All Posts

Ada’s Sweet Bees | Newbury, Vermont Bees in different stages of development When you watch honey bees moving between flowers or returning to their hive with pollen, you're seeing only a small portion of their lives. Long before a honey bee takes her first flight, she undergoes a fascinating transformation inside the colony. Honey bees develop through four distinct stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult. Although every honey bee follows these stages, the time required for develop

The 2026 beekeeping season is beginning to wind down here in Newbury, Vermont, but our work for the year is not finished. This has been a busy year at the apiary. We expanded our number of colonies, introduced new genetics, tried new equipment and management approaches, followed the nectar flow more closely, harvested honey throughout the summer, worked through swarms and new queens, participated in monthly inspections and sampling, monitored colony health, and learned along

Swarms, Sweet Success, and the Start of Honey Harvest There is something special about a Vermont summer. The fields are alive with blooming wildflowers, the air is filled with the sound of hardworking honey bees, and after months of preparation, the reward of another beekeeping season is finally beginning to arrive. Here at Ada's Sweet Bees, the 2026 season has already been one to remember. A Busy Spring Like many beekeepers throughout New England, we experienced several swar

This year was a working season for our apiary. We learned. We adapted. We strengthened our colonies and our process. Our focus was simple. Keep colonies healthy. Improve survival going into winter. Build a stronger foundation for honey production and pollination services for the coming year. We tracked inspections, weight trends, brood patterns, temperature stability, and forage availability across the year. Those records shaped every management decision. What Went Well This

This year I am using the condensing hive method to overwinter my colonies. Research by Randy Oliver, Tom Seeley, and Peg DeSanto of Hive Hugger shows that conserving heat, not venting it away, leads to better winter survival. This approach focuses on insulation, moisture control, and stable temperature inside the hive. What a Condensing Hive Is A condensing hive traps and manages warmth instead of releasing it through vents. The bees’ cluster produces heat and humidity. When