Category Archives: Commercial Beekeeping
Bee Rustling Undone
Ever been robbed? I have. It’s a pretty sick feeling when you realize that someone has broken in and taken your stuff. Imagine how a Montana beekeeper felt when he entered his apiary to work his bees but almost 500 … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Pollination
Tagged bee theft, migratory beekeeping, Montana
8 Comments
The Center (of beekeeping)
In the 1800s, states tried to place their county seats near the county center. The county seat usually hosted the county government, the county court, and (conveniently) the county jail. Being equidistant from all villages, it seemed fair. In my … Continue reading
Lawsuits Amidst Toxic Allegations
Australia is having a food fight. Well, a honey fight, actually, and there are lessons aplenty to be found in it. First off, a Save the Bees gentleman, Simon Mulvany, of Melbourne, launched a name-calling campaign against Australian honey packer … Continue reading
Posted in Commercial Beekeeping, Honey, Save the Bees, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Australia, Capilano, lawsuits, toxic honey
9 Comments
Money from Honey 101
I’m still exhausted from co-teaching last weekend’s beekeeping economics course here in Calgary. Judging from the evaluation sheets of the participants, our full-day seminar about the business of the bee business went well. In fact, most of the evalu-forms were … Continue reading
Posted in Commercial Beekeeping, Friends, Outreach
Tagged Money from Honey, teaching beekeeping
2 Comments
A Metaphysical Life
Today is the anniversary of the birth of one of my beekeeper-heroes, Professor Richard Taylor. He was an early champion of the round comb honey system, a commercial beekeeper with just 300 hives, and he was a philosopher who wrote … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Comb Honey, Commercial Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, History, People
Tagged Comb Honey, famous beekeepers, Richard Taylor
5 Comments
Upside-Down Almond Pollination
It’s September, but some beekeepers are just wrapping up almond pollination and moving their bees to canola. Sounds late. California’s almonds finished in March. Canola blossom ended months ago, too. But not for Australian beekeepers. Here’s a news piece from … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Pollination
Tagged almond pollination, Australia
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Millions Dead
Millions of bees are dead following aerial spray of the neurotoxin Naled. The spray was released Sunday morning between 6:30 and 8:30 by a South Carolina county trying to control mosquitoes which may or may not spread Zika and West … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Pesticides
Tagged neonicotinoids, poisoned bees, South Carolina
4 Comments
Saturday at the Hive
I live in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It’s a remarkable city. Economist magazine ranks us as the world’s fifth-best city (they place Vancouver and Toronto as 3rd and 4th) while the international agency the Mercer Group says Calgary has the cleanest … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Friends
Tagged Alberta, extracting, honey house, Neil Bertram
1 Comment
Bee Vandals
I’ll never understand vandalism. Theft I understand. I don’t like it, I don’t condone it, I’ve been victimized by it. But I can understand how it might sometimes happen. Vandalism, however, is strange. And stupid. Vandalism is nothing new. The … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Diseases and Pests
Tagged Alberta, beehive vandalism
2 Comments
Can’t Get it out of the Comb?
The American Bee Journal published a timely piece in their August issue. It just hit my mailbox. The article is about avoiding granulated honey in your extracting frames. It’s written by your favourite bee-blogger. Me. I’m not going to repeat … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Climate, Commercial Beekeeping, Honey
Tagged American Bee Journal, beekeeping, fructose, glucose, granulation, honey
10 Comments
Bad Beekeeping Blog 