The Backyard Beekeeper Quotes

“There is a ground spray that can be applied to the area around your colonies that will kill the larvae when they cross it. It also is effective against fire ants, but it must be reapplied after it rains. If you routinely move colonies it doesn’t do much good either.”
― Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

“(Screened bottom boards were used by beekeepers more than 150 years ago for improved ventilation. Beekeepers replaced them with solid bottom boards in the winter, and over time the expense of having two pieces of equipment fell into disfavor, and the screens went away.)”
― Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

“If the bees are slow, add additional honey, sugar, and peppermint to a new mix to increase attractiveness. A rare few will never eat them. If that happens, leave them on anyway and hope for the best. It’s all you can do for these bees.”
― Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

“Put the grease patty directly on the top bars, off center, and let the bees consume it. While doing so, they’ll pick up minute amounts of the grease, foiling further mite infestations.”
― Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

“Once ingested the spores germinate and begin consuming the larvae, much like the other diseases mentioned. The larvae eventually die after the cell is capped. Before they die, the larvae turn a brownish/yellow color. This is a sure sign that something is wrong in a colony. Larvae should always be a stunning, nearly neon white. And they should be shiny and glistening, not dull. Once the cell is capped the infected larvae die”
― Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

“Gloves and hive tools used when working a colony with AFB are not cleaned before use in another colony.”
― Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

“Above the queen excluder—only honey. Below—honey, pollen, and brood.”
― Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

“Sugar syrup may develop a black mold in the pail when the bees don’t eat it for a several days, or it may actually ferment if the weather is warm. A good rule of thumb is, if the look or the smell of the syrup is such that you wouldn’t drink it, don’t give it to your bees.”
― Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

“Mingling frames from the broodnest with frames from honey supers also causes problems. The material in the cells and the bees walking on this darkened wax will darken the honey stored in the combs and add bits and flavors of what was there before, reducing the pristine quality of the honey you want to harvest. The bottom line: Don’t mix frames used for honey with frames used for brood.”
― Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden

“All of this debris combines to produce a very dark comb, laden with things your brand-new bees don’t need to be exposed to and that surely add a level of stress to your colony. Replace older, dark combs routinely to keep the nursery area as clean as possible and to avoid this stress. Every three years, in the spring when most combs are empty, is a good recommendation, but it certainly should occur whenever the comb becomes so dark that when held up to the sun, no light passes through.”
― Kim Flottum, The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees in Your Yard and Garden