News 2016 — Beekeeping

Wishing You A Joyous New Year !Historical Honeybee Articles - Beekeeping HistoryImage: Bee Chasing Children -Trading Card from Partridges Cafe, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - 15 North 3rd Street and 19 South 8th Street(estimate circa. 1880 to 1900) Over a century ago, during the Victorian era, one of the favorite pastimes was collecting small, illustrated advertising cards that we now call trade cards. These trade cards evolved from cards of the late 1700s used by tradesmen to advertise their services. Although examples from the early 1800s exist, it was not until the spread of color lithography in the 1870s that trade cards...

At Bill's Bees you can purchase A Complete Beehive, Bees in Packages, or Nucs. We also sell VSH Italian Queens. All our bees are Italian honey bees with known gentle genetics. These bees are ideal for Backyard Beekeeping in Los Angeles as well as for Commercial Beekeepers who take their bees to pollination.Pre-Order by December 31, 2016 and Save. The price of bees (TBD) will increase on January 1, 2017. A Complete Hive for $315 ~ Nucleus colony (described in Bees in Nucs) that includes Italian Bees with a VSH-Italian 'unmarked' queen, a painted deep hive body, bottom board fastened to...

During the Awards Banquet on November 17th, 2016, the California State Beekeepers Association honored Clyde Steese with the CSBA Young Beekeeper of the Year Award at their 27th CSBA Annual Convention at the Kona Kai Resort in San Diego, CA. As he presented the award, Awards Chairman, Alan Mikolich, had these words to share about Clyde: "A young man he is not.  A young beekeeper whom the bees have taught many lessons he is.  He is a successful (meaning the bees are paying for themselves with a little $ left over) 1st generation beekeeper.  Honey bees found him when they...

California's severe drought has caused devastating fire conditions throughout the state; destroying homes, wildlife, and honey bees. On Friday evening (July 22nd) we were able to rescue our bees just in time. We moved two of our apiaries (140 hives) from above Dillon Divide. This is what it looked like when we moved out of the hills before the fire went through the canyon. It was hot as a furnace. By the time we had the bees loaded that fire was halfway down the hill. The wind was blowing and it was snowing white ash when we got the truck...

How exciting! Over 200  newbees (Yikes!) showed up for our first class of the 2016 season! What a gorgeous day to be up on the mountain at Bill’s Bees Bee Farm. Bill and Clyde have hosted and taught the Los Angeles County Beekeepers Association Beekeeping Class 101 for many years. Once upon a time, there were only a handful of “newbees” interested in becoming beekeepers. Over the past few years, interest in beekeeping and the desire to learn more about these tiny honey bees who are so important to our survival, has grown around the world.So now you want to be a beekeeper!!!...