Author Archives: Ron Miksha
Nuisance-free beekeeping
Tired of irritating your neighbours with your pesky bees? Help is on the way. A very bright professor at Oregon State, Andony Melathopoulos, has co-authored a guide which you should read: Residential Beekeeping: Best-practice guidelines for nuisance-free beekeeping in Oregon. … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Books, Outreach
Tagged Andony Melathopoulos, bee safety, urban beekeeping
5 Comments
Causes of Winter Losses
Spring teased us today. It looked good for a few minutes. The sun was shining and we could imagine that someday it could be Cancun-warm here. But we will get another layer of snow tonight here in western Canada. Nevertheless, … Continue reading
Presidential Bees
In the USA – and probably no place else on Earth – today is Presidents Day. When I was a kid, we called it Washington’s Birthday and got the day off from school, though Lincoln’s birthday seemed to be somehow … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, History, People
Tagged famous beekeepers, Jefferson, Obama, White House
4 Comments
Oh dear, a virus ‘jumps’ from plants to bees
The bane of the bee is varroa. We warn new beekeepers that varroa will kill their bees faster than they can say “varroosis“ five times. Varroa kills. Thirty years ago, the mites weren’t as bad as they are now. In … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Diseases and Pests, Ecology, Science
Tagged bee viruses, tobacco, varroa mites
3 Comments
Support a Book
I’ve received a fascinating message from a relatively new beekeeper. The note was from a young man who is crowdsourcing funds to help pay for the translation and printing of an unusual beekeeping book. Mathijs Herremans is a young Dutch … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Books, Outreach
Tagged crowd-funding, dark bees, Dutch, varroa mites
2 Comments
Crazy Russian Hacker lost all his bees!
My son is a fan of a YouTube sensation who calls himself the “Crazy Russian Hacker.” Taras Kulakov came to America from the Ukraine as a child refugee. He’s 30 now. A few years ago, he began making fun videos … Continue reading
Why your honey gets hard
One thing that puzzles a lot of new (and used) beekeepers is the way that some honey granulates while other honey doesn’t. There are a number of things that affect crystallization rate, including ‘seed’ floating in the honey (dust, previous … Continue reading
Have you lithium-chlorided your bees yet?
A friend (Thanks, Thomas!) sent a note this morning about a new mite treatment. It was developed at the University of Hohenheim, Apicultural State Institute, Stuttgart, Germany. Findings were published in Nature. So, I am guessing that the science – … Continue reading
Posted in Diseases and Pests, Save the Bees, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged lithium chloride, varroa mites
24 Comments
Rotten: Lawyers, Guns & Honey
I’m invariably cautious – even cynical – about beekeeping movies. But I just saw one that breaks the mold and restores faith in the potential for delivering a great story about the honey industry without lies and exaggeration. The one-hour … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Movies, Pollination, Save the Bees
Tagged bee documentary, Honeygate
33 Comments
Americans eat four cents of honey every day. Wow.
It’s January. Here in Canada, that’s usually the coldest time of the year. Time to eat some honey. A healthy, quick energy treat that’s not too bad to feast upon. Especially good mixed with whiskey and lemon juice if you … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Honey, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged honey consumption, statistics, sugar
10 Comments
Bad Beekeeping Blog 