Location unknown

As the title says my grandfather kept bees. On the morning he passed away they swarmed over his farmhouse. We buried him a few days later at the local church about a mile away. His bees all hung from a tree about a metre over his grave. They stayed for about a week and then flew away. We didn’t see them again after that. This was in west Wales. Any I thought you guys might get a kick out of it :)

Went out of town for July 4th only for my neighbor to call and say some mischievous kids had knocked over one of my hives. An hour later the opposite neighbor lets us know that they called the local bee club because a swarm bees was on their fence. When the local beekeeper got there, the situation was explained, and they said, “finders keepers.” I got the contact info of the person who caught the swarm and reached out over Facebook, begging to pay them for their time and effort to get my bees back but they blocked me. My wife reached out, they blocked her. Needless to say I do not know if I’m going to join the local bee club now.

Sun

He had about 90 hives in total. Ive always been around the bees but never actually managed them myself.

I really want to keep them healthy and productive, but I need some technical guidance from experienced beekeepers

• How should I approach my first inspections? (What exactly to look for in brood, honey stores, queen health, etc.)

• Any advice for seasonal maintenance since I’m starting mid-season?

• Tips for equipment upkeep (boxes, frames, smokers, protective gear) so I can extend their lifespan.

• Common mistakes beginners make that I should avoid.

Any feedback or pointers would mean a lot – I really want to honor my grandfather’s work and keep these bees thriving.

Thanks in advance!

Luckily they landed on the ground next to a shrub and I was able to recover them

I’m the president and founder of the Oxford University Beekeeping Society, and earlier this month around World Bee Day I opened the university’s first student teaching apiary in 185 years. We had a predecessor back in the 1830s with the Oxford Apiarist Society, but they went defunct in 1841 when their founder left Oxford to introduce beekeeping to New Zealand (he later went insane and was committed to an asylum, unrelated to the bees[?]).

To celebrate the occasion we invited the college choir out to serenade the bees with a 1623 beekeeping melody, Melissomelos, composed by the Oxford alum Charles Butler. Butler was the first beekeeper within the British Isles to argue that the beehive was ruled by a queen rather than a king in his book the Feminine Monarchie, which included Melissomelos. The melody mimics the real 'piping', or singing behaviour of newborn queen bees, but lyrically is also an allusion to the reign and colonial expansion of Queen Elizabeth I.

To accompany the melody I hand sewed this medieval beesuit. It's a simple linen tunic along with the wicker woven face cover, and a flower crown and censer we broke out for the day. This wicker style is attested in a few medieval and early modern illuminated manuscripts in the university's Bodleian Library, which was wonderful to check out while I was sewing. Around 80 people came out for the picnic, speech, choir performance and to see the hives. Thanks to u/redbonito for the sewing pattern!

I can't decide which will come first....A letter from city zoning, or rain.

First year Beekeeper located in Northern New Jersey. I placed my four beehives inside my fenced-in yard. Everything was going well since April when I first got started with this passion. Then on November 3 disaster struck. A bear simply climbed over my chain-link fence and helped itself to the hives. Two of the hives are completely destroyed. Two are flipped on the side. The event happened two days ago, so everything’s been sitting like this for two days. Due to my work schedule I will not be able to get to cleaning it up, assessing damage until tomorrow morning, which will be day three. From the looks of it, I can salvage the middle two, which were simply tipped to the front. But I won’t know the extent of the damage until I open it up. What would you do in my situation? Leaving them in the same spot makes no sense. Should I relocate them to the outside perimeter and install an electric fence instead? Anything specific to check for inside the two that somewhat survived? Of course I will look for the queen, but is there anything else I should be looking for? Should I downsize them to choose one level and put them somewhere out of reach may be on top of my balcony? I’m devastated.

yesterday I posted here saying I had no clue how to take care of the hives.

I just wanted to give a quick update: I contacted the local beekeepers association today, and one of the older beekeepers (that was also my old mans friend) offered to help me out voluntarily. He’s already started showing me the basics and guiding me step by step.

It’s still early days, but I feel a lot more confident knowing I don’t have to figure this out alone. Thanks again for the support here. it really gave me the push I needed. and no im not giving any of the hives away😈

I know honey can be naturally green if the bees got into candy, but how would they harvest chlorophyll?

I’ve never seen them do this. It’s not a hot day. Are they preparing to swarm or am I being robbed or something? I looked near the entrance and didn’t see any fighting