What Is Raw Honey?

What Is Raw Honey?

One of the most frequent questions we get asked by honey customers is: is your honey raw?  Interestingly enough, almost nobody asks us: what is raw honey?  Just for fun, for a while whenever somebody would ask if our honey was raw, I would answer by asking them what...
Small Scale Queen Rearing

Small Scale Queen Rearing

Every beekeeper these days seems to be at least thinking about raising his or her own queens. That’s a good thing, and really not an option if you intend to keep bees for the long haul. While mated queens can be readily purchased the entire beekeeping season...
What Bees and Their Keepers Do in the Spring

What Bees and Their Keepers Do in the Spring

Springtime is arguably the busiest time of the year for both the honey bee and the beekeeper. From the bees’ perspective, the activity begins before Spring actually arrives. In late winter, as the days increase in length, the queen will resume laying eggs....
Hive Scales

Hive Scales

Electronics enclosure of the SolutionBee Smart Hive Monitor.   Jonathan and his graduate students at Grand Valley State University have been working with the Bee Informed Partnership to automate the monitoring of live honeybee colonies via electronic sensor platforms....
What Bees Do in the Winter

What Bees Do in the Winter

We often get asked “what do your bees do in the winter?”.  Given the rather brutal winters we experience here in the West Michigan area, these questions are often prompted by concern for the bees’ welfare.  The quick answer to the question is that bees eat lots of...
Tutorial (4) – Buying Bees

Tutorial (4) – Buying Bees

Our previous article provided some guidance on the essential equipment you will need to keep bees. Now it’s time to talk about the bees themselves. As a new beekeeper you have a number of options available to you when it comes to getting honeybees for your new hive....