Author Archives: Ron Miksha

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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.

A Look Back at 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by Ron Miksha

It’s been quite a year. A lot happened to beekeeping in 2015. Early in the year, honey prices soared to unprecedented levels, making beekeepers exceedingly wealthy. (Or maybe not.) Since mid-summer, however, the wholesale price of honey has fallen dramatically, … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Outreach | Tagged | Leave a comment

Another Revolutionary Beehive

Posted on December 29, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Ah, yet another revolutionary beehive. You know, it’s more suited to the needs of the bees, yet better for the beekeeper. In this case, an Edmonton (Alberta, Canada) designer has come up with a beehive that holds 8 frames instead … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Hives and Combs, Save the Bees, Tools and Gadgets | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

L.L.L. – The Christmas Gift

Posted on December 25, 2015 by Ron Miksha

He invented modern beekeeping, yet the early life of Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth was challenging, his mid-life was depressingly difficult, and his end life had just a bit of redemption mixed into an anguished mental landscape. However, he changed beekeeping to … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Culture, or lack thereof, History, People | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Black Pollen Day

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Some bees eat coffee when they get desperate. I suppose some people do, too. We usually think that bees are always gleefully buzzing flower to flower, happy as ducks in water. But when food is scarce, anything goes. When my … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

How the Honey Bee Got its Stinger

Posted on December 14, 2015 by Ron Miksha

This will sound like a Rudyard Kipling  Just So Tale. But it goes back a lot further than the early 1900s. The Bee and Jupiter is credited to Aesop, of Aesop’s Fables Plus Punchline fame – and he lived 2,400 … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, History, Humour, Killer Bees, Stings | Tagged | 5 Comments

Beekeeping Promo Flashback

Posted on December 11, 2015 by Ron Miksha

This video goes back about 15 years, but a friend asked me about the 6 minutes of local fame I experienced on the Dave Kelly morning show, so I looked up the film. The quality of the tape (and my … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Comb Honey, Culture, or lack thereof, Honey, Movies, Outreach | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Honey with Vibes

Posted on December 9, 2015 by Ron Miksha

True story. In a small town along Brazil’s Amazon, there is a warehouse with barrels of honey stacked on pallets. It’s organic honey, certified chemical-free, and it was produced by Africanized bees – the so-called killers of the bee world. … Continue reading →

Posted in Apitherapy, Culture, or lack thereof, Hive Products | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Does Royal Jelly Make Royal Queens?

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Ron Miksha

The kids in the Grade 5 classroom knew all about royal jelly. “The bees feed it to their babies and they turn into queens.” And so it is. We think. Royal jelly – countless journal articles (and Wikipedia) tell us … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Genetics, Queens | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Bees, Beer, and Dead Mites

Posted on December 3, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Can beer save the bees? No, but with enough beer, bees may not care that mites are crawling all over them.  There have been headlines over the past month suggesting that beer will save the honey bees, but that’s not … Continue reading →

Posted in Diseases and Pests, Save the Bees | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Bees Do the Darndest Things

Posted on November 8, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Janne, a bee-club friend, called one afternoon and described something weird that was going on in one of her hives. She told me that her queen and all the brood had somehow ended up in the tiny space below the … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Friends, Hives and Combs | 1 Comment