Author Archives: Ron Miksha
Cool in the line of fire
Gotta give the prime minister’s wife credit. She was cool and calm. Unlike the unfortunate beekeeper/chef who was jumping around and swatting bees. Had to be sooo embarrassing for the executive chef. Just another day in the public spotlight for … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Culture, or lack thereof, Stings, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Laureen Harper
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Canola – a tasteful upgrade
Canola is in peak bloom here this week. The cultivated oil-seed crop is a phenomenal honey producer. Canadian farmers plant just over 20 million acres of the crop each year. It yields about 100 pounds of honey per acre. If … Continue reading
Posted in Comb Honey, Culture, or lack thereof, Honey Plants, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged canola, rape seed, Saskatchewan, Tisdale
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Hives for Humans
I had not heard of “Hives for Humanity” until yesterday when I stumbled upon an article that talked about a garden in Vancouver where an outfit calling itself “Hives for Humanity” has placed bees. The article goes on to say … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Hives and Combs, Humour
Tagged Hives for Humanity
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Best place to keep bees?
I don’t know what causes colony collapse disorder. CCD is likely due to poor nutrition, weak genetics, farm pesticides, chemicals used inside beehives, varroa mites, and viruses carried by mites and injected into whatever gooey stuff bees use as blood. … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Diseases and Pests, Friends
Tagged Alberta, bee inspection, colony collapse disorder, Medhat Nasr, Peace River, varroa mites
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An indoor hive
I can’t even begin to imagine the clever wit that went into designing this revolutionary beehive. What you see to your right – if you are looking at the hive-gadget rather than the demonstrator – is a new hive design … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Hives and Combs, Strange, Odd Stuff, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged Urban beehive
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Alberta deadline
Sorry I was late posting this. Hope you are not in big trouble now. But Albertans who keep honey bees or who own beekeeping equipment are required – by law – to register as a beekeeper by June 29 of … Continue reading
Glow-in-the-dark bees
Finally! Glow-in-the-dark honey bees! We’ve all been waiting for these glow bugs to complement our glow-in-the-dark radium-painted wristwatches and glow-in-the-dark jelly bean collections. Now you can have the complete set of things you probably didn’t know existed. Researchers at Germany’s … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Culture, or lack thereof, Humour, Queens, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bee genome, Christina Schulte
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Wild bees again
A few days ago, I wrote a snarky blog entry about one researcher’s efforts to alert us to a hazard of urban beekeeping. It is Dr Cartar’s contention that keeping bees in an urban environment robs wild native bees of … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Ecology, Science
Tagged habitat loss, Native Bees, Ralph Cartar, urban beekeeping
5 Comments
Giving thanks
One last look at the Calgary ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) fundraising event. You may wonder what this has to do with beekeeping. I guess it reaffirms the idea that the human condition is as frail as the environment and that … Continue reading
At home in a home
A swarm of honey bees have invaded an Alberta home. Who can blame them? According to one newspaper, the bees were confused by the skep-looking geodesic dome that a rural Canadian family calls home. The bees were confused? Perhaps the … Continue reading
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