warrebeehive.com and read it. Then, post your thoughts about it in the comment area below.

How did you like it? Did it answer some of your questions? Do I need to expand it in certain areas? Do you think it is helpful?

The more feedback you leave, the more often I can update the Quick Start Guide according to your wishes…and as a thank you I will send you a fresh copy of the Guide every time it is updated.

So, download your copy right now, then come back and tell me what you think!

Thank you!

Categories: Free Downloads · Questions Answered · Sustainable Beekeeping
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Listen to Your Bees

August 2, 2008 · 8 Comments

Here is a great article that I thought you might find interesting.  Enjoy!

Listening to Your Bees

by Peter Dight

I believe the hiss is a warning…

I’ve a reasonable library of beekeeping books, and a couple of years ago I was reading an old book which mentioned listening to your bees to see if they are going to swarm.  It told of how a queenright colony, when their hive is sharply tapped upon, will react by ‘hissing’.  I believe the hiss is the bee equivalent to a warning signal, generated by a section of the population fluttering its wings in response to the vibration caused by the tap.
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Categories: Beekeeping Advice · Sustainable Beekeeping
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Thoughts on Varroa Mites

May 22, 2008 · 10 Comments

A comment about varroa mites was left on my last post. Here are my replies to this comment…

“There has been no time for natural selection to evolve a response to varroa – which is why it kills our colonies.”

This is an interesting question…do honey bees need to “evolve” a response to varroa, or do they already have an instinctive response to the varroa mite? It seems that some bee strains do indeed have an instinctive response to the varroa mite, and this genetic trait can be passed along to other strains through selective breeding.
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Categories: Sustainable Beekeeping · Thoughts on Beekeeping
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