Author Archives: AmericanHeritageApiary

19 of 20 of the grafts were successful! I still had 3 cells that weren’t capped. I did mess up one of the uncapped cells but put it back in to see if they save it or not. 16 cells into the incubator!

Packages are almost back from Georgia, getting excited! Today I’ll be mixing 30 gallons of 1:1 syrup and getting my pliers and knife ready for doing the installations. I’ll be using my spring feed mix. I will be posting a video of how I like to do the package install as early as I canContinue reading “Package Prep”

This one comes up all the time… and I used to really struggle with it. The biggest thing I learned is that there a ton of materials and ways to do it but it’s a process and it takes time. Be patient and take your time to ensure the smoker body itself gets really niceContinue reading “Smoker Lighting”

Here’s my 24 hour later quick peak to see if any grafts were accepted!

Today is a big day at American Heritage Apiary….THE FIRST GRAFTS OF 2021! I put together a medium builder friday, fed them up and today they will get their first grafts. I have a new lighted magnifier to give a whirl to see if it helps w/ grafting the eggs to the cups. I’ll haveContinue reading “First Graft 2021”

Going to try something a little crazy….need some queens here in a few weeks to make some splits as some of my over-wintered hives are feeling a little swarmish. We normally won’t start our first builder until the first week of May but it always feels like we are a little behind. I couldn’t seeContinue reading “First Builder of the Season”

This hive is the descendent of the second New River Honey Bee Queen Carniolian we received so it’s really neat to see how the hive has developed and performed over time.

This was by far my weakest hive going into winter and she pulled through! I fought queen issues and poor production all year trying multiple queens from other sources before introducing one of our queens late in the year. The hive overwintered nicely and was off to a great start!

I don’t always make pollen patties in my wife’s lovely kitchen but when I do she’s at work, > 20 miles away and I have at least 6 hours to clean, clean, clean. I use 2:1 syrup with some Honey Bee Healthy and pollen substitute. Add the pollen to the mixer and dribble water inContinue reading “Pollen Patties”