Beekeeping Practices

Do I need to treat for Varroa mites?

Probably not, as long as your hive is headed by a BeeWeaver Queen(and so long as there have not been large number of hives perishing from varroa mites in your vicinity)  Even highly varroa tolerant bees like ours can be overcome by mites if several hives within flying distance of your hive perish with large varroa infestations.  All the mites from the dying and dead hives can end up in your colony if the bees in your hive “rob” the leftover honey and pollen from the dead and dying hives.  Please note that you may still see mites in your hiv

How do I combine hives?

If you don’t have a lot of bees in one of your hives (a few frames or less), you can simply add those bees into the hive you want them to assimilate to.   If you have two decent sized hives, and feel as though the introduction of new bees will cause them to attack your queen, then you can put newspaper in between two supers and let them eat their way through it. 

My bees are dying! Why?

There are many reasons why bees die all of a sudden.  They might be infested with mites, exposed to pesticides, been affected by disease, starvation, freezing temperatures, or have become over-heated.  If you don’t think it was any of these contributing factors, than something less common may have been the cause. If your bees die, you can always replace them with a new package in the spring and try again.


Most of the time when a queen flies away, she will come back.  Queens are not made for flying far distances, as they have a huge abdomen that weighs them down.  Without worker bees around them, they are unable to take care of themselves.  Ideally the queen will be with her package bees for at least 3-4 days before she is released, but they might accept her before that, too. If your queen flies away on you, just wait a few days and check the hive to see if she's back.  If you can't find her right away, don't worry.  She may be hiding near the bottom, laying away




Why choose a marked or clipped Queen?


 Marking a queen means that we put a small, colored dot on her back so she is easier to spot in the hive.  Because a different color is used each year, it is also an easy way to know how old your queen is.  Many beginners find this to be helpful.  Clipping means that we clip one of her wings to prevent her from flying away.  Some things to keep in mind - workers will sometimes clean off the dot from the queen and a clipped queen can still crawl out of the hive, although this is not common. 

Is my package damaged?

It is normal (unfortunately) to have up to an inch of dead bees in the bottom of the package. These bees are banged out of boxes and poured through funnels before the hazards of transport. We put extra bees in to cover expected loss in transit. In the unfortunate event of a dead or damaged shipment please take photos and email the details to: All dead or damaged shipments must be reported within 24 hours of arrival. Again, send me a picture of your whole package from the side before hiving it, if you feel it arrived damaged.


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