Useful Tips and information

We at the Little Bee Honey Farm make our own Honey Bee Healthy Formula. We add it to our sugar syrup and feed it year round. The formula helps to keep the girls healthy and seems to help boost brood production as well. If you would like to try our recipe, feel free!!

                                                         Honey Bee Healthy Ingrediants:

1 cup of water

15 drops of Spearmint oil

15 drops of Wintergreen oil

10 drops of Lemongrass oil

15 drops of Tea Tree oil.

Place mixture in a food blender and blend continously for 5 minutes. After the mixture has emulsified, place it in a 1\2 gallon storage container. Add water again to your blender and blend for a minute. Pour contents into your storage container with the mixture. Repeat water in the blender. This helps to clean the blender and remove the left over oils in the blender. Repeat process until the 1\2 gallon container is full. This is a concentrated mixture and will last for quite a while. When you are ready to mix with your sugar syrup, add 1\4 cup of the formula to 1 gallon of sugar syrup and mix well.. You are now ready to feed the bees!!

Having problems in the hives with those pesky Hive Beetles?? Visit our page and purchase some Beetle Barns!! Along with our Beetle Barns and our Hive Beetle Bait Recipe, you can bring those hive beetles under control!

Hive Beetle Bait Recipe:

1 Tablespoon of Crisco Grease

1 Teaspoon of Honey

1 Teaspoon of Boric Acid

Mix all ingrediants thoroughly. Place a small bit in the center of your Beetle Barn. Place Beetle Barn on the bottom board of your hive, in the back of the hive and let the bait do the work!!

Do you seem to have alot of weeds in your yard, or maybe in your beeyard around the hives that you wish to get rid of? Maybe you even want to get rid of the grass that lyes beneath your hives which helps to harbor those pesky hive beetles. Well, there is a great alternative to using the toxic and dangerous Roundup weed killer. Try the recipe that we have posted here, we seem to have good luck with it and it will not harm your bees!!

      Weed and Grass Killer Recipe:

1 gallon of Vinegar

2 Cups of Epsom Salt

1/4 cup of Eco-Friendly Dish Soap (Dawn).

Mix this all together thoroughly and put in your yard chemical sprayer and spray as you would normally. Come back and check on your weeds and grass 6-8 hours later, and they are dead as a door nail!! 

Are you feeling like a carpenter and want to build your own nucs and feeders but are not sure of the correct measurements?? I have them posted below for you. Now you can save some money and take great pride in building your own equipment for the ladies!!  These plans are for using 3/4" thick lumber.

2 Frame Nuc Measurements:

Bottom Board : 5" x 21"

Sides: 10 1/4" x 19 3/4"

Front: 3 1/2" x 8 3/4"

Back: 3 1/2" x  9 1/2"

Migratory Cover: 5" x 23"

When assembled, measure across the front and back at the top to get the total width. Next cut a piece of 3" wide lumber the length that you came up with and attach to bothe the front and back of the nuc at the top. This forms your frame rest. **NOTE** When installing the front board, ensure to raise it 3/4" from the bottom board, as this is what creates your entrance.

When your ready to assemble the top, place the  top cover on and cut two more pieces of lumber 3" wude x the length that you came up with for the width of the nuc. You will glue and nail these to the end of the top board, leaving about an 1/8" gap between the end board that you are attaching and the front and back of the nuc. This allows for ease of removal and replacement of the migratory cover.

For clarification, see Barnyard Bee videos on yourtube about 2 Frame mini mating nucs.

Five Frame Nuc Measurements:

Bottom Board: 9" x 21"

Sides: 10 1/4" x 19 3/4"

Front: 7 1/2" x 8 3/4"

Back: 7 1/2" x 9 1/2"

Migratory Cover: 9 " x 24"