Tag Archives: bees

Serving-up Honey in Winter

Posted on September 16, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

We’re down to the final kilos of honey from our January harvest. It’s been stored in 20 kilo buckets which we pour into the bucket with a tap before filling jars. Or we did before the honey crystallised. Once it … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged bees, honey | 22 Comments

Beekeeping Class

Posted on August 25, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

On Saturday, a beekeeping class was held here on the farm and in our apiary. Bruce was teaching the class and said hubby and I could join in. The course is generally held over 2 days but was crunched into … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged bees | 8 Comments

Bee Club Talk

Posted on August 12, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

I’m a member of the Nepean Amateur Beekeeper’s Association and we meet every month to talk about bees and check out the club hives. Since it’s winter, we aren’t opening the hives and so it’s a good time to think about … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged beekeeping, bees, honey | 4 Comments

Backyard Beekeeping vs Professional Beekeeping

Posted on July 26, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

A couple years ago, my husband and I became backyard beekeepers. Frank’s father had been a hobby/semi-professional beekeeper yonks ago so Frank had some idea what he was getting into, though that was a different hemisphere and a different generation. … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged bees, lessons learned | 11 Comments

Another One (Two Actually) Bites the Dust

Posted on July 15, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

A little over a month ago I posted about robbing bees. It turns out that a colony had died and so some of the cleverer bees from the other colonies took advantage of the gap (nature abhors a void) and … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Nature | Tagged bees | 13 Comments

Winter White

Posted on June 15, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

It’s early winter here. I grew up in Seattle and there you could tell the season and even the month just by looking out your window. At this time of year (December, after northern hemisphere seasonal adjustment) the trees would … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Garden, Nature | Tagged bees, Garden, season | 6 Comments

Bees Poisoned by Pesticides

Posted on May 24, 2014 by Laura Rittenhouse

I think all of the colonies will survive. I start with that sentence because it wasn’t what I always thought. There was a 24 hour period where my husband and I were sure we were overseeing the death of the … Continue reading →

Posted in bees | Tagged bees, honey bee, pesticides | 18 Comments

Watch out for those BEES!!!

Posted on September 3, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

No one and nothing likes being stung by bees. Some aren’t too bothered, but I can’t imagine a creature who wouldn’t avoid being stung if it was possible. My chickens used to wander in front of my hives (back when … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, cat, Chickens, dog | Tagged bees, cat, chickens, dog | 14 Comments

Our Hive has EFB

Posted on August 20, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

One of our hives has European Foulbrood (EFB). That’s a bacterial infection (Melissococcus pluton) that kills off some of the bees before they’re born and weakens a colony. It’s considered a stress-related disease and moving hives can trigger it. It’s spread … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Nature | Tagged bees, lessons learned | 17 Comments

Our 23 hives are (mainly) fine

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Laura Rittenhouse

We did an inspection with Bruce (okay, Bruce did the inspection and we watched/helped) of our 23 hives on Tuesday. The main objective was to ensure they were queen right and disease free. All were queen right and had brood … Continue reading →

Posted in bees, Nature | Tagged bees | 20 Comments