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Week by week guideline for managing your new package of bees
Getting your first package this spring? Here is a week by week guideline for managing your new package of bees through their first 8 weeks. Read More -
Oops A Common Spring Mistake - I Left On My Winter Rim!
There are many things that are important to do early in the spring. In an earlier article Preparing For Winter 101 we discussed activities and changes we make to our hives to help them survive the winter. One of those activities is to add a winter rim and that article included a reminder not to leave on your winter… Read More -
Mistakes of Splitting Winter Bees Too Early
A fresh article about splitting winter bees and the mistakes of doing it too early One of the best ways to increase your apiary/number of hives is to make splits in the spring when the bees are naturally making increase and preparing to swarm. In other words, take advantage of their natural inclination to swarm and channel that energy… Read More -
DIY Spring Planning 101
To Do List for Each Month: Planning Ahead At this time of year there are a lot of questions about what the beekeeper should be doing. We have been busy teaching the annual Bee School with our beekeeping club. As part of our efforts to prepare these new beekeepers we have prepared this month by month summary of what… Read More
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Our Philosophy
A Future With Bees is a Missouri based operation promoting locally bred “survivor” honeybees, natural beekeeping and protecting a future that includes honeybees! We believe that breeding better bees is the best long-term solution to our bee's health and longevity. We practice chemical free, sustainable apiary management.
We happily pick up swarms anywhere in the Springfield, MO region. We also perform bee rescues where we remove unwanted bee colonies from houses, trees, building structures, or anywhere else! If you have bees, we can help!
About Us Beekeepers Monthy Activity Calendar
Confused on what you should be doing each month?
Each article linked below gives you a monthly look at what is going on inside your hives and what activities you should be thinking about.
Read More Installing a Package
Unlike Jeff, this is only my third year of beekeeping and this is the first year I installed my first package of bees. My first year of beekeeping I bought two Nucs, starting my second year I had one hive left and was able to split it and capture a swarm. I went into the winter of 2014 with 3 strong hives. Unfortunately like many beekeepers I only had one out of three hives alive this spring. I wanted to grow my apiary and package bees were my best option.
DIY Bucket Swarm Capture - Springfield MO
If you capture many swarms you will learn a few things are always true: 1. sometimes the swarms leave before you get there; 2. they are not always going to be honeybees; 3. and sometimes the swarm is just to high in they tree to reach easily. Its the facts of chasing bees, not all of them want to cooperate or land in a easy spot for us to capture. We have seen swarms on all kinds of things: cooling ducts, fences, trees, light fixtures, the ground and even cars. These wonderful insects dont always cooperate but here is a simple trick to get the ones up high.
Investigating a deadout - Why did my colony die?
This is a common question that is very hard to answer. We recently found a deadout and filmed our investigation.
Easiest and Coolest Swarm Capture Ever - Springfield, MO
The home owner had closed off the area with stakes and plastic ribbon. The air was filled with a lot of honeybees and we were concerned they were getting ready to leave. Apparently this swarm was here for 2 days before we finally got the call late on the 3rd day (two of those nights were in the cold low to mid 40's). The home owner explained to us that it started out on the side of the tree, then moved to a limb and finally flat on the ground in the grass.