Category Archives: Beekeeping

What are these bees thinking?!?

Posted on December 4, 2013 by Ron Miksha

A beekeeper in Winnipeg sent some photos of her hives. Her bees are misbeehaving. They broke cluster at minus 8 degrees (around 20 F), masses of bees are hanging out at the entrance, and she wants to know why. Sadly, … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Climate, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Deadly Truck Crash

Posted on November 4, 2013 by Ron Miksha

One of the thousands of loads of bees heading south after the summer harvest didn’t make it. On Sunday morning, November 3, a tire blow-out on a tractor-trailer caused this crash in Georgia that killed millions. Of bees, that is. … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Talking about bee science

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Ron Miksha

Ted talks and so do bee scientists. Maybe you know Ted. TED, actually with capital letters, stands for Technology, Entertainment, Design, and the TED Talks are a series of conferences with great (entertaining) speakers. The talks are filmed and then … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Diseases and Pests, Pesticides, Save the Bees | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The economist’s bees

Posted on September 9, 2013 by Ron Miksha

You can be one of the smartest economists in the world, and still not realize beekeeping is a lousy investment. The celebrated author and public speaker, Gary Shilling, who writes for The New York Times, Forbes, and The Wall Street … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, People | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Getting away with murder

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Ron Miksha

A bee-kill decision in Florida. According to The Ledger, beekeepers Barry Hart and Randall Foti lost $390,000 worth of bees and honey production when one of Florida’s largest citrus producers sprayed pesticides. (The loss does not seem exaggerated. For example, … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, People, Pesticides, Save the Bees | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Windshield bees

Posted on August 26, 2013 by Ron Miksha

Road kill. In this case, it’s bees. I was out of the city yesterday, cruising the Alberta back roads at 110. (The posted speed limit was 100, so maybe that was really my speed.) I passed a few bee yards … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Humour | Tagged | 1 Comment

Time to say goodbye – or maybe not

Posted on August 9, 2013 by Ron Miksha

Bees have made the cover of Time. Missing bees, that is. The cover announces “A World without Bees” and promises to disclose “the price we’ll pay” if we can’t stop the bee losses. I’m not sure exactly what triggered this … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, History, Save the Bees | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Flooded

Posted on June 27, 2013 by Ron Miksha

My home town has been hit by a flood. We would call it the “once in a century flood” but we had that back in 2005. We are told, however, that this flood beat all records for high-water levels over … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Climate | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Mount Everest’s Beekeeper

Posted on May 29, 2013 by Ron Miksha

Today is the 60th Anniversary of The Conquest of Everest. It was 1953, Queen Elizabeth was just about to begin her first day on the job as queen of the world’s imperial empire. In 1953, a typical TV was a … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, History, People, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Almonds Need Bees

Posted on February 18, 2013 by Ron Miksha

Almonds need bees. And beekeepers need almonds – to pay their bills. In California – which produces about 80 percent of the world’s almonds – hundreds of thousands of acres stretch from Red Bluff to Bakersfield. Each acre ideally has … Continue reading →

Posted in Beekeeping, Ecology, Pollination | Tagged , , | Leave a comment