Category Archives: Apis mellifera
Bee comb, despite the weather
Like a boorish guest, winter is outstaying its welcome. Its hosts wait with forbearance, their energy reserves running low. This week has been dismal for the returning migrant birds (no flying insects on which to feed), the spring wildflowers (no … Continue reading
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Bee comb
This week I took advantage of what may be the last warm, sunny days of the season to tidy up the bee hives for winter. I removed unneeded boxes of frames from the tops of the hives and shuffled frames … Continue reading
Posted in Apis mellifera, Garden
Tagged beeswax, darwin, honey bees, Langstroth, nature, science
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Aristaeus wannabe nearly gets what he deserves
I made a visit to the sisterhood at the end of the garden yesterday to see how they were doing and to add another layer to their stack of hive boxes. Both hives seem vigorous and well-stocked with bees. The … Continue reading
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Extracting honey
I took two boxes (called “supers”) of honey from our hives. Each super has ten rectangular frames that hang vertically inside the super. The bees store their honey inside wax cells on each frame. Each hexagonal cell on the frame … Continue reading
Posted in Apis mellifera, Garden
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Bees pollinating corn
Corn is usually described as “wind pollinated,” but honey bees love to gather its pollen to take back to their hive to feed to their babies. As the bees rummage through the corn tassels, they release clouds of pollen that … Continue reading
Posted in Apis mellifera, Garden
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City bee
This honey bee was working the ornamental dwarf boxwoods in front of a sidewalk café in downtown Philadelphia. Even the most urban of habitats has a few drops of wild sweetness. Somewhere in the concrete someone has a hive on … Continue reading
Posted in Apis mellifera, Travels
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Tending bees
The bees were active today, the first sunny day in a week, so I took the opportunity to add frames to their hives. First task: use the smoker to puff smoke into the hive entrance. This causes the bees to … Continue reading
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