Print This Page

Summer 2008 at the Honey Farm

During early May all of our colonies were checked and split into 2 if they were strong enough.
Click here for pictures on spring beekeeping........

30 new colonies were created by installing "Package Bees" - These are packages of 2lbs of bees and a queen. These packages came from California.
Click here for pictures of package bee installation.....

Colony Collapse Disorder

Most beekeepers in our area lost a lot of colonies over the winter. Many people are now thinking these losses may be to a new strain of "Nosema" disease. This affects the digestive system of honey bees and gives them dissentary.

Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), formerly called Fall Dwindle Disease, refers to the unexplained disappearance and dying off of many honey bee colonies being observed across the United States. For more information on CCD, click on these links:

* The Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC)
* Bee-Alert Technology's National Bee Loss Survey

May & June is the swarm season and we always get a few calls to pick up swarms. Honeybees swarm when they get too crowded and then they leave with most of the bees and the old queen. Queen cells are left in the old location and the colony will continue on. This is how nature replaces itself.

We recently picked up a local swarm and brought it home in a cardboard box. I dumped them in an empty hive body and every thing looked fine. To me, anyway. The next day I checked them and the bees were gone - they decided they wanted to live somewhere else.

Click here for info about a swarm that landed in the vineyard a few years ago.......

Link to: Why do honeybees swarm?.....

In July the colonies will be checked again and more honey supers will be added. Although we will start removing some comb honey during the summer, most of our crop will be harvested in the fall.

Honey as a cough suppressant for children over 12 months old.

Honey has been used as a home remedy for centuries to help alleviate some of the symptoms associated with a common cold.

Researchers from Penn State College of Medicine have recently published a study comparing honey to over-the-counter medicines for relief of upper respiratory infection symptoms, such as cough. To read the full story, click here......

Storing Honey

Storing honey is easy. Simply keep it in a cool, dry, location away from direct sunlight in a tightly covered container. Honey tends to absorb moisture, which can lower its quality. It is not necessary to refrigerate honey. In fact, it's much easier to handle if you don't.  More...