Chinquapin Honey LLC

06/17/2026

All the bearding was temperature induced. Harvest is done but one hive is defensive…wife got tagged on the ear in frint of the house…wait till I put in the apiguard.

06/13/2026

Total wax cappings from 8 frames of honey harvest yesterday.

06/12/2026

i have harvested two supers. The bees have remained calm, even this giant hive. I collected just about 4 gallons so far.

I pull one frame of honey at a time, shake off the bees and walk them over to a weather tight tub. Easy-peasy.

Oh, I almost forgot. I put the wet frames back into hive so they would clean them for me this morning around 0830 and thought it was about to rain and pulled them at 1530…6-7 hours and they were clean and dry! they are now in the freezer for a few days.

06/11/2026

This goes well beyond normal bearding behavior. I have to actually go into the hive at this point. Temp is 86, now 95.

06/10/2026

The lantern fly nymph (Lycorma delicatula)invasion has begun.

05/06/2026

Big thanks to Toni and everyone who participated this evening at the public hearing about the proposed restrictions for beekeeping in Alexandria City. By unanimous consent the entire docket item #6 was deferred until they reached out to the beekeeping community in Alexandria for much needed information. We made a difference tonight!

05/04/2026

Just when you thought it was safe to go in the water. This is on the docket in Alexandria. Buckle up. New Legislative changes for beekeepers.

04/22/2026

Just goes to show how every colony has it’s own personality. Hive #1‘s honey super is completely full and capped. Hives 2,3 and four have frames full of nectar but they are no where near being capped. Dilemma: harvest one honey super and throw it back on to fill gain or let it sit for 8 weeks on the hive?

04/22/2026

I started using the Hive Bloom program to track my apiary. For the last 10 years I used BEETIGHT which was an excellent log program, but the developer got too busy with his life so he killed it. HiveBloom appears to be adequate but it is only my first day. I went ahead and subscribed even though it appears j tried to use it in 2024 when I learned BEETIGHT was shutting down. Let me know if you use Hivebloom and how you like it. I want to import the data from beetight and google sheets that i have used since the big shutdown.

Here is the link: Check out HiveBloom: A simple beekeeping management app!

A simple beekeeping app for managing better bees.

04/15/2026

Mine swarmed today, National Swarm Day. Typically a bright sunny day between 10-2 o’clock.