Category Archives: Beekeeping
Is bee-talk keeping you awake?
So, you’re hauling bees across the country – and you’re drowsy. Or having trouble staying awake while doing the dull, repetitive manual labour we call extracting. What do you do? A lot of people keep their eyes open by listening … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Books, Culture, or lack thereof, History
Tagged Andony Melathopoulos, audiobooks, Books, kiwimana, Langstroth, podcast
2 Comments
A Year of Backyard Beekeeping
Regular readers of this blog know that I once kept hundreds of hives in Florida and Saskatchewan. That was a long time ago. Now that I’m all grown up, I’ve got just two colonies in my Calgary backyard. Much more … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Honey
Tagged Calgary, extracting, package bees, packing honey, queenless hives, Queens, skunks, urban beekeeping, wasps
9 Comments
Celebrating the Gifts of Langstroth
I’m repeating a blog which I post each Christmas Day, Langstroth’s birthday. With his movable frames and his brilliant beekeeping book, Langstroth was one of the founders of modern beekeeping. He invented the modern beehive, making it easier, more productive, … Continue reading
Smoky Bees
Originally posted on Bad Beekeeping Blog:
Calgary – a smoker’s haven. 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…
Posted in Beekeeping, Ecology, Honey, Reblogs, Uncategorized
Tagged Alberta, bee smoker, Calgary, forest fires, pheromones, smoke
2 Comments
More on High Temperatures and Bees
A couple of days ago, I posted about our all-time record high temperature. It was 37 ºC (98.6 ºF) – a temp that’s not too extravagant for many beekeepers, but the city of Calgary had never seen such a hot … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Books, Climate, Commercial Beekeeping
Tagged extreme weather, Langstroth
8 Comments
Our Hottest Day
My home town, Calgary, Alberta, Canada, just set a record for heat. In all the past decades of weather-watching here, we’ve never been as hot as it was today. Ever. (In recorded history.) Officially, it reached 37C, which is over … Continue reading
Expecting the unexpected
For the past two days, I described how we might predict a future honey flow. I mentioned how difficult soothsaying can be yet I went on to say that experience and a tool like a scale hive can help us … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Climate, Commercial Beekeeping
Tagged Bee Yards, extreme weather
14 Comments
How to predict the honey flow
This post will be disappointing to anyone hoping for a quick and easy way to predict what the honey flow will bring. There is no substitute for experience. It may take years to gain the knowledge you’ll need because every … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Climate, Commercial Beekeeping, History, People
Tagged Alberta, August, dearth, Don Peer, nectar flow, scale hive, statistics, UBAC
7 Comments
What will August bring?
I had an email last week with a question about beekeeping. I couldn’t answer it. The reader asked, “What can I expect my bees to do in August?” It depends, of course, on where you are keeping bees. In the … Continue reading
A Taste of Honey
I checked the bees this morning. They started as packages on foundation but are all grown up now and starting to fill honey supers. The main flow has been going well for a couple of weeks, though interrupted by a … Continue reading
