By Chandra L. Mattingly After weeks and weeks and weeks of snow, ice, and frigid temperatures, spring seems to finally have arrived. There is a flurry of activity in the beeyard as workers from my four hives buzz in and out, searching for, finding and carrying home nectar and pollen from early bloomers: willow and…
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Of Bugs, Blooms & Vittles: ‘Yellow rain’ is a good thing
by Chandra Mattingly Around Dusseldorf, Germany, pussy willows and forsythia bushes are starting to bloom – so says my daughter, anyway. Not here! Just a month into winter, this year's coldest in decades continues its icy grip. But – and this is important to beekeepers – not, so far, without breaks of 40-plus to 50-degree…
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Of Bugs, Blooms & Vittles: Honeybees heading into winter
By Chandra L. Mattingly One hive richer than in the winter of 2013, I'm hoping my honeybees will winter as well as last year. To recap this year, all three of my backyard beehives came through last winter with strong populations. Due to the drought, I'd fed honey cappings over the inner covers in September…
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Not the foggiest idea!
Bugs, Blooms and Vittles By Chandra Mattingly In a previous blog, I mentioned fogging my honeybee hives with mineral oil to suppress mites. SIBA member Joan Chester, Independence, Ky., has started fogging her own hives with mineral oil to which she has added mint oil and asked me what I do. So here is an…
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