Category Archives: Tools and Gadgets
Sound and Honey (as seen in BeesCene)
The editor of BC’s BeeScene bee magazine picked up an earlier blog post of mine. Last month I wrote about my 13-year-old’s science fair project where Daniel used ultrasound to liquefy comb honey. The results were promising, but not overwhelming. … Continue reading
Posted in Comb Honey, Honey, Outreach, Science, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged BeesCene, granulation, honey, science fairs, ultrasound
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Flow(TM) Hive Wins Design Award
Our favourite Surfer Dude and his Retired Dad are the folks who invented the 21st-Century honey-on-tap bee hive. They have now won artistic recognition. You know their hive – it’s the revolutionary, earth-shaking innovation that has inspired thousands of lazy … Continue reading
Posted in Beekeeping, Culture, or lack thereof, Hives and Combs, Humour, Save the Bees, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged bee hives, crowd-funding, Flow Hive
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Hive Materials
Yesterday an e-mail arrived from a European beekeeper. He is new at bees and wanted my opinion about bee things (hive types, honey plants, eco-tourism). One of his questions particularly stood out. He had found an ad for “honeycomb material” … Continue reading
Posted in Hives and Combs, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged artificial combs, bee equipment, plastics
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Saving Honey
Brag time. We just got home from the big Calgary science fair competition. My 13-year-old won three awards. Here’s the kicker: his project was called Saving Honey with Sound. His experiment was based on sending ultrasonic energy waves into combs … Continue reading
Posted in Comb Honey, Hive Products, Honey, Outreach, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged Calgary, canola, economics, granulation, science fairs
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Thermo-Zapper-Gun
My 12-year-old ordered a laser gun from Amazon. Apparently it could burn your eyes out, but we are hoping not to test that. It’s a thermometer. The laser part is just a pointer, the laser actually has nothing to do … Continue reading
Honey on tap?
In the past, I’ve written rather cynically about the various kickstarter projects aimed at people who care about bees. Entrepreneurs have been sucking up cash to “Save the Bees” and to sponsor new beehive designs for quite a few years. … Continue reading
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
Posted in Beekeeping, Climate, Hives and Combs, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged humidity, wintering
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Honey Bee Sauna: “Keeps Bees from Roaring”
A German “crowd sourcing” fund wanted 10,000 Euros to build honey bee saunas. Within a few weeks, they had over 60,000 Euros in pledges – that’s about $75,000. I guess that the contributors don’t realize bees can die in a … Continue reading
Posted in Bee Biology, Diseases and Pests, Genetics, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged Bee Sauna, crowd-funding, hive temperature, Mite Zapper, Russian bee, varroa mites
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Super-strength Beekeepers
Have you heard of the Robo-Suit? Japanese scientists are responding to the problem of creaky-boned farmers in their country by designing muscle suits that can be worn over the farmer’s khakis. Two-thirds of Japan’s farmers are over the age of … Continue reading
Posted in Culture, or lack thereof, Strange, Odd Stuff, Tools and Gadgets
Tagged aging beekeepers, robosuits
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Bad Beekeeping Blog 