Beulah Land Farm

04/22/2026

Swarm management is crucial. When swarming, the original queen - mother queen or mated queen - leaves the hive, taking valuable resources with her, secondary swarmS follow; how many? Well, imagine that a single hive with two brood boxes can generate more queen cells—and, therefore, produce more swarms—than you are capable of housing: sometimes 14 queen cells; sometimes fewer, sometimes more. Here a good read about Cast swarms, for education:

What is a a Cast swarm? occurs when a honey bee colony, after having already swarmed once (the prime swarm), produces additional smaller swarms. These subsequent swarms are known as casts and are usually accompanied by a virgin queen rather than a mated one.

Formation: The process begins when a colony becomes overcrowded or when the queen's pheromone levels drop, prompting the bees to prepare for swarming. The colony will create several queen cells, and once the first queen emerges, she may leave with a portion of the worker bees, forming the prime swarm. If there are still queen cells remaining, the colony can produce more cast swarms as additional queens emerge.

Characteristics: Cast swarms are generally smaller than prime swarms and may consist of fewer bees. They are often less stable, as the virgin queen needs to mate before she can lay eggs, which can affect the survival of the new colony, and their self sustainability according to how many swarms went ahead of them. They might represent a challenge for the beekeeper who catched them, as they might not carry enoug resources, and bee population, and in some cases can be swarms withmore than one virgin queen.

Management: Cast swarms can be challenging for beekeepers, as they may lead to a significant reduction in the number of bees in the original hive. This can deplete honey stores and weaken the colony if not managed properly. Beekeepers often need to monitor their hives closely for signs of swarming and take preventive measures, such as removing excess queen cells or providing additional space for the bees.

Scary picture for attention. Not my frame, I used to have these years ago, swarm management have changed the health of my apiary among other practices.

04/18/2026

So many adventures in my apiary today:

1st. I lied to myself and said that I will take 20 min to check if my nucs were making queens 😂 well yes, they were, but then I wanted more bees in them, so I went ahead and opened one of the mother hives that I inspected 14 days ago, and did the split last week 😲 Wow! So many bees, brood, queen cups, all at once, even after splitting it! so, I ended up opening all my mother hives, taking brood from all them to enrich my nucs, then added supers in between their deeps to give them more space, reduced my 10 frames deeps to 9 frames (as an experiment, I can't lift my boxes anymore, so we'll see).

2nd. I knew that my first nuc from 14 days ago was producing more than one queen, ha! Today was "hatching day", I found two beautiful virgins walking on the same frame, took one, left one, and caged two more queen cells (to save them from the emerged queen), I will take advantage of those queen around here.

3. I assembled two queen Castles, I like to have extra queens in case that someone doesn't return from mating flight.

4. All was beautiful and hot, and working great until my last hive, I am experimenting with this one again, I will run it in mediums, so, I brought a medium for it, it is on the hill, all this walking uphill makes me hot 🥵 , I opened my suit just until my chest, when I started working, I just closed my hood but not the suit, oh what a mistake 😖.... They got me bad, and went into my bee suit and all, I kept calm though. Well, accidents happen.

After benadryl and Ibuprofen for the pain and inflammation I am out, they hurt 🤕 me today, venom went from the chest to my breast and my arms, tomorrow will be new day in Jesus name.

Picture: queen cell cage. I will come back to pick those queen up.

04/12/2026

Thank you Lord for the beautiful day, and Amanda, she was my helper today, we finished the splits of the season. She did an amazing job and ended up doing one split by herself as part of her training, she worked so hard. I can't wait to hear about her adventures in her own bees tomorrow!
In the picture, some of the splits.

04/10/2026

Way to go Heather Mick Bailes , I love this, teaching the next generation about bees, IS saving the bees!

04/10/2026

04/10/2026

Thank you Father for all blessing come from you! All my bee nucs have their future apiaries. Please Lord, fill us with the wisdom to stewart what you graciously place in our hands.

04/08/2026

How to Detect Varroa Mites in Bees🐝💀?

Assuming that a colony is mite free without solid proof, can lead it to a fatal collapse.
Naked eye mite inspection is low in effectiveness, take a step up about early detection of Varroa Mites in your colony:

Detecting varroa mites early is critical to protecting your hive. These tiny, reddish-brown parasites feed on bee hemolymph, weaken bees, and spread viruses like Deformed Wing Virus (DWV).

🐝1. Visual Inspection
- Adult bees: consider this, mites can "ride" on the bee, go into its exoskeleton and be almost invisible to the naked eye, also they can look like a small reddish-brown spots on the bee’s back, under the belly or between body segments. Mites can also be seen on wings or legs.
- Sealed brood: Remove cappings from drone brood cells (larger cells) and check for mites on pupae. Drone brood is easier for mites to reproduce in.
- Open brood: Mites may be visible on developing larvae.
- Deformed wing bees: Newly emerged bees with crumpled or short wings may be mite-damaged.

Limitation: Visual checks can miss light infestations and are not precise for mite counts.

🐝2. Sticky Board Method (Most Reliable)
Place a sticky board under a screened bottom board.
Check after 3–7 days.
Count mites on the board to estimate infestation rate.
Accuracy: Very high; considered the gold standard.

🐝3. Alcohol Bath Method
Place bees in a jar with alcohol.
Mites fall into the alcohol and can be counted.
Use: Good for detecting mites on both adults and brood.

🐝4. Sugar Shake (or Roll) Test
Shake about 300 bees with powdered sugar in a jar.
Mites detach and fall through a screen into the jar.
Count mites in the jar.
Use: Quick, non-invasive, and good for estimating mite load.

🐝5. Drone Uncapping
Remove drone brood cappings and inspect for mites.
Mites often reproduce in drone brood, so this can indicate high infestation.

🐝6. Signs of Infestation⚠️
Spotty brood (white or red spots on larvae)
Guanine deposits (white crystalline patches) in brood cells.
Deformed or short wings in emerging bees.
Colony apathy or reduced activity.

🐝Best Practices✅
Frequency: Check regularly, especially during late summer and fall when mite populations peak.
Timing: Inspect during the brood cycle when mites are most active.
Record counts to track trends and decide when to treat.
Combine methods for more accurate results.
By using a combination of visual checks, sticky board counts, and sugar shake tests, you can detect varroa mites early and take timely action to protect your colony.

🐝When Should I Treat My Bees for Varroa Mites❓
Typically a count of 2 adult mites per 100 bees is seen as being a good indicator that treatment is needed. This count is actually quite low, but remember that mites primarily reside in the brood, hence finding a few on adult bees means there are a lot more in the brood.

Varroa mites multiply when they are attacking the brood. It is rather difficult to get treatment into the brood, except for Formic Pro. As a result, the best time to treat varroa is a time when there is no brood. Not all races of bees will have such a stage, and not all regions in the US will have times when a hive is completely brood-free. We can use cultural methods to create a brood-free period. Hence there will be times when we have to make a judgment call and medicate at a point when brood levels are low. If however, you have a mite outbreak, the best time to treat the mites is As Soon As Possible. These horrible little hemolymph sucking monsters can wreck a hive in a few weeks.

Sources: Urban beekeeping, the Scientific Beekeepeer, National Library of Medicine, beekeeper's Tips.
Picture for attention.

04/07/2026

Did you overwinter your bees? What's next? Don't buy bees if you have bees!

1. Next warm day, OPEN YOUR HIVE, swarm control starts NOW. Place brood frames in the lower boxes, place pollen to the sides if you don't have enough brood to fill the box. Empty frames, nectar and the rest of the pollen goes in the upper boxes.
2. If your colony is big and the brood is solid, with available resources, consider splitting the colony as swarm control.

Don't wait till the end of April to open your hives, your swarms will be ready to go by then.

Remember swarming will reduce your bee population, bees will take 1/2 of the resources from your box, leaving a virgin queen, she might or not come back from mating flights. Swarms can be nuisance to your neighbors or to your own property. Keep them in the boxes.

04/06/2026

Happy Empty Tumb! He is Risen!

Art by:
Digital Artwork

03/31/2026

I saw the my first 🦋 butterfly today, a Mourning cloak, what an awesome sight, not just the bees overwintered, but the other pollinators as well, this is one of the first butterflies to emerge in the spring as they spend the winter as chrysalis. I want to clean up my garden beds and around, but I shouldn't mess with the ground leaves quiet yet, they are in there waiting, just a few more days, our insect friends need stable 55° night temps.
Link for education. 🍎🤓

When the weather turns cold, you may wonder what happens to a winter butterfly. Find out where different butterflies go in the winter season.

03/12/2026

Some Beekeeper humor 😂
No matter the color Gary McCoy, Candace McCoy 😂