K & H Bee Farm, LLC.

K & H Bee Farm, LLC. My goal is to use my skills, resources, and efforts to increase the bee population - one hive at a time. Enjoy the ride as I strive to meet the task.

Some of you might ask the question, “Why are you here?”
Back in the 1960’s, I asked my father if I could raise bees. We had 150 acres of land, wooded and filled with natural wildflowers and clover. I thought it would be a great place for them to thrive and spending money for me. His answer was not what I wanted to hear as he said no! His excuse was simply the cost of the bees and hives. So, I let

it go. Four years ago, I started going to the Iowa State Fair and every year I would visit the Iowa Honey Producers Booth. Before I knew it, I got the buzz back!! The winter of 2016, I started looking into beekeeping as something I could do with my time. I found out that there was a large commercial beekeeping organization here in Perry, Spring Valley Honey Farms. It is a large enough operation that they send bee hives to California for pollinating the almond groves. After talking several times to Connie Bronnenberg and going out to the farm when they were unloading a semi-trailer with hundreds of bee hives, I was getting more hooked. Maybe now was the time for my dream of beekeeping! The wheels started churning and I started planning. I purchased unassembled deep and shallow boxes and found plans to make the other parts I needed to get a complete hive. I ordered two nucs from Connie and was looking forward to my first year of beekeeping. I could hardly wait but, as with all things dealing with Mother Nature, I was patient (okay NOT really)! Because of problems with the weather, getting queen bees was difficult so the nucs were delayed until the beginning of June. It made me sad because I would see bees in the trees and flowers around my home and knew they were not mine! June FINALLY came and so did the two nucs full of bees, brood, and an active queen. I moved them into the hive that I had put together and started my journey into the world of BEEKEEPING. My dream had become a reality!! I learned a lot that first summer of 2017. I had a queen decide to swarm so the hive had to re-queen itself. I had a few queen cells so I was able to start two new hives with the queen cells. The virgin queens came out and went on their mating flights. She came home and started to lay. The hives looked good but it turned out that they were really late in the season and none of them survived this past winter. I am sad but I have learned a lot during this process. My other hive, Hive 2, did great and today some of the bees are flying and cleaning out the hive by removing dead bees from the winter months. I am hopeful that, in another couple of weeks, after the temperature warms up, the queen will start laying and get the hive built back up. I am so excited and trying to be patient! While I wait for the warmer weather, I am building up my shop so that I can build my hives quicker and I am proud of my skills. Even though my father said it was too difficult to build, I am enjoying my time in the shop. I have purchased some better equipment and have decided to create my company, K & H BEE FARM, LLC.. I have people who want me to put hives on their properties and that is what my plan is. I recently ordered eight packages of bees to add to what I have now. I am working on improving my hive design and making the bees have the best accommodations they can have. I want my bees to be happy and healthy and want to come back home to their hives! I am planning on documenting my successes and failures here on this page. Come along on the journey with K & H Bee Farm, LLC. as we share our bees with you as everything transpires. I want you to remember that failures are not bad. They are just an opportunity to learn more and do things better. See you on the next post. Until then, be kind to the bees – they may be mine!

My 4 swarm put into a queenless hive to revive it.
07/14/2024

My 4 swarm put into a queenless hive to revive it.

In less than a week i got a 2nd swarm. It will be i teresting to see how they do. Hope they both do good.
05/10/2024

In less than a week i got a 2nd swarm. It will be i teresting to see how they do. Hope they both do good.

If you look at this picture closely you can see a bee swarm. I went out to the back yard today and knew something was up...
05/03/2024

If you look at this picture closely you can see a bee swarm. I went out to the back yard today and knew something was up. I went to the shop and got out the new bee-vac. It was all charged up and ready to go. I got a step ladder and put on the bee-vac on my back and went to get the bees. With in an hour, I had them all in the bee-vac and headed to Frog Creek Apiary. I now have only 7 packages to get me up to my 15 active hives. It was a good morning.

What happens to bee activity during and eclipse. If I get more I will post it for you all to see.
04/10/2024

What happens to bee activity during and eclipse. If I get more I will post it for you all to see.

I hope everyone had a great eclipse. Our BEEclipse BeeDars will start returning after today and I can't wait to see the data.
I have some early data. I had one on my hive in southern Wisconsin (85% totality at 2:06), a nice sunny day and the behavior was obvious. This graph shows entrance activity and sound level of the hive.
I think it is interesting that they started turning down activity as soon as the eclipse began.
More to come!

02/21/2024

I am so excited, while I was in my super insulated experimental hive I decided to look and see if I could find any brood. On the 3rd frame from the south, I found a three-inch circle of capped and uncapped brood. It is February 21, 2024, and the bees have to keep the hive at 95 degrees to keep brood alive. So I am very hopeful that I will be able to grow the population and do some splits. I cannot raise my own queens now because it is to cold for drones so I hope I will be able to get some queens from somewhere. It is great to be a beekeeper. I will keep you all up to date.

The Castle Hive left picture has been doing great. even when the outside temperature was down to 10 below zero the upper...
01/29/2024

The Castle Hive left picture has been doing great. even when the outside temperature was down to 10 below zero the upper part of the upper brood box was between 65 and 80 degrees. That shows they are doing really well. I put more food on the hive to keep them going.
Hive 7, a swarm I collected two years ago is doing great. They are setting on the porch of the honey shop. They are shown in the right picture. They have an advantage with keeping warm. The porch moderated the outside temperature up by about 10 degrees. But they have kept the upper brood box between 65 and 83 degrees. They are really doing well, and I am happy. I hope that all of my hives at the Home Yard will play an important part in expanding my operations this year.
Now I am looking for the dandelions and creeping Charlie to come out so the bees can start to produce brood and maybe a new queen or two for new hives.
Have a great day.

01/29/2024

This is looking into one of my super insulated hives. I was trying to get a picture of the bees drinking water off the plexiglass where the water had condensed. The bees have kept this hive very warm all winter. I hope that it will be warm enough the queen might start laying early and I will have to split this hive. If we get rain in a timely manner it could be a great year for the bees.

Dr. Marla Spivak is giving us more information about how bees taking care of their health.
01/02/2024

Dr. Marla Spivak is giving us more information about how bees taking care of their health.

Greg Burns of Nature’s Image Farm and Dr. Marla Spivak sit down at the Premier Bee factory for a conversation about our newest product release — the Propola ...

Good morning all. I have been experimenting with a new style of hive, it is called a super insulation hive. It is a sty...
12/26/2023

Good morning all. I have been experimenting with a new style of hive, it is called a super insulation hive. It is a styrofoam hive that has been modified for 15.75 inch frame length for hive frames. It is then wrapped in 2 inch styrofoam with the only opening being the hive entrance. I opened up the two hives I have on December 23, 2023 and was very happy to see two very active hives. I opened the castle hive too and the bees looked great there two. I am hoping I will be able to split some of the hives this spring and not have to buy as many bees. Purchasing a few queens would be a lot cheaper. Hoping the bees have a great spring. Looking forward to a great 2024 Bee Keeping Year.

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas and the New Year will be a great one.

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414 2nd Street
Perry, IA
50220

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+15157263766

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This is looking into one of my super insulated hives. I was trying to get a picture of the bees drinking water off the plexiglass where the water had condensed. The bees have kept this hive very warm all winter. I hope that it will be warm enough the queen might start laying early and I will have to split this hive. If we get rain in a timely manner it could be a great year for the bees.

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My Story

Some of you might ask the question, “Why are you here?”

Back in the 1960’s, I asked my father if I could raise bees. We had 150 acres of land, wooded and filled with natural wildflowers and clover. I thought it would be a great place for them to thrive and spending money for me. His answer was not what I wanted to hear as he said no! His excuse was simply the cost of the bees and hives. So, I let it go.

Four years ago, I started going to the Iowa State Fair and every year I would visit the Iowa Honey Producers Booth. Before I knew it, I got the buzz back!!

The winter of 2016, I started looking into beekeeping as something I could do with my time. I found out that there was a large commercial beekeeping organization here in Perry, Spring Valley Honey Farms. It is a large enough operation that they send bee hives to California for pollinating the almond groves. After talking several times to Connie Bronnenberg and going out to the farm when they were unloading a semi-trailer with hundreds of bee hives, I was getting more hooked.