Table of Contents Carpenter bees may not be the usual suspects we deal with in the beekeeping world, but they’re important enough to talk about, especially if they’ve taken a liking to your wooden structures.  At Foxhound Bee Co, we deal solely with honey bees, but we are well aware of the other bees in our ecosystem. They all have their role, and carpenter bees are just as important.  While these solitary bees are essential pollinators for many plants, they can cause some real headaches for homeowners. As beekeepers, we have to walk the line between what is best for the bees a ..read more

Table of Contents When you’re just getting started in beekeeping – the list of questions you’ll need to answer may seem endless.  Whether it’s running double deeps or all medium boxes, insulated or wooden hives, starting with nucs or packages…the list of questions and considerations you’ll need to address goes on.  One of the topics you’ll need to consider pertains to the bees themselves. At a broad level Apis mellifera, known as the European or Western honey bee, is utilized in modern beekeeping. However, many subspecies of honey bees exist, each of which has unique characteri ..read more

The world of beekeeping is fraught with difficulty, and king among them are the varroa mites. These pests cause a lot of issues for beekeepers and honey bees and are the #1 reason a colony will fail. Not only do they physically harm bees, but they will also harm subsequent generations. Fortunately, varroa mite control products on the market can help beekeepers control varroa. It would be better if we didn’t have to use these, but I’m glad that we have them. One of the newer ones is called Varroxsan and is made by our friends who make Apiguard. Vita Bee has been producing Apiguard and other ..read more

Table of Contents We have been in the beekeeping game longer than we have been in the equipment game, but we spend much of our time talking with beekeepers about the equipment they need (and don’t need) when they get started. Trust us, there is so much more that you don’t need than you do. But there is some real basic equipment that you do need when getting started. We have a few different articles on that, including the 5 tools every beginner beekeeper needs and also a piece that is a part of our beginner beekeeper guide that talks in depth about getting started. In this piece, we are g ..read more

Banking queens involve keeping queens in individual cages by themselves and storing them in close proximity to each other. They are stored inside a normal hive with young bees who can keep the queens well-fed and warm until they are needed by the beekeeper. We have banked queens since 2021 and learned a few things about how to keep queens in a bank. We will mainly bank queens to keep them ready and available for customers who need to buy a queen to save a colony or increase their apiary size through making splits. Queen banks are not normal for backyard beekeepers to have and are typically ..read more

Table of Contents Oxalic acid has been around for a few years in beekeeping circles, but it is really gaining popularity. Especially the vaporization technique.  There are new tools and research available now that really make OA (oxalic acid) promising and easy to apply. Oxalic acid vaporization has emerged as an effective and organic solution to combat these pests and maintain thriving colonies.  In this blog post, we will explore the intricacies of oxalic acid vaporization, its methods, and equipment, as well as best practices and safety precautions to ensure the health and w ..read more

Table of Contents So, you put lots of thought into where you’d place your beehives, but for some reason or another, now you’ve got to move your honey bee hives. How do you safely move a heavy box or stack of boxes with 60,000 bees in it? First, here are a few things you’ll need: a flatbed wheelbarrow, moving dolly, a strong back, a friend, a hand truck or a tractor with a pallet mover fork Headlamps with red lights or red filters (for moving at night) Ratchet straps: at least one per hive A Foxhound Buzz Bag for extra security Additionally, if you can enlist some help, preferab ..read more

Table of Contents Do you use gloves when you work your bees? Most beekeepers use gloves at least part-time. Usually these gloves are made at least partly of leather.  If you have used leather gloves while working in your hives only a few times, you already know how messy your leather beekeeping gloves can get.  Substances like propolis, wax, honey, bee stingers, squished hive beetles, and mystery stains get all over them. The sooner you treat your gloves after getting stained, the better chance you have of removing the stains. Cleaning Your Leather Gloves Leather is mad ..read more

Table of Contents As beekeepers, we want to do what we can to help our bees out. Honey bees take their cues from nature and follow the seasons, expanding their nest in the spring and summer and contracting it in the fall and winter.  Hive insulation will vary based on the environment the bees live in. All honey bees are cavity dwellers and choose to live in a well-insulated climate, but bees can live in some crazy places. While some types of bees will live in the ground or independently in a small cavity, honeybees need a large space to live in. But they typically choose to live ..read more

Table of Contents When having to requeen the hive, it can be a stressful situation for both the worker bees and the beekeeper. Many things can go wrong when a colony of bees decides to replace its queen with a new queen.  When left to the bees to perform this task, usually the colony will be successful, but there is always a chance the queen will not be successful and the colony will die. In this post, we are talking about how a beekeeper can introduce a queen to a colony. This is a common task that beekeepers will do to help their bees.  Read our post on how to buy a queen ..read more