Charley’s Honey

06/01/2026

The bees are working the blackberry blossoms today.

05/04/2026

Couple pictures of the queen in the hive I have on Oak Knoll Road in Rochester. Of you look closely in the cells in the photo on the right you can see capped brood, various stages of larvae, and even a few eggs.

04/22/2026

Checked my seven hives today and didn’t see all the queens, but found evidence there was a queen in each hive.

04/18/2026

04/18/2026

Did an oxylic acid vaporization treatment on all 7 of my hives to kill any mites they may have brought with. The new packages were installed a week ago and they cap the brood 8 days after it hatches so it is important to treat before that happens.

04/13/2026

The bees have settled into their new homes and are happy today. All 3 hives in my yard are busy bringing back pollen today. Pollen is where they get the protein to feed their young.

04/12/2026

Picked up and installed 7 - 2 lb. packages of Bees today. Marked the queens with a pink dot on their thorax before I released them into the hive. This will help me find them when inspecting the hive in the future.
Saw my first dandelion of the season at one release site and a honeybee pounced on it right away.
Looking forward to my 9th season keeping bees!

12/03/2025

Snowshoed out to the hives to clear the snow off the entrances. I have a Govee sensor inside the hive on the top and can check temperatures with an app on my phone.

The yellow hive to the west had a high of 40.5° and a low of 27.9° for the past week. The stronger green/orange hive to the east was a high of 47.7° and a low of 34.7°. The temps are warmer than outside so I know they are still surviving.