Category Archives: Beekeeping

Beekeepers’ Problems Solved

A publisher sent a new beekeeping book to me. As usual, I promised to read and review it – but warned the publisher that I am an awfully slow reader, and even worse – I can be awkwardly honest. (As … Continue reading

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“The bees are coming!” said the hotel.

If you have been a beekeeper for a long time, you will remember the days when you had to hide your nasty habits (and your nasty bees) from the public. Bees were once very uncool. The Africanized bees terrorized America. … Continue reading

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Knowing Nothing

When I wrote my book Bad Beekeeping, the title came to me as a response to meeting a pompous, self-absorbed beekeeper. You know the sort – the person with a year or two experience who has an undeservedly inflated ego. … Continue reading

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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