Author Archives: Ron Miksha
Bees: The World’s Pollinators
There are thousands of species of bees in the world. Our favourite, the honey bee, is just one of the estimated 25,000. It’s not even the cutest, friendliest, or most interesting. Those qualities go to some fascinating creatures you will … Continue reading
The Kentucky Bee Man
When you are the 8-year-old child of beekeepers and you’re helping stick foundation into frames, your pay is the soft translucent paper that keeps the wax sheets from sticking together. It was the closest thing to tracing paper that I’d … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, History, People
Tagged bee equipment, Clarkson, Kelley Beekeeping, Kentucky, The Bee Man, Walter T. Kelley, wax foundation
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What Do a Million Bees Look Like?
I hate to sound prickly and petulant, but the news media has done it again. Today, say the news folks, ONE MILLION BEES were removed from an Austin church. That’s a stupid statement. Someone working at the scene must have … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Culture, or lack thereof, Queens, Strange, Odd Stuff, Swarms
Tagged Austin, church, dumb newspapers, super swarms
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Stinging Science
I wrote about this fellow last year. He likes to get stung for science. Below, I’ve repeated my blog, The Worst Place to Get Stung, from September, 2014. The big news is that the research scientist – intent on finding … Continue reading
Every Day is Labour Day
In Canada and the USA, a lot of people get a day off from work today. Unless your job is in a store, hospital, police station, prison, theatre, restaurant, hotel, airport, the military, or nuclear power plant. Or if you … Continue reading
Posted in Commercial Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, History, Honey, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Labor Day, Labour Day, value of honey
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English lady with bad teeth reportedly steals honey
From the Manchester Police Twitter feed: Police in Manchester, England, are looking for a woman with big-hooped earrings and bad teeth. They say she may have stolen three jars of honey. The honey jars were priced at £46 each – … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Honey, Humour, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged black teeth, sugar, tooth whitener
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Foulbrood – Still Smelling Foul
With so much attention on varroa destructors and nicotine-flavoured pesticides, we sometimes forget some of the other scourges of modern beekeeping. Not long ago, American Foulbrood (AFB) was the worst thing that could happen to your bees. If you were … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Diseases and Pests, Genetics
Tagged American Foulbrood, evolution, South Africa
5 Comments
Smoky Bees
My home town – Calgary – is under a smoke advisory. The sky is hazy with smelly gray smoke from the trees, grass, and homes that are on fire down in Washington state. Those fires are about 700 kilometres (500 … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Honey
Tagged Alberta, bee smoker, Calgary, forest fires, pheromones, smoke
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Thistle Bumblebees
Although I have mentioned many times that honey bees are not going extinct (there are actually more kept hives of honey bees today than 10 years ago), I am concerned about wild and native species of bees. Loss of habitat, … Continue reading
Fair Honey
As a beekeeper, I have always been troubled with the disposal of honey. Invariably, we produced more than we could eat, especially since I ran as many as 2,000 hives. We had to get rid of the excess. Some went … Continue reading
Bad Beekeeping Blog 