R&T Bee Ranch

05/21/2026

Queen cells in the bee colony tell a story that the beekeeper reads. Identifying the different types of queen cells tells us as beekeepers the reason for the queen cell and what the colony is planning.

Bees make queen cells for several different reasons.

• Emergency queen cells (sudden loss of the current queen)
• Supersedure queen cells (replacing the current queen)
• Swarm queen cells (Preparing to reproduce by swarming)

The placement, size, and quantity of the cells help us determine which type of queen cell we are seeing. The development stage, if it’s opened, and how it was opened tell the story of the new queen inside.

Reading the story on the frames helps us work with our bees and guides management decisions.

05/13/2026

Taking a moment after inspections to enjoy the hum of a busy beehive.

05/10/2026

I had the privilege of speaking about honeybees with a local homeschool group. The kids asked many great questions about bees and beekeeping. Thank you all for inviting me to share about bees!

05/03/2026

The bees are building new wax and filling it with nectar! It has been a rollercoaster ride this spring. 2026 started out really dry. We weren’t sure if there would be enough flowers to produce enough honey for the bees themselves much less any harvest. The last couple of rains have been a blessing and at just the right time. This week’s inspections showed new wax and nectar being stored in the recently added honey supers.

04/26/2026

Synchronized waggle dances.

04/25/2026

It sure was hot ☀️ and humid today after last week’s cool and rainy weather. These bees were bearding. I opened up their entrance and put a couple of pennies under the inner cover. They were going back in by the end of the inspections.

04/14/2026

Queen bees came in this week! 👑🐝 We have been busy in the bee yards making this year’s splits. 🐝🐝

04/13/2026

Love this. ♥️

So God Made a Beekeeper
(By Sweet Stingers Honey)

On the 8th day, after the farmer,
God looked down and said…
“I need one more.”

Someone to work the fields
but on the outskirts.
Often overlooked.
Often undervalued.
Someone willing to care for one of the smallest…
not to control it
but to understand it.

So God made a Beekeeper.

Someone who would stand in the middle of thousands of buzzing lives.
Someone patient enough
to read what isn’t spoken…
To see the difference between strong and struggling,
between thriving and surviving
written not in words, but on comb.

So God made a Beekeeper.

Someone who could stand in the heat, feel the hum of a living colony,
and find peace in knowing
that everything there has purpose
even when it looks like chaos.

So God made a Beekeeper.

Someone willing to take the stings
and not turn bitter.
To take the losses
and still come back tomorrow.
To fail, adjust, and learn
without blame.

So God made a Beekeeper.

Someone who would respect the balance…
who wouldn’t take more than the hive could give,
who knew that stewardship
meant leaving things better than they found them.

So God made a Beekeeper.

He needed someone who understood
that honey isn’t made overnight…
it’s earned.

One flight.
One flower.
One drop at a time.

So God made a Beekeeper.

And long before the jars were filled…
before the markets and the sales…
there was just a person in a bee yard,
veil on, smoker lit,
learning lessons most will never see.

Lessons about patience.
About loss.
About working for something bigger than yourself.

That’s who He needed.

So God made a Beekeeper.

And He needed someone willing to carry the weight
of work most will never understand.

Someone whose knowledge would be questioned,
whose time and skill would be underestimated,
whose labor would go unseen
while the world enjoyed the fruits of it anyway.

Because the truth is…
most will never see the early mornings,
the losses, the cost, the constant attention it takes
to keep a colony alive.

They’ll see the honey.
But not the work behind it.

Still… the keepers show up.

Not for recognition.
Not for applause.

Standing in the shadows of the field,
quietly doing the work the world depends on…
carrying a pride that doesn’t need to be seen
to be real.

That’s who God needed.

So God made the Beekeepers.

From our hive to yours…
Sweet Stingers Honey 🐝💛
Y’all BEEKEEPING It Real

04/04/2026

Antelope horn milkweeds are blooming, and the bees are loving the nectar they provide. It smells wonderful in the beehives as they dry this nectar into honey.

Did you know that milkweed plants like Antelope horns don't have loose pollen, but rather pollen packets called pollinia that attach to the pollinator's legs? The first time I saw these packets on the bees in the hive, I thought they picked up some weird mite or something. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. They had just been busy collecting nectar from the milkweeds.

03/30/2026

Blooming this week in the Texas Hill Country.

03/27/2026

Bee season is here! Our bee colonies are rapidly expanding. We love seeing the solid capped brood frames and great laying patterns. We’ll be splitting our larger hives to make new bee colonies in a couple of weeks.