Hobby Beekeeping

As a hobby beekeeper we often have swarms move into our empty hives. This one on the farm is strange to say the least. How do they choose the home and what should I do next?

Swarms are arriving and it's getting to be that time to make decisions on how to work with them. Some ideas and challenges as I move forward with my hobby beekeeping.

In looking at helping the bees I realized that the ApiLiveVar is open to heat issues. So what about this new oxalic acid treatment? Is it helpful for hobbybeekeeping?

This Science has been around for over 30 years, but this way to help honeybees with natural organic compounds wasn't something I talked about. I simply didn't know. I feel pretty stupid, but I am going to change what I do in this one important way. You may think about doing it too.

Back from the Edge?
After I opened it up about a month ago and saw it was only two frames of bees, with no later activity, I gave it up. Didn't open it up again, but now the camera caught this. Orientation flight? Queen survived? At first thought it was just scouts, but now thinking I got lucky. What should I do now?

Farm updates with thoughts on survival. Planning strategies for 2026 and more insight into hive loss. Is hobby beekeeping even possible without treating?

Cutting the dried wildflowers gives me a chance to think about how I want to keep bees as a hobby beekeeper. The 95% loss has been amazing for research, but not so great for hobby beekeeping. Here are some thoughts on forward planning, and some preliminary ideas on what killed the hives.

I go through the painful task of opening and cleaning out the dead hives. It's likely the worst part of hobby beekeeping. What did I find and what did I learn?

At first, it is tough to see that all but one of our hives on the farm have died, but it's actually an incredible opportunity. Here's the story and some ideas on how likely, when your hives fail it's not what you think that killed them.

As hobby beekeepers, we all face the losses from the winter this time of year. Here are some ways to get through it with practical strategies, and the dangers of listening to a single solution.