Paul Theis – owner Cell Phone: 320-333-0069 Email: beausbeeyards@gmail.com Mail: Beau’s Bee Yards, LLC 3675 Spider Ct. Sartell, MN 56377

  Local Honey – sweet, smooth, wildflower flavor.  Screened, not filtered, and not pasteurized. Available in these sizes: 1 lb. squeeze         2 lb. squeeze       3 lb. squeeze        Glass quart           Glass gallon  Beeswax bars: 1 oz bars 1 lb bars    Call or text Paul at 320-333-0069

 

 

  It has been almost two years since my last blog entry on these pages. Been busy! The good thing is I’m back with two more years of beekeeping experience. Today, I would like to share something that I’m really passionate about here at Beau’s Bee Yards. That is the process we go through to select which of our queens to graft from. In essence, which hives show the desired characteristics we are looking for . There is a long list of traits in honeybees one could select for, at least 12 -15 common ones. Everything from honey production to bee color(darker of lighter colored bees). Although it would be fantastic to produce a queen with all the traits on this long list, it would not be realistic in practice with limited labor and time. Instead, we decided to focus on a short list of four traits and once we master producing queens consistently with these four traits, we can select for additional traits later. HONEY. Although our main income from beekeeping is NUC sales, honey sales still pay

  It’s been a long cold snowy spell here in central Minnesota.  Beekeepers have not had a chance to crack open their hives and check on their bees because of record cold temperatures.  Temps should be at least in the high 30’s or in the 40’s, and little or no wind, before attempting to check on the your bees.  Hopefully by mid-March, we will see those temps.  And even at those temps, make inspection times as short as possible.  You don’t want to expose the bees too long and chill them.  Before you open a hive on the next warmer day, have a plan and know why you are checking (disturbing) the bees.  There are two main reasons for checking your hives this time of year.  1) Checking for dead-outs or weak hives.  2) Checking if bees have enough stored honey to make it to spring.  It’s not a time to spend finding the queen, or even pulling frames.  Bees are in a clustering mode, like a ball shape of bees, this time of year and the cluster should not be disturbed. Dead-outs are basically a hi