2015
2015 · December 21, 2015
On Sunday, December 21, Heilbronner Gartenhonig was available for purchase at the Advent market in the historic rooms of Beilstein Castle: The garden beekeeper's son bravely served at the stand selling honey and answered questions from interested visitors. Thanks to this year's generous harvest, there are still significant stocks available. So if you need a special last minute Christmas present, you will find it here. Just give us a call or send us an e-mail to secure one or more jars of...
2015 · November 28, 2015
The first snow falls in Heilbronn, the night temperatures drop below freezing point. It is quiet at the beehives. The infrared thermal imaging camera reveals what is going on inside the hives. Interesting information can be found here in the blog of a Swiss beekeeper colleague and journalist.
2015 · November 06, 2015
The garden beekeeper's colonies have now been winterized: they were treated with formic acid against the varroa mite and fed sugar syrup. Now they are no longer disturbed until spring, except for a short oxalic acid treatment for residual mitigation around the winter solstice at the end of December. The last rays of the low-lying sun touch the boxes. In mild weather, the bees fly only sporadically, but still bring pollen to the hive, which they need as protein feed, especially in the coming...
2015 · October 04, 2015
One of the queens did not survive the formic acid treatment, and to make matters worse, the replenished queen did not return from her wedding flight. So the unfortunate colony had now been "hopelessly wise" for two weeks, clearly recognizable by the "howling" of the bees. Without the garden beekeeper's help, the colony would have been doomed to die. Today a new mated queen was added to the colony, in a small cage with sugar dough closure. Within a few seconds the bees notice the presence of the...
2015 · September 24, 2015
21 days - that's all it takes for a white writhing larva to become the worker of a colony of bees. But three weeks are still quite long to watch. Therefore, the genesis of the honeybee is now in 60-second time lapse. What begins with goo quickly turns into an impressively complex honeycomb ballet. And by the way, the bee's mortal enemy sneaks through the video.
2015 · September 01, 2015
The diaper reveals something about the drama taking place in one of the bee colonies: The offspring colony is still too weak to defend itself against predatory bees from neighboring colonies and also against the overwhelming number of wasps. Legs and wings of those robbed of their food remain. From the outside, the predators can only be recognized by their somewhat hectic movements at the flight hole and by the many black bees that have lost their hair while fighting. The otherwise so peaceful...
2015 · August 16, 2015
Recently, the garden beekeeper had the wonderful children's book by Leo Lionni in mind. In it the mouse Frederick collects sunrays for the cold, dark winter days. In winter, when all supplies are used up, Frederick tells the other mice: "And now I am sending you the sunrays. Can you already feel how warm they are? Warm, beautiful and golden?"
2015 · July 18, 2015
Final sprint! The lime tree has withered, the bees find only little food now. They extract water from the stored honey so that it reaches its final maturity. The garden beekeeper's last honey harvest of this year is imminent.
2015 · June 29, 2015
Same colonies, same location, one garden beekeeper. Two harvests within four weeks: Different plants from which the bees collected nectar and honeydew. This is how different honey looks and tastes.
2015 · June 21, 2015
Today is the summer solstice. This date marks the beginning of the astronomical summer. At the same time this day is called midsummer and is celebrated especially in the northern countries. This is also the peak of the annual development of the bee colonies: in the days with the longest sunshine duration they reach their maximum strength and the natural willingness to swarm ends.