I’ve lost more colonies in February than I ever have in January. That strange mid-winter collapse, when stores look fine and the cluster seems healthy, almost always traces back to a single mistake: missing the fall mite treatment timing window. In this guide, I want to walk you through why fall varroa treatment timing decides … Read more

I lost a Carniolan queen to Formic Pro in early June. I followed the label to the letter, treated in the evening, and watched three days of 90-degree days roll in. By the end of the week the colony was queenless. If you are reading this right now, you are probably trying to make sure … Read more

Three mite treatments are legal with honey supers on the hive: formic acid products (Formic Pro and MAQS), HopGuard 3 (hop beta acid strips), and oxalic acid (since the EPA restriction was lifted in 2021). This guide from our team at Apimondia walks through each option so you can protect your colonies without contaminating the … Read more

Every beekeeper who has lost a colony to Varroa destructor knows the frustration of doing everything right and still watching a hive collapse. I have been there myself, standing over dead-out colonies in early spring wondering what went wrong. The answer, more often than not, comes down to timing. Specifically, it comes down to the … Read more

Two hives sitting in your backyard can double your honey harvest, but they also double your responsibility when it comes to pest management. Building an integrated pest management plan for a two hive apiary is the single most effective way to protect your colonies from the threats that destroy more beehives each year than anything … Read more

Every spring I open my hives expecting to find frames packed with healthy brood. Most seasons that’s exactly what I see. But twice in fifteen years I have pulled a frame and felt my stomach drop at the sight of melted larvae and a smell that turned my gloves sour. Those moments are why I … Read more

Every beekeeper dreads opening a hive and finding dead, discolored brood. The rope test beekeeping community relies on is one of the fastest ways to check whether that suspicious larva is a sign of American Foulbrood. But here is what most guides skip: a negative result actually tells you something specific, and misunderstanding it can … Read more

You walk up to your hive on a warm afternoon and notice a bee dragging itself across the landing board with wings that look like crumpled paper. That single sighting is rarely a coincidence. When I see bees with deformed wings in my own apiary, I know the colony has been telling me something for … Read more

Every late summer, beekeepers across the country watch a familiar scene unfold. Wasps circle the hive entrance, guard bees fight pitched battles at the landing board, and dead bees pile up on the ground. If you have ever stood helplessly while yellowjackets and hornets decimated a colony, you know how urgent this problem becomes. Yellowjackets … Read more

When I lost two colonies to a toppled hive during Hurricane Ian, I learned the hard way that preparing your apiary for a hurricane isn’t optional for coastal beekeepers. Wind over 50 mph can flip a fully loaded hive like a domino, and a single foot of floodwater drowns a colony in hours. I’ve since … Read more