Blossom Valley Byeboerdery

28/05/2026

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24/05/2026

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A beekeeper’s homecoming: Renowned honey bee scientist Jamie Ellis returns to lead UGA Bee Program

By: Maria M. Lameiras

On the first day of his undergraduate career at the University of Georgia, Jamie Ellis did not head to orientation or wander the quad. He reported for work in the lab of Keith Delaplane, the bee scientist who had called Ellis the spring before to personally recruit him.

That morning set the tone for everything that followed.

More than two decades later, Ellis is walking back through those same doors — this time as the new director of UGA’s Bee Program. He arrives trailing an extraordinary record built at the University of Florida, where he helped build a highly successful honey bee program — one that generated nearly 1,000 publications, attracted more than $9.3 million in grants and contracts, and earned him national recognition as the top Extension specialist in his field. Now he is coming home.

“There is a bittersweet feeling associated with leaving something I built at UF,” Ellis said. “But this feels right. UGA has made a tremendous investment in its honey bee program, and I genuinely believe we can make it preeminent.”

To continue reading, please visit: https://fieldreport.caes.uga.edu/news/jamie-ellis-to-lead-uga-bee-lab/?utm_source=CAES+Newswire&utm_campaign=eb9f213968-Newswire_Media_Weekly&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_4cb3048305-eb9f213968-35735714

Photo Caption: Renowned honey bee expert Jamie Ellis returns to his alma mater as director of the UGA Bee Lab in June. (Photo by Amanda Hollohan)

This article was originally published by the University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences

22/05/2026

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Let's talk about the core reasons why your bees decide to leave you and swarm away.

Bees abscond for very specific reasons, and most of them are connected to survival pressure inside the colony itself.

You should understand something important.

Leaving the hive is extremely expensive biologically.

The hard truth is that bees are usually leaving their cozy homes mainly because of their keeper.

Since this topic is huge, today I'll be talking only about overheating.

A hive exposed to brutal direct sunlight with poor ventilation can slowly become unbearable, especially in extremely hot climates.

The colony starts losing control of internal temperature regulation and eventually decides relocation is safer and cheaper than continuing the fight against heat stress.

This becomes even worse in overcrowded colonies during heavy nectar flows (too many bees, too much humidity, too little airflow).

Overheating is essentially turning your hive into a slow cooker :), so why should they stay? Would you stay in these conditions?

To halt this disaster before the colony absconds, you must proactively adapt your equipment to the environment rather than waiting for the bees to quit.

Using screened bottom boards, adding some grass on top of the hives, creating upper ventilation gaps, and painting your hive bodies a reflective white are the foundational steps to breaking the heat trap.

If your yard is trapped in a concrete sun trap or a dead-air zone behind a solid fence, you need to install artificial shade sails or physically move the stands under a tree canopy.

When the temperature inside the box mimics an oven, the queen stops laying, the wax begins to soften, and the colony's survival instinct overrides their attachment to the combs.

You should never let your apiary reach the point where the bees are forced to cluster on the outside of the hive just to breathe.

Take control of the microclimate inside your hives, or prepare to watch your investment fly over the horizon :).

Thank you for reading 📖
I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic 🧡
Please leave a like if you've found this interesting 🐝

Happy beekeeping and full barrels 🐝🍯

01/05/2026

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23/04/2026

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I'll tell you how to increase your honey production this season, but this is going to be a slightly harder read than usual so brace yourself :).

To maximize your honey crop from a specific monoculture flow, you must move beyond basic feeding and into metabolic and behavioral priming.

With 2 weeks before a main monoculture honey flow, it's a really good idea to start stimulating your bees with a 1/4 syrup that's made out of that exact plant tea, and out of that specific honey

By exposing the bees to the specific floral scents and volatile oils of the plant early, you are pre-programming their scout bees to recognize and target that exact nectar source the moment it opens in the field.

In my opinion, using the specific honey from that variety in the mix is essential because it contains the exact enzymes and sugar ratios the bees will encounter during the flow, reducing the metabolic "adjustment period" once the foraging begins.

This technique creates a "foraging bias" where your bees will mostly ignore competing weeds or secondary flows to focus entirely on your primary monoculture target, which will lead to a higher quality honey.

I strongly think that the delivery of this stimulant should be done with an internal feeder, like simple syrup bags, and should never be done as an open feeding.

The syrup should be mixed at a very thin ratio, 1 part honey + 3 parts tea (maybe add some Protofil there too) to mimic the high water content of natural nectar and stimulate the queen's laying rate.

You should deliver small, frequent quantities, such as 250ml to 500ml every two days, rather than a single large feeding.

The goal is not to have the bees store this syrup, but to keep them in a constant state of "discovery" and high activity.

In my opinion, any more than this volume risks plugging the brood nest with syrup, which would leave the queen with no room to expand the workforce before the flow hits.

You don't want this syrup inside your hive once the bees are in the field, so stop the feedings with 3 days before moving them.

A workforce that is already metabolically and behaviorally tuned to a specific plant will out-produce an unprimed colony by a significant margin during a short, intense honey flow.

If you loved this post, please leave a like and a comment with your thoughts 🧡
Thank you for reading 📖
Happy beekeeping and full barrels 🐝🍯

09/04/2026

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"🐝 Life Cycle of the Bee: A Journey from Egg to Worker Bee
Bees are not just tiny insects that produce honey; they are symbols of cooperation and hard work. Their life cycle is fascinating and begins with a tiny egg that eventually becomes an active bee playing multiple roles to ensure the colony’s survival. Let’s explore each stage of a bee’s life in detail:
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1. The Egg
It all starts with the egg laid by the queen. The queen is the only one in the colony capable of laying eggs and can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day during peak activity. These tiny eggs are laid in wax hexagonal cells called brood cells. The egg is white and looks like a tiny speck. It takes 3 days to hatch.
🐝 Fun Facts:
The queen can control the type of egg she lays: a fertilized one becomes a female bee (worker or queen), while an unfertilized one becomes a drone (male).
Thanks to this control, the queen maintains the balance between males and females in the colony.
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2. The Larva
After 3 days, the egg hatches into a small white larva. At this stage, the larva cannot move and completely depends on worker bees for nourishment. It is fed ""royal jelly,"" a protein-rich food produced by worker bees, which allows it to grow quickly.
After 3 days of royal jelly, it starts receiving a mixture of nectar and pollen. The larva continues growing for 6 days, increasing in size rapidly—consuming up to its own weight every hour!
🐝 Additional Info:
Queen-destined larvae are fed exclusively on royal jelly throughout their development, enabling them to become queens.
Worker bees constantly clean and feed the cells to ensure healthy development.
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3. The Pupa
Once the larva reaches a certain size, its cell is sealed with wax, and the next stage begins: the pupa. In this stage, complete metamorphosis occurs. The larva transforms into an adult bee. This process takes about 12 days, during which wings, legs, and mouthparts form.
Important Note:
This stage is known as complete me"

09/04/2026

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"The Bee Flight Code"🐝

How to Identify a Forager’s Payload by Observing the Hive Entrance
​By A Passionate Beekeeper
​To the untrained eye, a beehive in full swing is a chaotic cloud of wings and buzzing. Thousands of bees stream in and out, seemingly without a plan. However, look closer—especially from the side, watching the traffic hit the landing board—and that chaos reveals a sophisticated choreography. The image above (referencing the English version) guides us through this fascinating secret language.
​During peak hours, foraging bees return from their missions carrying precious resources vital to the colony's survival. Remarkably, their "landing pattern" changes drastically depending on what they are carrying. Learning to decode these patterns is more than a hobby; it is a vital tool for any beekeeper who wants to assess the colony's health and nutritional status without ever opening the box.
​Let’s break down the four primary "payloads" a foraging bee brings home and their corresponding flight behaviors.
​1. The Color Hunter: Pollen
​When a colony needs a massive protein boost to feed the developing brood, foragers focus on pollen. This is the easiest resource to spot: the "pollen baskets" (corbiculae) on their hind legs are visibly bulging with colorful lumps ranging from bright yellow to deep purple.
​The Flight: "Heavy and direct flight, clumsy landing."
A pollen-laden bee is a heavy bee. Aerodynamics take a back seat to raw muscle power. There is no time for fancy maneuvers; the bee returns on a nearly horizontal, stable, and fast trajectory, much like a cargo plane on a standard approach. The landing is often a "thud" directly onto the board or just inside the entrance. You will often see them stumble or "bounce" slightly as they regain their balance before scurrying inside.
​2. The Energy Seeker: Nectar
​Nectar is the colony's primary fuel, collected to be transformed into honey. Unlike pollen, nectar is liquid and carried internally in the "honey stomach." You can’t see it, but you can feel the bee's energy.
​The Flight: "Fast and zigzag flight, precise landing."
Nectar foragers are the athletes of the hive. They aren't weighed down by external cargo, and their bodies are fueled by the very sugar they carry. They approach the hive with incredible speed but execute a complex "zigzag" dance in mid-air. This helps them navigate the crowded entrance and line up perfectly. Their landing is usually very clean and surgical, hitting the board and running immediately into the darkness of the hive.
​3. The Climate Engineer: Water
​When the hive needs cooling through evaporation or needs to dilute honey for the brood, bees go out for water. This is a critical operation, especially on scorching summer days.
​The Flight: "Low and swaying flight, gentle landing, often in small hops."
A water-carrying bee has a very distinct, often undervalued flight pattern. Because water is dead weight and doesn't provide the "sugar high" of nectar, the bee appears strained. They approach the hive very low to the landing board, with a swaying, almost "drunken" motion as they struggle with the shifting liquid weight. Their landing is careful and slow; you’ll often see them take "small hops" on the board before finally heading in.
​4. Scouts and Empty Foragers (The "A Vuoto")
​Finally, there are the bees traveling "empty"—the scouts. Their mission isn't to haul freight but to find information or new food sources.
​The Flight: "Agile, acrobatic flight, pre-entry inspection."
These are the most dynamic flyers. Without any weight to hold them back, they are fast and perform impressive acrobatic maneuvers. They often hover and fly up and down the face of the hive (an "orientation flight" or inspection) before entering. They are the ones you see buzzing high above the hive before diving down elegantly to the entrance.
​The Power of Observation
​Take a moment to sit by your hive and watch the landing board. With this knowledge, you can perform an instant "biopsy" of the colony’s activities. If most bees arrive with heavy, straight flights, the brood is growing and pollen is abundant. If they are zigzagging in, a nectar flow is on. If they are swaying in low, check your water sources.
​Decoding the flight code is the beginning of a deeper connection with your bees. Beekeeping isn't just about moving frames; it is, above all, the art of observation. Happy watching!

28/02/2026

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What you can learn about your hive without opening the lid? 🐝

One of the most overlooked — and most powerful — skills in beekeeping is learning how to read the hive from the outside.

Before we reach for our tools, the bees are already communicating. We just have to slow down long enough to watch… and listen.

I’m going to share seight simple activities you can observe around your beehive that tell you a surprising amount of information about what’s happening inside.

You don’t need to open the lid — you just need to slow down, watch, and give the bees a moment to speak.

🐝Pollen coming in = brood inside
-This is one of the most reliable signs we have.
-Worker bees collect pollen only when larvae are present
-Larvae need protein to grow, and pollen is their main source
-Steady pollen loads coming in usually mean active brood rearing

🐝Orientation flights = new bees
Those bees hovering, looping, and facing the entrance?
-Those are young worker bees learning where “home” is
-Bees emerge from brood → orientation flights follow
-This tells you brood was capped weeks earlier
Without opening the hive, you’ve just read a timeline of colony growth.
This is one of my favorite things to watch — it’s literally the next generation taking flight.

🐝After orientation flights… what comes next?
Orientation flights don’t mean a bee immediately becomes a forager. Once you see the orientation flights you can be fairly certain that you have workers that will:
-nurse the brood
-Tend the queen
-Process nectar
-Build and repair comb
-Help regulate hive temperature
-Only later — often around 18–21 days old — do they become full foragers.
-A strong colony allows bees to follow this natural progression. When bees are pushed outside too early, it can be a quiet sign of stress.

🐝Entrance traffic tells you colony strength
-Strong colonies show steady, purposeful traffic
-Weak colonies often have sparse or hesitant movement
-A sudden drop in activity (with good weather) can be an early warning sign
One moment doesn’t tell the story — patterns over time do.

🐝Guard bees = confidence
-Calm, alert guards usually mean a colony that feels secure
-Excessive defensiveness without disturbance can point to stress (queen issues, hunger, pests)
-No guards at all can sometimes signal a very weak colony

🐝What they are (and aren’t) carrying
-Pollen → brood rearing
-Nectar → forage availability or feeding response
-No pollen for several days in good weather → possible brood pause
Context matters. Season, weather, and local forage all play a role.

🐝Housekeeping behavior
-Bees removing debris or dead bees isn’t a problem — it’s a sign of good hygiene.
-A hive that cleans itself is a hive investing in its health.

🐝Listen to the hive
You don’t need to open it to hear it.
-A soft, steady hum = content bees
-A loud, unsettled roar (especially after disturbance) can suggest stress or queen issues
Your ears are tools, too.
Bee Haven 2026
Inspections matter — but so does restraint.
Observation builds timing, confidence, and trust in your bees.

Sometimes the best thing you can do for your hive…
is simply sit, watch, and let them tell you their story 🐝

11/02/2026

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For Jaco Wolfaardt, commercial beekeeper and founder of Ubusi Beekeeping, bees have been a part of his life since he was a student. During his studes at Saasveld Forestry College in George, Western Cape, he was part of a woodworking club where he built his first beehive in 1992.

He eventually expanded to 12 hives to maintain as a hobby, selling honey for extra income. After a career change in 2010, Wolfaardt decided to turn his hobby into a business, establishing Ubusi Beekeeping in 2012.

Ubusi is based in Swellendam in the Western Cape, which places Wolfaardt’s team within easy reach of some of the country’s largest fruit, nut and vegetable producers, who all require pollination services.

His company is a multifaceted operation involved in crop pollination, honey supply, and beekeeping projects focused on the development of pollination and honey production in five African countries.

Click the link to read the full article: https://bit.ly/4rLKQi9

03/12/2025

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