Honey Butter
Want to make delicious honey butter? Check out Melinda’s video below to see how easy it is.
Author: Melinda Jean Stafford
Un-crystalize Honey
Don’t throw out that crystalized honey! Bee expert Melinda Jean Stafford tells us ways to un-crystalize honey.
Birth of a Queen
It’s always exciting to see the queen when inspecting a hive. It’s particularly exciting to see a new queen emerge from her queen cell for the first time! The birth of a new queen! I was fortunate to witness this recently. I opened one of my hives for a usual inspection and found multiple queen […]
Bee Loss From Mites
Beekeepers this time of year are excited to dive in for a first inspection of the spring. It’s common to find that some hives in your apiary didn’t survive the winter. Don’t be too discouraged by this because it’s statistically normal to lose some hives, even with the best of beekeeping practices. But, it’s helpful […]
State of the Hive Address
Spring has sprung! We got lucky here in Boise, Idaho this past week with a few sunny days in the 60s – perfect for the first inspection of the spring. I was happy to find that two of my three hives are alive and well! Those odds are pretty good. 1. The first one I […]
Don’t Let Your Hives Starve
Hives that survived through the new year were likely low on Varroa mites going into the cold season. On the contrary, I’ve noticed that hives with high Varroa levels going into winter often die before the new year. So, pat yourself on the back if your hives are still alive right now! You can tell […]
What Temperature is Too Cold to Inspect a Hive?
Autumn is here! This signals a drastic change for beekeepers, as we are less able to effectively inspect our hives. Cooler temperatures are the culprit of this and I am often asked “what temperature is too cold to inspect a hive?” The short answer is – somewhere around 60 degrees or warmer. But there’s a […]
Hygienic Bees
Honey bees are known to be quite hygienic. They take care to ensure that their hive is clean. Nearly all hives are experts at removing foreign substances from their home – debris, non-welcomed insects, etc. Some hives even go as far as to remove problematic substances that could cause disease to take hold of their […]
BSU Bee Team Collects Nurse Bees
The Boise State Bee Team continued their work alongside Dr. Brandon Hopkins and his amazing research team at Washington State University. We were first tasked with finding queens in colonies and marking them. This step was very important because it allowed us to the take frames of worker “nurse bees” and remove them from the […]
BSU Bee Team Visits WSU Queens
The Boise State Bee Team is at it again. School is out and it’s now vacation time – “edu-vacation” time, that is. The Bee Team took an educational vacation up to the Palouse region of Northern Idaho and Eastern Washington to visit Washington State University’s amazing beekeeping research program. We were so impressed and appreciative […]