Article: Winnie the Pooh and his bear friends aren’t the only animals who like honey. Protecting your bees from predators can ensure the vitality of your colony and a fruitful harvest. Use the following solutions to keep bee predators at bay:  Put up electric barriers or chicken-wire fences to keep bears, opossums, and skunks away. Elevate hives to keep opossums and skunks out of the hives. Place birdfeeders away from hives. There may be a slight gap in time between when you introduce your bees to their hive and plants begin producing nectar. During these few weeks, feed your bees with a 1:1 mixture of water and sugar. Punch holes in the top of the hive and hang small food jars with the mixture from them. This can ensure your bees have nutrition until they can access nectar. Check the hive as often as you like. This could be once between spring introduction and fall harvesting or every day if you prefer. This can ensure your hive is flourishing, building a strong comb, and doesn’t have any pests or other problems. During your check-ups of the hive, look for signs of illness, parasite infestation or other animals accessing your hive. This can help you nip potential problems in the bud before they affect your hive. Some signs of issues with your hive include:  Misplaced bars Weakened colony Visible hive beetles or wax moths on the comb Lack of larvae Deformed wings . Take out the long, flat hive frames in the fall. Scoop off the honeycomb and wax into a container or bucket with a hot knife. Then allow the honey to gradually sink to the bottom of the container and remove the wax cappings that remain. This will give you delicious, raw honey to eat and wax cappings you can turn into candles or other items.  Set the wax capping on a sieve or filter to strain out bits of the capping from the raw honey. Get an extractor if you prefer to strain your honey into a spigot and keep the wax separate.

What is a summary?
Ensure your bees’ safety from critters with barriers. Feed your bees as necessary. Monitor the hive at regular intervals. Watch for potential problems. Harvest Honey