#Fall #honey harvesting has begun for this #beekeeper and crew. As a #hobbyist; my crew consists of my retired father, my spouse with #LongCovid on the occasions when the #COVID is being kind, and myself. This means we do not move as quickly as the #pro #apiarist, but we get it done. No stings for me, but several honey-coated bees chilled on me to clean up. This gave me a good excuse to just sit and watch them. Tomorrow is hive 3, and extraction.

Hi #beekeepers especially any in #Scotland. I came across a hive of wild bees in the Isle of #Bute. These were very dark, almost black. I have a vague memory that black bees are the native strain & quite rare. Is this right? My picture is not great but the best I could do. #apiary #apiarist

Bees are awesome. 🐝 💚
#Bees #Pollinators #apiarist #Nature #Climate
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/02/bees-intelligence-minds-pollination

After years of the ritualistic cadences and PPE-less bee-scooping of Erika Thompson of Texas Beeworks (“and it was another great day of saving the bees”) I have discovered on YouTube an Australian #apiarist who is somewhere near #Geelong and who says stuff like “and they’ve got their bums up” and accidentally drops a queen he is trying to mark with a Posca for easy ID, and swears when #bees sting him

His videos are about inspecting his regular hives as opposed to bee removals from where they shouldn’t make hives, and he shows each frame he removes so it is interesting to learn what a healthy #beehive should be like

Jacob Polley - A Jar of Honey

"You hold it like a lit bulb,
a pound of light,
and swivel the stunned glow
around the fat glass sides:

it's the sun, all flesh and no bones
but for the floating knuckle
of honeycomb
attesting to the nature of the struggle."
#WorldPoetryDay #Bees #Bookstodon #Honey #Apiarist

Foundation is getting more expensive. Try foundationless frames; save money and reduce miticide contamination in your hives.

https://theapiarist.org/foundationless-frames-redux/

#bees #beekeeping #beekeeper #apiarist #localhoney #varroa #honeybees

NEW POST: The science of identity ... how guard bees recognise nestmates, why drifting bees are accepted into other hives and why robbers are only sometimes rejected.

https://theapiarist.org/you-are-what-you-eat/

#bees #beekeeping #beekeeper #apiarist #localhoney #varroa #honeybees

NEW POST: The season is approaching, but it’s not here yet. Don’t be misled by social media. Do your preparations for the good times ahead and the reinforcements, revisions, reversals and revelations.

https://theapiarist.org/good-times-ahead/

#bees #beekeeping #beekeeper #apiarist #localhoney #varroa #honeybees

"Let the light lilt, green
or gold, pigment for queens,
and joy be inexplicable but *there*
in harmony of willowherb and stream,
of summer heat and breeze, each bee's body
at its brilliant flower, love-stunned,
strumming on fragrance, smitten."
~ Carol-Ann Duffy - Virgil's Bees
It won't be February forever, lovelies ☀️ 🐝 🌷
#Summer #Bookstodon #Poetry #Quotes #Florespondence #Nature #Apiarist #Bees

My bees are awake. They should be dozing for at least another few weeks. Take the climate catastrophe seriously people.
#ClimateCatastrophe #KeepItInTheGround #Bees #Apiarist #NoPlanetB #Nature #Pollinators

NEW POST

The manufacturer’s instructions for miticide use are often poorly worded, confusing or contradictory. Many beekeepers already struggle to control Varroa and this makes things worse.

https://theapiarist.org/infernal-contradictions/

#bees #beekeeping #beekeeper #apiarist #localhoney #varroa #honeybees

After two failed seasons, I decided it was time to stop wasting money and get serious. This Beginner #Beekeeper Course was an intense 10 hours, but I filled a notebook with all of the things I was doing wrong.

#beekeeping #apiarist #apiary #bees #savethepollinators #WASBA

I'm now officially joining #apiarist for my first secret society on mastodon.

Thousands of Bees for everyone!

🐝 🜋 ᖭི༏ᖫྀ 🜋 ​🐝​

In a jar of alchemy
The sands of mind washed in from the sea on a sinking boat
Navigating the tangled thread
In a snag at the edge of the bed a well-worn plot
Written in an aching need
The book with the shining seed could not float

I awoke in the early morning
I thought to tell you something
But I forget what it was now anyway
It's good of you to stay

I saw myself in shattered mirrors
Each an echo of the other's features, but never the same
The pieces hung on to the wall
Held a while before they fall from the game
But if they could resolve
To flow as they dissolve my name

I awoke in the early morning
I thought to tell you something
But I forget what it was now anyway
It's good of you to stay

I had a dream, beautiful
In a garden there grew shining trees
Fruit and vines in the night
The plants there shone a strange light from their leaves
I drew closer to the colored shapes
Illuminating the folds of my cape and my sleeves
And of a sudden heard a sound
Buzzing soft all around without a breeze
Flying in the garden where
Flowers touched my hands and hair thousands of bees

I awoke in the early morning
I thought to tell you something
But I forget what it was now anyway
It's good of you to stay

https://youtu.be/xh3b1Ypy298

NEW POST

Getting good answers involves asking good questions. But remember that the bees have no concept of what is ‘best’, or of the calendar.

https://theapiarist.org/getting-answers/

#bees #beekeeping #beekeeper #apiarist #localhoney #varroa #honeybees #ChatGPT

NEW POST Join a beekeeping association, get a mentor, get local bees, manage your hopes and expectations, get your bees through the winter. Simples. How to start beekeeping.

https://theapiarist.org/how-to-start-beekeeping/

#bees #beekeeping #beekeeper #apiarist #localhoney #varroa

NEW POST:
How promising is the “world’s first vaccine for honey bees”? Separating hype from hope, good news from bad news, and with a bonus discussion of trans-generational immune priming and beemageddon.

https://theapiarist.org/hype-or-hope/

#bees #beekeeping #beekeeper #apiarist #localhoney #varroa #honeybees #AFB

NEW POST: Interpreting waggle dance distances as indicators of seasonal foraging challenges, environmental change and pollinator competition.

#bees #beekeeping #beekeeper #apiarist #localhoney #varroa #honeybees

https://theapiarist.org/interpretative-dance/

Just hung a mirror to more easily see what’s going on in the far side of the #ObservationHive without having to move it. Not much action right now, all the activity currently is on the frames facing the front. #beekeeping #apiarist #beestodon

@wrrrdnrrrdgrrrl As always when I see a post about #, I'm going to mention some of my favourites:
#TombTuesday
#LichenSubscribe
#florespondence
#SilentSunday
#Mushtodon
#CheeseLoversOfMastodon
Now following both #Apiarist (because I am one) and #ArduinoMusic, because they seem cool 😊
#JoinIn #SomethingForEveryone #BeExcellentToEachOther

I love that everyone is basically wandering around Mastodon right now wearing their weirdest hashtags and trying to find their people.

"Are you #Apiarist ?"
"No, sorry, I'm #ArduinoMusic ."

#ArduinoMusic turns around.

"ANYBODY INTO BEES?"

A hand goes up in the back of the crowd.

"NICE."