New
Propolis: The Hive's Medicine Cabinet
Tree resins, bee enzymes, and an antimicrobial envelope most beekeepers scrape away. We stopped scraping.
- propolis
- hive-health
- bee-biology
- beekeeping-practice
The Journal
Notes from the hives, fields, and seasons of Loudoun County.
Journal entries
New
The Drone Congregation
Drones get dismissed as freeloaders. The truth is stranger — a fatal mating flight and mysterious gathering spots no one can fully explain.
- drones
- mating
- bee-biology
- observation
Rain Days
When weather grounds 50,000 bees, the colony turns inward. Rain days are when the hive does its most important domestic work.
- weather
- colony-behavior
- observation
- seasonal
Water Carriers
Some bees spend their entire foraging lives collecting water instead of nectar. They bring home nothing storable, and the colony cannot survive without them.
- foraging
- colony-behavior
- observation
- summer
Reading the Landing Board
Ten minutes at the hive entrance can tell you more than a twenty-minute inspection. A field guide to what the bees are broadcasting.
- observation
- behavior
- diagnostics
- field-guide
Cartography of a Forage Radius
We drew a three-mile circle around our apiary and cataloged what is inside it. The landscape looks different when you read it as a bee.
- forage
- landscape
- mapping
- ecology
- loudoun-county
Swarm Season
Swarming is not a failure. It is how honey bees have reproduced for millions of years — the highest expression of colony fitness.
- swarms
- bee-biology
- spring
- colony-management
The Color of Pollen
Each pollen load a forager carries is a specific color tied to a specific plant. Watching the landing board is like reading a botanical survey in real time.
- pollen
- forage
- observation
- botany
- seasonal
After the Last Frost
The months between November and April are the quietest and hardest in beekeeping. We write about the wait, the dread, and the first spring check.
- winter
- spring
- colony-loss
- seasonal-management
- philosophy
The First Fifteen Minutes
Most of what you need to know about a hive is available before you open it. The best diagnostic tool in beekeeping is patience.
- inspection
- observation
- hive-management
- philosophy