Category Archives: Beekeeping
Airport Honey
Looking for a noisy place to keep some bees? Urban beekeepers struggle to find spots to set landing boards for their hives. Most towns and cities have limits on the number of hives that can be kept in the backyard. … Continue reading
Cold Bees
It’s not the cold, it’s the humidity. We hear people say this a lot. That’s one reason 20º Fahrenheit (-7º C) in the eastern US can feel a lot colder than -20º in Montana. Generally, it’s the humidity that makes … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Climate, Hives and Combs, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged humidity, wintering
Leave a comment
No longer almost free
At a get together with a small group of beekeepers, we all started bugging one of the fellows about the price of his honey. At $10/kilo (less than $5/pound) one lady figured we could do well buying his entire crop … Continue reading
Bees as a Small Business
A lot of North American beekeepers operate huge operations. These days, 2,000 colonies is about average for a commercial operation. Help is usually imported seasonally and the beekeeper/owner is sometimes a bookkeeper/trucker who has more than a veil and gloves … Continue reading
Bees: Targeted and Poisoned!
Three million bees were apparently poisoned. The RCMP is investigating. A commercial beekeeper with about 1,200 colonies now has fewer than a thousand. The Winnipeg Free Press says that Manitoba beekeeper Jason Loewen suffered a “targeted attack.” Beekeeper Loewen told … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof
Tagged bee theft, Manitoba
Leave a comment
Beeman Freeman
Morgan Freeman is incredible. Whether you enjoyed him driving over Ms Daisy or gaining redemption after Shawshank, you likely admired the way the man can perform. I really began to appreciate Freeman when I started watching his series of science … Continue reading
Bee People
I previewed a new beekeeping movie, something a little different. I have to give Bee People a mixed review. I’ll walk through some of what I liked, do my thumbs down bit, then try to wrap up with some overall … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Movies, Save the Bees
Tagged Bee People Movie
Leave a comment
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
Leave a comment
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
3 Comments
Going native
A Calgary University professor has this to say about urban beekeepers: “It is not as rosy as they think. Every jewel* of honey that they get on their plate or in their jars is a jewel that has been robbed … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology
Tagged invasive species, Native Bees, Ralph Cartar, urban beekeeping, Xerces Society
2 Comments
Bad Beekeeping Blog 