April’s Apiary Eastern MI Beekeeper

02/21/2026

Spring is right around the corner and the new colonies of bees have been ordered. Looking forward to the buzz & sweet smell of honey.
Last year’s hive did not produce well, and did not survive into winter.
Excited to get back at it, learn from past experiences, mistakes and successes. Beekeeping is hard work, but so rewarding.

08/17/2025

I came across this today—a close-up of a honey bee stinger!

🐝 A worker bee’s stinger is barbed. This means that when she stings, her stinger gets stuck in the skin, and she tears part of her abdomen trying to fly away—unfortunately, she dies afterward.

🐝Drones (male bees) cannot sting at all.

🐝Queen bees have smooth stingers, so they can sting multiple times. But queens rarely use their stingers on humans—they usually reserve them for fighting other queens to establish dominance in the hive. These battles can be lethal!

Honey bees are generally not aggressive. Their behavior often depends on how the hive is handled:
Rough handling, banging frames, or sudden movements can make bees defensive.
When checking your hive, always stay calm, slow, and steady in your movements to keep the bees relaxed.

07/20/2025

Checking up on the bees today. I am always in awe of them - the way they build their comb, always in the same pattern, same size and so efficient. It is absolutely incredible. They know just how to care for baby bees, forage, make honey and bee bread, and serve their queen.

07/20/2025

06/19/2025

New eggs & beautiful pollen.

The eggs look like tiny grains of rice. The nursery workers provide a sweet milky nectar to the eggs as they grow. They are always working and caring for each other.

When a bee is out foraging she will often pack her back pockets with pollen! It is so beautiful to see all of the colorful pollen the bees find to bring back to the hive. They make bee bread to feed to the babies & delicious honey. 🍯

06/03/2025

"I have a huge belief in the importance of bees, not just for their honey, which is a healing and delicious food, but the necessity of bee colonies that are vital to the health of the planet."
- Trudie Styler

06/02/2025

I opened up this hive to see if the new queen is doing her job. I was absolutely thrilled to see all of these new baby bees! By next weekend these larva babies will be capped as they begin to form into a bee. They will emerge about 12 days later, clean their cribs, and begin feeding the baby larvae around them. The cycle is so incredible! Once they are ready, they will be assigned a job - nursery worker, guard, sanitation worker or forager. Bees only live 5-6 weeks. That is why we beekeepers like to make sure our queens are laying productively. She can lay over 1500 eggs a day!

05/28/2025

Don’t forget about the bees when you are planting this spring! I have already planted borage, pineapple sage, rosemary, thyme, mint and sunflowers for the bees. 🐝 These amazing herbs will make their honey so beneficial!

05/28/2025