Alaska Honey, Pollen & Comb

08/25/2024

Not a bad harvest, considering that we had only 7 days that hit 70° this year.

08/11/2024

Look at this beautiful stuff this year! Honeycomb… An elderly lady looked at this with a tear in her eye and said that when she was young, this was sugar!

07/25/2024

And sometimes they want to go live somewhere else!

06/22/2024

Here it comes fellow Alaskan beekeepers. The first sweet clover!

06/18/2024

Great weekend for wild rose bee pollen. 50 pounds!

04/16/2024

A few shots from last year.

12/16/2023

Hello 🔵 It's official. Signed at 12:53. It even came on tv.
Mine really turned blue. Don't forget, the new Facebook rule starts tomorrow (aka... new name META) where they can use your photos. Dont forget the deadline is today!!! I do not give Facebook or any company affiliated with Facebook permission to use my past and future photos, information, messages or posts.
With this statement, I inform Facebook that it is strictly forbidden to publish, copy, distribute or take any other action against me based on this profile and/or its contents. The violation of privacy can be punished by law.
NOTICE: Facebook is now a public entity. All members must publish such a note.
Whoever wants can copy and paste this version. Failure to post a statement at least once will be tacitly allowing the use of your photos, as well as information in profile and status posts.
Hold your finger anywhere in this message and copy will pop up. Click the copy button. Then go to your page, create a new message and put your finger anywhere in the blank field. "Paste" will appear and click Paste.
This will bypass the system....
He who does nothing agrees. I updated today, as my entire feed was ads. After I did this, yeah I see everyone again. I’m not sure how it works, but it did?
To regain friends in your news feed and get rid of ads - Hold your finger anywhere in this post and click ′copy’. Go to your page where it says ‘What's on your mind?’ Tap your finger anywhere in the blank field. Click paste. This upgrades the system.
Hello new and old friends!🥰
It's sad we have to keep doing this to kill the Ads and see our friends.

The Ads are getting ridiculous!

07/26/2023

Here is a close-up of a new queen being introduced after being caged for three days. Notice how she is being felt, rubbed against and cuddled. Apparently she is being accepted. Welcome home, Your Majesty!

06/25/2023

I’ve have been asked where I sent my bees to get analyzed. It costs $50 and was well worth it. I believe the problems we are experiencing is pretty much statewide, at least Homer, Kenai and Fairbanks. Feel free to contact Dave if you want your own analysis, but I am confident the we are all in the same boat due to the circumstances that were experienced in California as well as our weather here.

I have seen, as well as others that good nutrition makes a difference. “Fat Bees are Healthy Bees” These well-nourished, long-lived bees have been called “fat” bees (Sommerville 2005; Mussen 2007). Understanding the concept of fat bees is key to: colony health, successful wintering, spring b...

06/25/2023

I have been asked by many about the necessary medication to use for Nosema. First, it is not harmful to the bees and it has been around for decades. I ordered plenty and will be mixing it up tomorrow (Monday). If you want to come by my place in Palmer, I can pour you enough for your hive.
I am going to medicate all of mine regardless of their apparent strength. You just cannot medicate during or immediately before the honey flow.
A colony that is infected with Nosema has a weakened immune system which can also cause an uptick in other viruses, such as Sacbrood or CPV. A healthy bee (or colony) can normally fight these off, similarly to us humans fighting off the shingles virus. I asked the biologist what can be done about the viruses and he said first treat the Nosema and then address the viruses with nutrition. The wild rose pollen is a very good source of natural nutrition which should be available if/when the sun comes out. They also need sunshine and exercise. Pray for a hot summer and soon!

06/25/2023

As many of you know, I am a commercial beekeeper with many hives in the Mat-Su Valley. I say that just to say this… I mentioned before on this site that the flooding in California during the almond pollen season, which also interrupted the queen breeding time, has really taken a toll on our bees that got shipped up. Then they are greeted with a very long, cold spring and early summer. They really need to fly and collect the natural foods to stay healthy.
Right now, according to the calendar, the colonies should be so big that they should be needing a medium super on top of the two full deeps. I have the advantage of comparing the size with many others and many of mine are very slow building up. (This is a long story and hopefully worth it.)
I sent a few samples of bees to be analyzed and received back a full report. The Nosema spore count was very high, even on some of my healthier colonies. Some hives still only had 5-6 frames full of bees. Nosema is a gut disease and can only be cured with medication if you want them to be cured in our short season. It shortens the bees life span which results in very slow build up. The queens are fine and laying up a storm, but she will never lay more eggs than what the colony can take care of.
Another side effect of Nosema is a weakened immune system which can cause various viruses to develop. The report I received also showed this.
The bottom line is that it is very likely that many beekeepers in Alaska are in the same situation. If you’re ready to add your third box on top of the already filled two deeps, I would say you’re probably out of the danger zone. Now what we really need is some warm and flowery weather!

05/27/2023

Feeding the Bees a Pollen substitute patty: An excellent source of protein and nutrition.