Here I write about my day-to-day beekeeping: what I observe in my colonies, what occupies my mind, and what I learn along the way. No textbook theory — just experiences from the garden and the field.
The Bee-Eater
Last year I tried to make a split. It turned out: the mating flight is quite dangerous for a queen…
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Honeydew - Honey That Doesn't Come From Flowers
When I harvested the first super of the year at the Bellevue apiary, I was surprised: almost pure honeydew honey, dark, robust, with that typical malty, spicy note. No blossom honey tastes like that. High time to write down what’s actually going on there.
Read more →The Grassland Temperature Sum - When Does the Season Start
Every year the same question comes up again: when does the real work with the bee colonies actually start? The Grünlandtemperatursumme (GTS), or grassland temperature sum, is a figure from agriculture that helps farmers plan the first cut or the first round of fertilizing. I use it to schedule the first care measures for my colonies.
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The Woodpecker and the Hive
It was late January 2026, there was still some snow on the ground. My wife and I made a quick check-up visit to Bellevue. Good thing we came, because our bees had had a visitor. A woodpecker.
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Chaos Theory
In my first year of beekeeping I started with five purebred queens, all from the same breeding line, all mated at the same mating station. Same hives, same feed, same treatment. I thought I’d do the same thing on every visit, colony after colony, like a production line. Yet within a few weeks the five colonies drifted further and further apart.
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Traveling with Bees
It was the very start of my beekeeping career: as intended under the young-beekeeper support program, I ordered five package swarms, each with a purebred queen. But then came the logistics.
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