Category Archives: Beekeeping
Ready for the cold?
Podcasts continue to grow in popularity. People are spending about two hours each day following the wise musings of their favourite word-weavers. I heard that Joe Rogan signed with Spotify for $100,000,000 (though he’s locked in for ten years). I … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged Adony Melathopoulos, Alberta, feeding bees, podcast, wintering
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Frosted Honey
My cousin, who lives in Europe, sent me the photograph above. She was wondering what had gone wrong with her honey – and how she could fix it. First, I have to wonder if this is something ‘wrong’. Honey with … Continue reading
Covid: How we got our bees
Some really unusual things have been going on in the bee world since the advent of Covid-19. These include a big setback for beekeepers in my community and the rescue of stranded Canadians in Central America – a rescue performed … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Pollination
Tagged Bees on TV, Covid-19, nuc
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A Guide to Controlling Varroa
Spring is arriving in the north, and a young man’s mind thinks about romance. And varroa. There’s a nice new single-page guide that offers a quick look at integrated pest management (IPM) for the varroa beast. You can read some … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Diseases and Pests
Tagged Integrated Pest Management, IPM, varroa mites
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The Richard Taylor Centennial
I certainly could not let this year pass without a note or two about Richard Taylor, American beekeeper and philosopher. He would have reached 100 years in November. Alas, he expired seventeen years earlier. It’s hard to say which of … Continue reading
Langstroth’s Christmas Present
I’ve been posting this piece every Christmas for a while. If you’ve read it before, read it again. Or not. Christmas Day is L.L. Langstroth’s birthday. He’d be 219 years old, if he hadn’t been struck down in his 85th … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Books, History, Hives and Combs, People, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged Langstroth, The Hive and the Honey-Bee
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Interview at CJSW with Ian Perry
A couple of months ago, I was invited to chat about my research with Ian Perry, who runs a radio/podcast interview program (Keeping Green) at the University of Calgary’s CJSW. Ian is interviewing people who are studying ecology in western … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Ecology, Native Bees, Personal, Science
Tagged CJSW, urban beekeeping
6 Comments
Winter’s coming – are you insulated?
When I kept bees in Florida, I didn’t wrap my hives for winter. In Pennsylvania, where I grew up, we sometimes wrapped hives with thin black building paper. That was supposed to keep wind out of the cracks and heat … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Hives and Combs, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged Calgary, polystyrene, wintering bees
34 Comments
Apimondia 2019: Thursday (some presentations)
On Thursday at the Montreal Apimondia, I gave a presentation about the average distance bees fly while foraging. The full title was Foraging distances of commercially-deployed bees: a meta-analysis. When I find some time, I’ll do a voice-over and create … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Ecology, Native Bees, Pollination, Science
Tagged Apimondia, bee foraging
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Apimondia 2019: Tuesday (Posters)
This blog post is out of sync (“Tuesday” is being posted on Saturday), but as a good friend once told me, “It’s always Tuesday somewhere.” Truth is, it gets hard to post on a blog while on a conference. I’m … Continue reading
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