Author Archives: Ron Miksha

About Ron Miksha

Ron Miksha is a bee ecologist working at the University of Calgary. He is also a geophysicist and does a bit of science writing and blogging. Ron has worked as a radio broadcaster, a beekeeper, and Earth scientist. (Ask him about seismic waves.) He's based in Calgary, Alberta, Canada.

Ducks in a row

We’ve had unusually mild weather for September and October in Calgary. The heat gave us a chance to clean up some odd bits of beeswax – and turn them into ducks. I bought this melter, built by Uncle Lee’s Bees … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Climate, Tools and Gadgets | Tagged , | 1 Comment

CBC’s 2022 Nonfiction: Advice to a new beekeeper

“Do not keep bees. . . “Keep cattle, or chickens or dogs. Their emotions are recognizable, their ailments familiar. Their speech, though foreign, is in a language we understand.” Thus begins Susan Cormier’s seasoned advice to beekeeping wanna-bees. There are sufficient … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Books, Culture, or lack thereof | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

The Synthetic Apiary Revisited

I posted this piece a couple of years ago, but it’s timeless. I was reminded of this blog post when my WordPress splash alarm went off – someone was linking to this page on their own blog. That’s OK, of … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Yards, Culture, or lack thereof, Reblogs, Strange, Odd Stuff, Tools and Gadgets | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Support the Students

I don’t usually ask readers to help (even with good causes), but you will feel great about this one. The University of Calgary, where I am looking at the interaction between honey bees and native bees, has a smart group … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Ecology, Native Bees, Outreach, Save the Bees | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Keeping the Bees: Netflix

It’s great to know a lot about bees, although it sometimes comes between you and a good time. I enjoyed Keeping the Bees, a Turkish-language drama (2019; 93minutes), but some bee-science was forgotten in the lab and the jars of … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Movies | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

April 7: Day in the bees

April 7. Our backyard hives are collecting real pollen! Last week, I showed you some fake pollen coming into the colonies. Nothing beats the real stuff. Although desperate honey bees will carry worthless sawdust as a pollen supplement, nothing inspires … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Ecology, Native Bees, Personal | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

The invisible hive tool

At last! A hive tool I can see! I am severely colourblind, which generally means that the difference between red and green makes little sense to me. I have been told (by enough people) that grass is green, so I … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Personal, Queens, Tools and Gadgets | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

What does that extra apiary cost you?

With fuel prices going scary high, I thought that a few comments on bee yards away from the home fortress might be timely. My father, an early migratory beekeeper, had about 800 hives and trucked them into apple pollination in … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Personal | Tagged , , , , | 10 Comments

World Apitherapy Day

Today is World Apitherapy Day. And it’s my birthday.  Coincidence? Maybe not. Apitherapy, which means using bee stuff for health, can include eating pollen, propolis, wax, royal jelly, bee larvae, and honey – or rubbing them on your face. But for … Continue reading

Posted in Apitherapy, History, People, Science, Stings | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Early Pollen?

A couple of days ago, on March 22, we had sunlight and heat. Honey bees were gathering pollen. I don’t remember such a rush of pre-season pollen in this area. It’s a lot earlier than expected. I figured their goodies … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Biology, Honey Plants | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments