Summer is one of our busiest seasons on the bee ranch. Over the last several weeks, we have spent countless hours making queens and splitting hives. It has been amazing to watch a tiny queen become the heart of a brand new colony, and every split is an investment in
🐝 One of the most rewarding parts of beekeeping is watching your apiary grow naturally. This season we have been learning more about two exciting methods of raising queens and expanding colonies: walk away splits and queen grafting. We have been doing walk away splits for many years now. Both methods
🌼 Why Michigan Native Flowers Matter for Our Bees 🐝 As beekeepers and bee lovers, one of the best things we can do to support our hives and all pollinators is plant flowers that are native to Michigan. Native flowers are not just pretty, they are essential. These plants have grown alongside
By: Stefan Braun At my local bee club’s last meeting we discussed hive autopsies. Which is a poignant subject this time of year, especially if winter monitoring has lapsed. Basically the gist of the meeting was that every one loses colonies and the only failure is not learning from
Inside the Hive: What Makes a Bee Colony Work? When most people think of a beehive, they picture a wooden box sitting in a field with bees flying in and out. But inside that box is an incredibly organized and complex little world. A healthy hive is made up of
If you are thinking about beekeeping this season, now is the perfect time to start planning! There are a few big things you will want to decide early: Where will you buy your bees? This is an important one and trust me, I have plenty of funny stories about buying
I don’t normally suggest opening your hives in the snow. But today was one of those rare winter gifts, sunshine and just above 40°F , warm enough for a quick feed check while the bees were flying. If temperatures climb above 40°F and you see activity at the
Welcome to the Ranch… the Bee Ranch 🐝 We are Paul and Cadie VanTongeren. Paul always dreamed of raising cattle, but nine years ago we started keeping bees and I joked that this must be our ranch… our livestock just turned out a lot smaller than he planned. You know when
This is PVT Bee Ranch, a brand new site by Cadie VanTongeren that's just getting started. Things will be up and running here shortly, but you can subscribe in the meantime if you'd like to stay up to date and receive emails when new content is