Hoary Alyssum

Found this bee on Hoary Alyssum. Hoary Alyssum is toxic to horses & kind of makes me wonder. Could it be toxic to humans? I have been trying to do some research to find out, but I haven't found anything out yet. If you know, please let me know. Thanks in advance. Nice pic Brian! 

Milkweed

Great picture of a worker bee on milkweed. Looks like she is getting nectar. Thank you again Brian for the great shot. Enjoy!

Emergency Queen in Hive #1

This is what I found on the burr combs that I placed in Hive #1 in hopes they would make a queen.  Pretty stoked to see them working hard to survive.  This pic is a great example of emergency queen cells.  Enjoy

Boss' son & I

The boss' son & I getting ready to check the hives #1, #2, & #3.  Beautiful day to go in deep.

Airial view

A good airial view of a fully loaded little lady.  Had kind of a bad morning yesterday.  Found hive #5 tourn apart by a bear.  Salvaged what I could & moved them to a new location.  Hopefully got enough bees to survive.  Sorry I dont have any pics of the distruction. 

Bumble bee on sumac

I want to try & stick with honey bees. But I must share the importance of this little creature.  Some people say with out honey bees there wouldn't be much food (This is true for mass production of food).  But as a whole ecosystem, bumble bees are far more important.  They are native & are much more diverse in the types of flowers they will go to as a food source.  Also, this bee is on that extremely important Sumac tree. =)

Fully loaded & hovering

Check out this beauty!  Brian ceases to amaze me with the shots he has been getting.  This is a worker bee fully loaded with pollen.  She is coming from a sumac tree & decided to hover & pose.  Can't get a better shot than that.  Enjoy!

Sumac bloom

Sumac is just starting to bloom!  Sweeeeet!! =)

Queen from hive #2

Queen from hive #2 with workers!  =)

Trying to make a queen.

a

For some reason hive #1 still doesn't have a queen?  Stuck some pieces of burr comb with brood & eggs in the hive.  If this works, it will be their 3rd attempt.

Smoker (Pine needles)

Getting ready to go in the hives.  Who needs man made products to make smoke when you have an abundance of pine needles. Look at that smoke! =)

20 year old honey

Hive #3 with some 20 year old honey my boss found.  Found edible honey in the tombs of Egypt.   If it is capped it wont go bad. ;-)

Teacher & Apprentice (Me)

Teacher & the Apprentice last summer digging deep in the hive.  Enjoy!

2 hives at work

A pic of 2 of my hives at work.  Cant wait for the sumac to bloom.  Going to be a good honey flow.  Seems like the bees know it coming because they are bulking up on thier population.

Bringing home the pollen

This is a worker bee bringing home some pollen.  A friend Brian got a good pic of her on her aproach to the entry.  Also, this is Hive #2 which is a split from Hive #1.  I went in last week and man is she laying eggs.  Enjoy!  =)

Italian on a dandelion

I want to raise a little awareness about Dandilions.  These flowers (or weeds as they are refered as) are one of the most important flowers for honeybees in the spring.  As most people know, New England springs can get harsh.  Gets nice, then snows, then rainy, then snows....  So this flower is early and hardy.  It provides a good source of pollen for brood rearing (baby raising) and they get some nectar from them.  So next time you think about dumping chemicals in your lawn to remove them.  Try to remember that they may have no value to you but they are extremely important to the bees you are trying to protect.  Enjoy! =)

Sisters Buckfast bees

This is one of my sisters hives.  They are Buckfast honey bees.  This is what you want to see when you open a hive.  A frame filled with worker bees.  Nice!  Good population means good honey crop!

Emergency Queens

This is a really good pic of emergency queens.  I split Hive #1 because they were getting ready to swarm. This is what I found when I went back in.  There was somewhere between 10 & 12 of these.  Pretty amazing how they have the will to survive at all cost.

Discription pic

I labeled the bees in hopes you will get a better understanding of what you are looking at.  Same Italian queen in Hive #1.  It can get really hard to find her once the population is booming. Enjoy! =)

Queen, Hive #1

Really nice picture of the queen with some workers & a couple of drones on some new comb.  She is an Italian & from my first batch of bees.  She is also an emergancy queen due to loosing my queen last year.  Had a bad Varroa mite problem with this hive.  went from a 3 story hive to a singe deep brood box.  They almost didn't make it through the winter & I owe the reason for them still being here to her. enjoy! =)

Introduction

My name is Jacob Ellinger.  I am pleased to be able to share my story as a beekeeper.  I am from Massachusetts and have been keeping bees since spring of 2013.  Since then my spectrum has been broadened tremendously.  I had no idea how much there is to learn & how amazing these little creatures are.  Hope you enjoy what I have to say & share your experiances with me.  Sincerely, Jake!