Tullmemore Honey

08/23/2026

I requested the creative director of this hive to come forward to explain herself, but no one volunteered. She has been graffitiing a whole brood box with comb like this, forcing the queen to stay in the bottom box to lay brood.

08/22/2026

It was a dreary morning but the girls were making the best of it taking flights to and from our crape myrtle trees to collect pollen. They know we are getting close to fall, so it’s time to start making bee bread to feed the baby bees that will carry the hive through the winter. This new group of bees will need all the stores they can get to survive the colder temps and keep their queens safe.

08/16/2026

Have you ever wondered how real honey is made? The magic happens in the hive all made by skilled workers.

07/26/2026

After working for 5 hours in the bee yard today in 85F, I was stoked to get cooled off and cleaned up. And just as I was done, my husband walks into the house and says you have a swarm. Thanks, girls, thanks a lot. Bee suit back on and down I went to go collect them up.

07/14/2026

05/20/2026

It might be World Bee Day, but in our world, every day is bee day at Tullmemore!

05/18/2026

Tullmemore Bee Science: Bees are so cool! Actually, today they are pretty hot and we can tell that because they are “bearding” on the front of the hive. Some people may worry that they are swarming, but it’s pretty easy to tell the difference when it happens on a hot day. Bearding is how bees thermoregulate the hive to maintain a steady temperature of 92F to protect the brood -baby bees that haven’t hatched out yet - and the queen.

03/10/2026

We are enjoying a few days of warm weather here on Maryland’s Eastern Shore, which means our bees are flying and need more food. Our honey bees are drinking up the sweet honey still left in their hives to get their nutrition to enter spring strong.

02/14/2026

So this is reality for a beekeeper, but it still hits hard. We’ve been dealing with snow for the first time in several years, followed by an extremely bitter cold snap. With the temps almost up to 50F today, I went back to feed since my last visit in early January. Unfortunately, the nuc hive took the hit. Probably only died a day ago from starvation. They used all their stores and the queen had even started laying about 2 weeks ago.

I quickly looked for the queen on the three frames and found her on the first one - plucked her out to see if she might be alive (she was in the hole surrounded by her workers). Then moved her off to the side (see the back, non-fuzzy thorax). She is now in my frig awaiting spring to be used as a lure to trap any swarms, so she won’t go to waste.