Life of Riley Honey Farm

06/10/2018

This video will tell you how to hang a swarm trap.

05/02/2018

This video tells where to locate your swarm traps.

04/25/2018

This video will show you how to change your hive over to the Honey Maker Hive. It should be done early in the spring before you get too much brood. You use only one hive body with the Honey Maker Hive so you want to do it before you get too much brood for it to hold

04/05/2018

This video will show you how to install foundation. The bees will fill it out so that it will be picture perfect and thus it will be much easier for you to extract the honey. It will also be easier for the bees to work with, thus saving them time and allowing them to increase their honey production.

04/04/2018

This video will show you how to install your wax foundation so that you can use the frames over and over. The comb will not sag or warp in hot weather. Your honey will be much easier to extract.

03/07/2018

A new incredibly easy, incredibly healthy recipe.

Peanut Butter Protein Bites
Yield 16-18 balls

⅔ cup peanut butter
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
¼ cup flax seeds coarsely ground
2 Tablespoons honey
Mix all ingredients. Cover. Chill 30 minutes. Roll into 1" balls.
Calories 58/ball

11/28/2017

This video is about our new hive, the Honey Maker Hive, which produces at least twice as much honey as the hives used by most beekeepers. We learned about this hive by visiting some beekeepers in Germany. Both the hive and our book explaining our beekeeping methods are available on our website, chemicalfreebeekeeping.com

10/31/2017

Cranberry sauce is so easy to make and sweetened with honey, it's delicious.
Cranberry Orange Sauce
1 cup orange juice
½ cup honey
2 tablespoons orange zest (from about 2 oranges)
12 oz. package of cranberries
Directions:
1. Over medium heat, mix the honey in the orange juice, add orange zest. Add the cranberries and cook, uncovered, until most of the berries have popped and the sauce has thickened a bit (it'll continue to thicken as it cools, which takes about 10 to 20 minutes. I don't bother stirring, but you can if you like.
2. Pour the sauce in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

10/28/2017

You have to remove old frames and replace them with new ones to keep your hive disease free. This video deals with removing old wax from frames so they can be reused. For more detailed information see our book, Raising Honeybees Without Chemicals available on our website http://www.chemicalfreebeekeeping.com/our-book/

10/25/2017

Here's a great honey pumpkin pie recipe for Thanksgiving, made with honey, a healthy alternatives for sugar.
Pumpkin Pie Recipe: Made from Honey
Ingredients:
2 cups pumpkin puree
¾ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon sea salt
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
¾ cup heavy cream (½ &½ or whole milk will work in a pinch
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 unbaked pie shell

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Mix the puree, honey, vanilla, salt, and spice together.
Mix in the cream. Then gently beat in the eggs. Carefully pour the mixture into the pie shell.
Cover the edges of the crust with pie shield or foil and bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove the shield/foil and bake for another 20-30 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.
Cool and serve with whipped cream.
from theprairiehomestead.com

10/04/2017

As a general rule a full honey super, which is about 60 lbs. will keep 30,000 bees alive through the winter. The problem is a strong hive will have more than 30,000 bees. Therefore, they can’t make it though the winter on 60 lbs. of honey. To solve this problem you have to get rid of some bees. The best way is to let the bees do the work for you. If you are using just one brood body and a honey super, such as our Honey Maker Hive available on our web site, http://www.chemicalfreebeekeeping.com/products/hives/,
reverse them. Put the honey super on the bottom and the brood body on top. Bees want their honey stored in the top, so they will be busy moving all the honey to the top, so busy they will not lay any brood and the hive population will decrease because the bees will be getting old and dying. If you are using 2 brood bodies reverse them also. If your hive is weak do not reverse it.
Watch this site to find out what you should be doing next
month. For more details see our book on our website http://www.chemicalfreebeekeeping.com/our-book/

We offer handmade honey bee hives, frames and top feeders for bee keepers of all sizes. View more about our bee hive products here in our online store.

09/26/2017

TREATING BEEHIVES FOR VARROA MITES
We are treating our bees for varroa mites with essential oils. We find as long as we do this twice a year we do not have varroa mite problems. To learn more see our book and products on http://www.chemicalfreebeekeeping.com/our-book/.