The Wild Flower Bee Farm

We take the month of June and refrain from touching our hives. It's tough, as we want to go in and look at things. Here's why we leave them alone with some split and swarm updates.

We have three different swarms that have chosen to live with us on the farm so far this year. Here are some hive updates and some thoughts about IPM.

Some of my 2 frame splits worked, many did not. What happened, what I did wrong, plus a new question and answer live session tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

What happened when I checked out the mouse hive and an update on the progress of our other hives.

Here's a strategy I use and discovered by accident, that is ideal if you only have a few hives and want a split strategy that only takes a minute or two.

It took 150 years for health care professionals to wash their hands between patients. How long will we delay using proven practices to save our bees?

This morning, the temperature hit -5 C, with a wind chill of -10 C. Yesterday, some bees were flying at 7-9 C. What could this mean?

Under the Darwinian black box selection technique I'm supposed to let them die. But this isn't an easy thing to do. I talk through my thinking on this and ask you what would you do?

It's important to watch the hive entrance at this time of year to signal if the hive may be ready for splitting. Here are some of my plans, plus the problem with having a good winter survival rate.

Although the research proves that these strategies could help not sure why we don't do them.

How these 2 frame nuc's will help with sustainability.

Possibly the most futuristic, but helpful this strategy would be a no brainer for me to initiate if I were starting with bees today.

It was talked about some time ago, but should we not consider it today? The other important point is to ask the right questions when investigating the current issue with hive loss. This could help.

Here are two more hobby beekeeping strategies I would use if I started today. Splitting twice a year I think is the most important.

With the bees flying at 12 C, it was a good time to assess who had made it. We are at 14 out of 15 hives making it through the winter so far, and here's what I think happened.

I discuss the importance of knowing the type of hive you are getting to start your beekeeping career and some beginning steps for setting your goal of sustainability.

It was time for a name change to bring us all together to share regardless of how we keep bees. Here's the short explanation of why the name change.

Commercial beekeepers report this number of losses as they attempt to pollinate almonds in California. What is happening with those of us keeping bees for non-commercial reasons and how we can help better understand this problem.

Reports have circulated that 80% to 95% of bees have died. What could be causing this? What are the first two strategies for beginning beekeepers?

If I were starting today, here are the 10 things I would do to help my bees survive. I made all these mistakes, hoping you can avoid those as you get started.

It took 100 years or more for healthcare providers to wash their hands between seeing each patient routinely. When there are new findings in our beekeeping world, how long does it take us to try it seriously? I discuss this and why I think our new AI Hive Tool as we call it may help.

Pleased to announce that the app available at aibeehealth.ca is now available for use with Iphone and cell phone pictures or video.

The science is precise. If we stop opening our hives down to 4 times a year, we can increase honey production by 9 kgs. How can we start to do that?

We launch tomorrow, Monday January 20 at 8:00 a.m. EST. It is your last chance to sign up to be on the wait list and have access tomorrow. Join the close to 100 beekeepers that will be giving our application a ride tomorrow.

How I monitor my beehive survival without leaving the house.

Winter flights can teach us a lot. Here's a strategy for learning about your hive health without a winter opening.

While bees teach us many things about their hives and nature, they also provide many life lessons. Here's is what I'm reflecting on that the bees have taught me.

A look at everything we try to do to help our bees. But are we spoiling them? Are we contributing to their failure?

I'm hearing up to 65% of hives have been lost in North America by October of this year. What are some thoughts and why am I so optimistic for 2025.

My dad fed bees sugar syrup, and I did the same for my first few years of beekeeping. Now, with the new science on how that can harm bees and humans, I'm not sure. Perhaps it's time to stop this practice.

Drones being purged, bees with pollen and much more. I don't really understand this.

It's cold outside and not that warm in the hive so why are these bees fanning? This new strategy to fight mites might be the answer.

We are weeks away from our launch and are opening a wait list for those wishing to use it. At launch it will count bees in pictures or a video you download of up to 15 seconds in length for bees, bees with pollen and drones. It takes a lot of server power to do this, so we need to understand the demand, and it will be on a first-come, first-serve basis. Go to our website, wildflowerbeefarm.com, and click the Join the Waitlist button.

Got on the tractor a bit today and also continuing to work on the AI platform. Some thoughts as we hunker down for winter.

I discuss why we count bees, bees with pollen, drones, and wasps at the hive's entrance. I also briefly discuss the challenges of using AI to evaluate varroa mites.

Going into the fourth year with this genetics treatment free, here are some of the characteristics starting to make sense.

We are a week or so away from launching and here is the update.

A surprise find turned out to be another lesson in the brutal ways of nature. What happened and how this may be helpful to our other hives.

I have no idea. Perhaps you have an explanation. We expect deep freezes in a few weeks at night so not sure if there is a reason to need more foragers. Here are some ideas.

Just like the movie I guess, yesterday October 18 was Drone Purge day. What could have triggered this sudden purging of drones? Here are my thoughts.

After watching our bees bring in pollen yesterday, I took a look at the science to answer this question. You might be surprised what I found.

In two weeks, I'll be beta-testing our new platform to analyze honeybee activity at the entrances to a hive from pictures or video clips. Here's how you can help.

This new project for 2025 is based on our work and others in beekeeping. I will only open the hive twice during the year, making it very much a hands-off approach. Will it work?

We spend a great deal of time watching the entrances to our hives. Here are 3 examples of different activity. What do you think is going on? We will check back in October to see who survived and thrived.

Here is why we believe drones will be very valuable in September. What do You think?

You can smell it, and it's supposed to be good for you. What could this goldenrod surplus mean for the bees?

I take on the mystery of wash boarding and explain why I want my hives to be honey-bound this time of year.

Checkup on the farm and our research findings.

It's been a long battle to balance the need to convert the farm to nature with the constant complaints from Agent Orange farmers. Here's the solution.

I think so and here's why.

In this little experiment did a walk-away split into a 5 frame nuc with a Russian Hive. I have a feeling this just might work.