Author Archives: Ron Miksha
2017: The Year in Bee Review
As 2017 draws to a close, let’s look back at the year’s best beekeeping stories. With lower honey prices in 2017, some beekeepers left the business and colony counts fell a little. Back in 2016, I reported that honey bees … Continue reading
Posted in Apitherapy, Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Diseases and Pests, Friends, History, Hive Products, Honey, Honey Plants, Killer Bees, Movies, Outreach, People, Pesticides, Pollination, Queens, Save the Bees, Science
Tagged blogging
6 Comments
The Man Who Discovered that Bees Can Think
You probably know that Karl von Frisch figured out how honey bees use their waggle-dance to communicate. He won the Nobel Prize for that and for other studies of bee behaviour. I think it was well-deserved and his experiments withstood … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Culture, or lack thereof, History, People, Science
Tagged bee communication, Charles Henry Turner, honey bees, Karl von Frisch
16 Comments
Langstroth: The Great Christmas Gift
I’m repeating a blog which I post each Christmas Day, Langstroth’s birthday. He is often considered the inventor of modern beekeeping. He invented the modern beehive, making it easier, more productive, and less stressful for bees. However, Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Books, Culture, or lack thereof, History, Hives and Combs, People
Tagged Langstroth
7 Comments
Solstice
My friend Nichol sent this picture of her backyard hive. It’s beautiful, isn’t it? A quintessential image of winter in Canada. Besides being a great photographer, Nichol is a woodworking artisan. She handcrafted the hive equipment in her workshop. It’s … Continue reading
Wax Worms Biggly in the News
The folks who write my favourite business magazine, Economist, have a freebie on their website. They are giving away a 50-page book, Ten Things We Learned in 2017. You’ll like the second story in their feature: “How plastic-eating caterpillars could … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Diseases and Pests, Ecology, Science, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Economist, environment, wax worms
3 Comments
National “I Love Honey Day”
I’m not sure how serious this is, but someone somewhere has declared December 18 to be national I Love Honey Day. I’m not sure what we’re supposed to do. But here’s an idea: Go out and buy some honey. Even … Continue reading
Busy as a Bee
I try to write at least one blog post every week. It’s not hard to find material. Honey production, honey chemistry, queen breeding, nectar sources, apitherapy, famous beekeepers, colony management, bee diseases, and on and on – it’s easy to … Continue reading
Walden Publishing: Helping New Beekeepers
A few months ago, Walden Publishing printed a beginning beekeeping article which they asked me to write: When to Harvest Honey. It can be found here. Then I was asked to produce a more general piece on beekeeping, which is … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Outreach
Tagged beginning beekeeping, Walden Publishing
9 Comments
Unseen Pollinators
If you are interested in ecology (and especially pollination), there’s a great piece you’ll want to read on Jeff Ollerton’s website. Dr Ollerton (University of Northampton) has just released a comprehensive paper on pollinator diversity in Annual Review of Ecology, … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Ecology, Pollination, Save the Bees
Tagged Jeff Ollerton, pollinators
22 Comments
Creamed Honey
I’ve written about ‘creamed’ honey before, but I think it’s time to mention it again. I don’t know what you call smooth honey – some folks call it creamed (though no dairy products are involved), spun (though no spinning is … Continue reading
Posted in Friends, History, Honey, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged American Bee Journal, creamed honey, Dyce, marketing honey, spun honey
16 Comments
Bad Beekeeping Blog 