Homestead in the Hood

Homestead in the Hood Beekeeping on a 1/4 acre. Urban and rural beekeeping. Hive Hosting, Mentorship and consultations.
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Hive products including honey, wax and hive tours and educational experiences.

Happy Swarmer’s Day. *ahem* I mean… Mother’s Day.
05/10/2026

Happy Swarmer’s Day. *ahem* I mean… Mother’s Day.

It’s like that student who didn’t come to class all year turning up on the day of finals with all their assignments expe...
05/06/2026

It’s like that student who didn’t come to class all year turning up on the day of finals with all their assignments expecting to pass.

But you know what? We’ll take it.

Colorado has been going through a historic drought and the bees have been feeling it.

Everything here bloomed super early and the bees were bringing back a little nectar. But since the first week of April, that little bump in nectar is gone and our girls have nothing else coming into the hives. So we’ve been forced to feed our colonies just to keep them alive.

Then the western slope fruit got hit with a frost and there’s reports of total crop loss. What was maybe starting to bloom or bud here in Denver isn’t gonna now for a while either. So while this moisture is FANTASTIC it’s gonna set back the nectar flow yet again. But hopefully not for long.

Water is life. Not just to us humans, but for the earth as well. Without it, we and the bees go dry and hungry.

7 years into this beekeeping journey. May 4th is special to us. Not only because we love Star Wars, but because it’s the...
05/04/2026

7 years into this beekeeping journey.

May 4th is special to us. Not only because we love Star Wars, but because it’s the day I bought Sarah her first bee hive. And two weeks later, I decided this was gonna be my full-time job and doing the bee thing was how we were gonna be able to quit both our jobs and spend every day together.

04/27/2026

Break in the drizzle means a quick knockdown of queen cells and moving the needle closer to having these nucs ready to go out the door!

04/24/2026

Haven’t gotten to install a package of bees in about 8 years. Kinda fun to relive that feeling again.

Thankful for the neighbor who was in a bind and called over to us to get these bees houses and taken care of while their owner’s are out of town.

Setting up the queen bank! Nucs and swarms are my (Sarah) jam! Maybe it’s the excitement of a new colony, the smell and ...
04/21/2026

Setting up the queen bank!

Nucs and swarms are my (Sarah) jam! Maybe it’s the excitement of a new colony, the smell and sounds of growth. Or maybe it’s both in combination with the spring-time weather.

But before we can sell our nuc(leus) colonies to other beekeepers, we have to house a care for the 160 queens that just came in. Here’s how:

1)Find/make a booming colony hopelessly queenless by removing or stating a new colony without one.

2) Put in a full frame of capped brood from another strong colony in the apiary. This will give a sense of “rightness” in the hive. But it will also allow your population with the queen bank to remain consistent as your egg layer—your queen—is secured in the cages. So you need to restock the population every week. And when you do that, make sure to cut down any queen cell attempts so you don’t have a queen running around inside your queen bank. Cuz then your caged queens will be toast!

3) Feed pollen and 1:1 sugar water. This keeps the colony content and not stressed out, which will help with queen health and later acceptance.

Questions? Let us know 🫶🏼

Address

7385 Wilson Court
Westminster, CO
80030

Telephone

(720) 878-7857

Website

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