Category Archives: Beekeeping
What Do You Do with Open Honey?
Yesterday, I droned on and on about how beekeepers who are smart and mature don’t know anything. It’s the new beefolks who have all the answers. I’m not quite at the point where I know nothing, so I’m going to … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Honey, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged Alberta, Canada, moisture in honey, refractometer
4 Comments
It Depends
Last night we had another meeting of our local bee club, the Calgary and District Beekeepers. These are becoming legendary events with over 150 bee people, sipping coffee and doing bee-talk. Although it’s great fun mixing with so many nice … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Friends, Outreach
Tagged Calgary Bee Club
10 Comments
The Man Who Made Killer Bees
Today (September 9) is the 94th birthday of Warwick Estevam Kerr, the man who made the Killer Bees. Just like his bees, Kerr comes from hot, tropical Brazil. And just like his bees, Dr Kerr has been much maligned and … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Genetics, People, Science
Tagged Africanized honey bees, AHB, Brazil, Melipona, Native Bees, Warwick Kerr
24 Comments
Does the FDA Think Honey has ‘Added Sugar’?
I just got off the phone. I was chatting with a buddy who lives in the USA. (I am in western Canada.) He tells me that the FDA is completely revising US label laws. In the near future, Calories will … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Honey
Tagged adulteration, FDA, labeling, marketing honey, sugar
16 Comments
Millions Dead
Millions of bees are dead following aerial spray of the neurotoxin Naled. The spray was released Sunday morning between 6:30 and 8:30 by a South Carolina county trying to control mosquitoes which may or may not spread Zika and West … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Pesticides
Tagged neonicotinoids, poisoned bees, South Carolina
4 Comments
Good News: No Killer Bees at the Olympics
Whatever happened to the Killer Bees? Killer Bees – more accurately, hybrids of European and African honey bees – were supposed to destroy the world, or at least kill a lot of people trying. They started out in Brazil, not … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Diseases and Pests, History, Humour, Killer Bees, Movies, Stings, Swarms
Tagged Africanized honey bees, Brazil, Killer Bees, Olympics, The Swarm
1 Comment
Saturday at the Hive
I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It’s a remarkable city. Economist magazine ranks us as the world’s fifth-best city (they place Vancouver and Toronto as 3rd and 4th) while the international agency the Mercer Group says Calgary has the cleanest … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Friends
Tagged Alberta, extracting, honey house, Neil Bertram
1 Comment
Bee Vandals
I’ll never understand vandalism. Theft I understand. I don’t like it, I don’t condone it, I’ve been victimized by it. But I can understand how it might sometimes happen. Vandalism, however, is strange. And stupid. Vandalism is nothing new. The … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Diseases and Pests
Tagged Alberta, beehive vandalism
2 Comments
Dead bee, in the middle of the ‘shield…
A few days ago, I had a road trip that took me two hours from my home in Calgary. Flying low at 130 kph, I expected to whack a lot of bees on the forehead of my van, but I … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Humour, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Alberta, dead bees, dead skunk, windshield bees
2 Comments
Can’t Get it out of the Comb?
The American Bee Journal published a timely piece in their August issue. It just hit my mailbox. The article is about avoiding granulated honey in your extracting frames. It’s written by your favourite bee-blogger. Me. I’m not going to repeat … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Climate, Commercial Beekeeping, Honey
Tagged American Bee Journal, beekeeping, fructose, glucose, granulation, honey
10 Comments
Bad Beekeeping Blog 