A Manitoba winter is unlike others in Canada. Our bees are confined to a wintering room for 5-6 months where they just sit and wait for spring. The only bee work required is sweeping dead bees every 10 days or so. Once the weather warms up, they need be be moved outside because the wintering […]
Winter preparation is all about preparing your bees for next spring and it begins as soon as honey flow is over. To increase your potential for next year, you can’t skip or cheap out. Here is a quick rundown of how we prep hives for winter. The first thing to note is that if you […]
January – February These are usually the slowest months for Manitoba beekeepers. Bees are tucked away for the winter. This is the perfect time to make frames, check super condition or make new equipment. March – April Bees are moved outside late March to first week in April depending on weather conditions. We treat all […]
Beekeeping in Manitoba Beekeeping in Manitoba is somewhat unique. Our beehives are in wintering rooms almost 6 months of the year. In spring, two months are spent prepping hives for the honey flow and then two months in the fall prepping for winter. This gives us roughly two months when the honey flow is actually […]
Each summer, we make our own Manitoba nucs for next years’ increase and winter loss replacement. A nuc is simply a ‘baby hive’ made up of 2 frames of brood from a strong donor hive and 1 frame of pollen/honey. They are put into 5 or 6 frame boxes and allowed to establish themselves with […]
Why Local Queens We have been using commercially produced queens for many years. We’ve had many successful years with them, but we have noticed that many of them are short-lived and sometimes don’t grow quick enough after wintering. Given queen prices are $40.00 plus, we began exploring our options. The world of queen rearing can […]