On these warm days that we now have occasionally, you should see your bees taking cleansing flights. If you're preparing for bees in the spring, this is a great time of year to inventory and prepare your equipment, and perhaps put a fresh coat of beeswax on your stored or new frames.
- Spring bee orders availability is decreasing each week. We still have early spring package bees including late March for Carlisle (almost sold out) and mid April for Carlisle and Nicholson, PA. These will have 2026 Latshaw Carniolan queens. A limited number of nucs are also available with either Pol-line or Latshaw Carniolan queens.
- Beekeeping classes are also still available, with a hybrid class planned for early May at the Carlisle, PA farm shop and an indoor class for those who want some basics before buying bees is on the schedule for northern PA in February. The February class is a FREE class which will be held at the Tunkhannock Public Library. Register on our website to save your spot!
- Check that your bees have food as spring approaches. Ideally colonies have enough honey stored for winter, but there are times when new colonies or certain circumstances prevent that. We have winter fondant (Hive Alive) available in stock at the farm shop, until the end of February.
- Thinking about spring mite treatments? If you treat for varroa mites, this is still a good time of year to do oxalic acid treatments, if you use that product. As it warms up, other organic options include formic acid or Apiguard (thymol).
- We are stocked up with bee supplies for 2026 and we expect to start wax dipping woodenware in April. We have a 2026 price list posted, with a few changes.
- We will have 2026 queens by late May/early June. We may also bring in some late March/early April queens for those needing queens for early splits (contact us about that if interested). Our overwintered queens are now all reserved for April.
-
For those who are interested in wax dipping, we expect to have the first wax dip day in April, if the weather cooperates.