Douglas Farm

It comes with the essence of the breed perhaps. The Buckfest bee was created by Brother Adam through many long travels. So, it is very fitting that we prepare for a long trip ourselves to obtain them. This spring we were informed they no longer intended to ship bees across the border. We must now travel to pick them up and bring them across ourselves.

This week we took our first step, beyond phone inquiries. It all starts with applying for our passports. It’s one of t...

Colloidal Silver is silver suspended in a solution, normally water. It's made by grinding or electrolysis.

Silver is a metal that has been used in medical instruments for a long time. It is easily cleaned.

Many believe it to have anti bacterial, fungus, and viral properties.

However, no scientific research has shown it to help medically when ingested or injected. So, it falls in the realm of snake oil.

I've heard of ...

Not that I want to support the anarchy and crazy out of standard hive systems.

But for all you 'Top Bar' beekeepers...

Top bar hives are really the short name for the Kenya Top Bar Hive.

They are hives that are built front to back with comb facing perpendicular to the enterance. The hive does not...

New drop down menu's from the navigation bar.

A new batch of Cordovans means its time to mark some queens. Here's some pictures from today:

The Equipment-

Captured Queen

Queen to the top

Web store now has skin cream in the bath product section.

Boy, are my hands soft today.

What's a queen without her Castle?

So I've assembled my two new Queen Castles. Now if I could make a cool outer cover...

So,

Members can now hopefully log in with their facebook accounts. We'll see if the new application works... ha ha.

So, I've finally finished it. The new store front is here. I was going to wait till I got the new stock of containers in, but... its close enough.

So, now each product group has its own page. Hopefully everyone enjoys the format and finds it easy to use. I've gone through the coding on each of the google cart buttons many, many times. Hopefully all the bugs are worked out.

It still has the same site address as the front page for anyone who has linked to ...

Revisiting the distiction of Organic Honey.

If a goverment certifies its country's honey as Organic, the USDA allows it to show the label USDA Organic when sold in the US.

Do they follow the exact same rules for certification, NO.

The honey produced in NJ will never be organic because the government officials of NJ want the hives to be atleast 4 miles from: sewar plants, golf courses, industrial facilities, homes that could use chemical...

It's so intense right now!!!

For months customers ordering bees have demanded, complained, nagged, gripped, etc. that they want, nay, need their bees earlier.

So the day comes when I'm setting up my first pickups (going as early as I can to meed the demands of my customers), and what do you expect happens? More than 50% of the people say, "Can you hold them for a few weeks?" "I'm not ready." Or, "My equipment is on its way".

So if...

Keeping good records is very helpful and good beekeeping practice. Many beekeepers like keeping things on computer. Here are two web applications:

First, a new ap. called Beetight. This application allows you to track hives, yards and other things. It's still new, and updates keep coming, but I think its worth checking out. As its new, its developer is taking suggestions for improvment. A mobile version is availible, good with iphone and droid. Free use for up to 6 hives,&#...