Tag Archives: Calgary

Support the Students

I don’t usually ask readers to help (even with good causes), but you will feel great about this one. The University of Calgary, where I am looking at the interaction between honey bees and native bees, has a smart group … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Ecology, Native Bees, Outreach, Save the Bees | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

April 7: Day in the bees

April 7. Our backyard hives are collecting real pollen! Last week, I showed you some fake pollen coming into the colonies. Nothing beats the real stuff. Although desperate honey bees will carry worthless sawdust as a pollen supplement, nothing inspires … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Biology, Beekeeping, Ecology, Native Bees, Personal | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Early Pollen?

A couple of days ago, on March 22, we had sunlight and heat. Honey bees were gathering pollen. I don’t remember such a rush of pre-season pollen in this area. It’s a lot earlier than expected. I figured their goodies … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Biology, Honey Plants | Tagged , , , , , | 14 Comments

Bees in the Snow

New beekeepers (and some of us old ones) worry when we see ‘lots’ of bees in the snow during winter. The black dots (above) are frozen stiffs – bees that left their hive and didn’t make it back. To me, … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Look at me! I’m green!

A Calgary oil company’s office tower has a bee just around the corner. This beautiful wall-poster points the way to the bee. Yes, ‘the bee’ according to the sign. I would be quite embarrassed if I had allowed such a … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Yards, Ecology, Save the Bees | Tagged , | 5 Comments

Not the only bees in town

Although my life has centred on honey bees, I realize that they are not the only bee species in town. Here in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, we have about 200 species of bees – from giant bumble bees to rather petite … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Ecology, Friends, Native Bees, Outreach | Tagged , , | 8 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 , , | 34 Comments

It’s Canada Day

It’s Canada Day. I moved to Canada in the 70s to keep bees. It was a good move for me. Yesterday, I noticed that the conservative news magazine, US News and World Report, has placed Canada as number one (for … Continue reading

Posted in Culture, or lack thereof | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

The reason we don’t raise April queens in Alberta

It snowed again. After weeks of sweet weather, balmy enough for T-shirts, the bees quit hauling pollen and focused on hibernation.  This is the reason so few queens are bred in Canada.  We can do it, but freaky weather gets … Continue reading

Posted in Beekeeping, Climate | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

A Year of Backyard Beekeeping

Regular readers of this blog know that I once kept hundreds of hives in Florida and Saskatchewan. That was a long time ago. Now that I’m all grown up, I’ve got just two colonies in my Calgary backyard. Much more … Continue reading

Posted in Bee Yards, Beekeeping, Honey | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments