Hive Cleanup - 2 April

Sad business of cleaning out old Kennedy Hive to make way for new Logan Hive arriving tomorrow. Husband wanted to throw away anything with signs of mold or disease. We were wrong to leave the honey supers on and three frames filled with honey were too moldy to the husband's liking. A lot of bee energy wasted there.

This year I will be very firm about taking off the honey supers.

Other Notes:

Going out Tomales Bay Nursery today for native plants and then a swing by Andy's Produce.

Noticed on the television last night that Canada Tourism advertising is positioning the country as a 'foodie' country. Intriguing.

News on the Marin Beekeeper Initiative

Apiarists hope to breed a better bee

After losing as many as a third of their bees in the past two years, Marin County's beekeepers are taking radical steps - including breeding a better bee - to save their remaining hives from destruction.

"The shift in population has been staggeringly negative," said M.E.A. McNeil-Draper, a San Anselmo beekeeper. "We need to be more vigilant about what we're doing, in less chemical ways."

Local beekeepers say the problems affecting their hives are different from the nationwide syndrome, called colony collapse disorder, that has threatened to wipe out America's honeybees in the past three years. But many believe the solutions they're helping to pioneer may one day help to save the larger bee population - as well as the food crops and other plants that rely on bees for pollination.

More at the link