Category Archives: Strange, Odd Stuff
Too Hot for Bees? Arizona Heat, Drought, and Rescuing Bees
How hot is too hot for a honey bee? That question doesn’t mean much sitting here in Calgary on a mild (20°C) summer day. It becomes important to my niece, keeping bees in southern Arizona where the thermometer was pushing … Continue reading
Where Have All the Bugs Gone?
A few weeks ago, I drove from Calgary to Banff and back again. It was a beautiful summer day. The mountains were spectacular, the wildflowers were in bloom, and the bumble bees were busy. When I returned home, however, something … Continue reading
What happens to beekeepers if Alberta leaves Canada?
Alberta has a separatist movement with a minority (20%?) of people out here thinking Alberta should become an independent country, then join the USA. I talked about this in detail on my latest podcast (which also includes a recap about … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Commercial Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Honey, Podcasts, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Alberta, Alberta joining USA, Alberta referendum, beekeeping, beekeeping economics, bees, Canola honey, CFIA, Commercial Beekeeping, honey bees, Honey production, package bees, USDA
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Podcast: from Beyonce to bee forage and beyond
Season 1 Episode 5: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – Some Bee Buzz In today’s podcast episode, we jump from moving bees between Alberta and British Columbia to examining a recent paper about the ecology of disappearing bee species. … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, Native Bees, Personal, Podcasts, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Alberta, beekeeping, Calgary, honey bees, Native Bees, urban beekeeping
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Podcast: The Bees’ Ears
Our latest podcast rambles around the bees’ ears. Available everywhere you grab your podcasts. Enjoy. Season 1 Episode 4: About Bees, Culture & Curiosity Podcast – The Bees’ Ears In this episode, we discover that insects, including bees, can hear. They … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Culture, or lack thereof, History, Podcasts, Pollination, Science, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bee anatomy, bumblebees, honey bees, Pollination
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Bees flying high
Almost every time I teach a beginning beekeeping course, a student or two comes forward to whisper: “If I move my bees to a patch of cannabis, will I get weedy honey?” I tell them that cannabis buds don’t secrete … Continue reading
Posted in Books, Culture, or lack thereof, Ecology, History, Honey, Honey Plants, People, Personal, Podcasts, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Books, cannabis, Charles Butler, Eva Crane, hallucinogenic honey, honey, Joe Rogan, mad honey, Michael Pollen, Nepal, psychedelics, rhododendrons
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The Synthetic Apiary Revisited
I posted this piece a couple of years ago, but it’s timeless. I was reminded of this blog post when my WordPress splash alarm went off – someone was linking to this page on their own blog. That’s OK, of … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Yards, Culture, or lack thereof, Reblogs, Strange, Odd Stuff, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged bee extinction, Synthetic Apiary
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Riot police battle beekeepers
These Chilean beekeepers chose the wrong place to set 60 colonies of bees. Or maybe the right place, as their plight drew national attention. Four beekeepers were arrested, seven riot police were hospitalized due to bee stings, and at least … Continue reading
Posted in Climate, Culture, or lack thereof, Save the Bees, Stings, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged Chile, climate change, drought, Protests
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Bees Kill Endangered Penguins
Well, this isn’t a nice story. Apparently 63 endangered African penguins were stung to death by honey bees last week. My first thought, of course, was that the culprit was one of the more vicious African honey bees – Apis … Continue reading
Posted in Ecology, Killer Bees, Stings, Strange, Odd Stuff
Tagged bee stings, Cape bees, penguins
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It was bees, not the Prince, who pranked the Queen
Well, I fell for this, too. It was too cute. And the story – Prince Philip dresses as a palace guard to prank the Queen of England – was enchanting. But completely wrong. Seems a swarm of bees descended on … Continue reading
Bad Beekeeping Blog 