Beekeeping Today Podcast

Latest Episodes:

The Pollinators with Director Peter Nelson - 2022 Holiday Replay (S5, E28) Dec 26, 2022

Show notes

Peter Nelson is a filmmaker, director and beekeeper. This combination of skills and passions lead to a documentary film about the business and lives of pollinators - both the two legged and six legged kind! The documentary, The Pollinators is currently making its rounds through the film festivals where it has been well received and enjoyed by all audiences.

In this Holiday Replay episode, Peter joins Jeff and Kim to discuss the making of his documentary. Peter discusses his experiences following and filming the beekeepers, farmers, environmentalists and even world renown chefs as they discuss the importance of the honey bee to agriculture. The film also explores the dangers and struggles the honey bee (and all pollinators) face with the use/overuse and dependency of modern agriculture on herbicides, pesticides and fungicides.

Listen to the episode and learn what you can do to help the pollinators!

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Websites mention in the podcast:

The Pollinators: https://www.thepollinators.net
More about Peter and his work: http://peternelsondp.com
The Dance of the Honey Bee: https://www.thepollinators.net/dance-of-the-honey-bee
Dan Barber and Blue Hill Farms: https://www.bluehillfarm.com
350.org, a grassroots organization concerned protecting the environment through online campaigns, grassroots organizing, and mass public actions: https://350.org

Beekeeping Today Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beekeepingtodaypodcast
Honey Bee Obscura: https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode!

We welcome Betterbee as sponsor of today's episode. Betterbee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Beekeeper vs. Tech in Startup Competition with Chris Bush (S5, E27) Dec 19, 2022

Show notes

Joining us this week is Northeast Ohio Beekeeper, Chris Bush. Chris was a contestant on an online series, kind of like - Survivor, meets SharkTank in Hell's Kitchen. Chris took his honey and queen rearing business to compete against other companies also looking to win and to learn.

It was a very challenging experience. There were 49 other contestants - from the high tech startups searching for their second round of million dollar funding to small Etsy startups… looking to catch the eye of the producers to take their product nationwide.

Listen today as Chris, a small Ohio Beekeeper, describes how he completed against the largest and well funded startups. He'll talk about the importance of marketing and… of course, the life of a contestant in a show where you live, confined and isolated with the other competitors.

How'd Chris do? You will have to listen to find out!

In the episode, Kim also reviews the book, Wax Extracting for the Backyard Beekeeper by Dave Atherton and available from Northern Bee Books. It is a short but useful book for those who have plenty of wax at the end of each season, but not enough to invest in expensive equipment to process it.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

The Blox - BetaBlox: https://betablox.com/theblox/
Chris' Hive Works Honey Company: https://www.Hiveworkshoneyco.com
Beekeeping Today Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beekeepingtodaypodcast
Honey Bee Obscura: https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Dr. Jeff Pettis - Apimondia 2022 In Review & More (S5, E26) Dec 12, 2022

Show notes

Dr. Jeff Pettis returns to Beekeeping Today Podcast with an update of this past September's Apimondia Congress, in Turkey. Jeff was selected President of Apimondia when they last met in Canada three years ago. His goal was to hit the road running by planning a spectacular event in Russia for 2021.

Between Covid and the Russian invasion of Ukraine, lots of things got in the way of that plan and the 2021 meeting was moved to Istanbul, Turkey in 2022. The location was chosen because Istanbul was a familiar location for the group, and travel to there from almost anywhere was one of the least troublesome due to covid issues and other legal restrictions.

Dr. Pettis, a former USDA Research Leader at the Beltsville Bee Lab brings not only over 20 years of experience in honey bee research, but also a unique perspective of what beekeepers need, and want to get from an international meeting such as Apimondia.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

Apimondia - https://www.apimondia.org/
Beekeeping Today Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beekeepingtodaypodcast
Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Tennessee Bees and Hive Life with Kamon Reynolds (S5, E25) Dec 05, 2022

Show notes

If you don't already know about Kamon Reynolds and his YouTube channel with over 52,000 subscribers, it's time you check him out.

You'll find it on YouTube under his name or the channel's name Tennessee's Bees. There he discusses a problem, a technique, a new product, a solution, chats with a guest and more, and it's all about everything you can imagine bees, beekeeping and beekeepers.

His show is laid back, easy to follow and right on with current beekeeping information, science, technology, skills and more, all in an incredibly beekeeper to beekeeper discussion.

Plus, for the past 2 years he's hosted a meeting called Hive Life, a two-day extravaganza in eastern Tennessee with more than 1,000 attendees and more vendors than you can imagine. The 2023 conference in early January is already sold out, but you can sign up to be notified if more space opens up.

Kamon and his wife Laura (who was keeping bees when they met) have been in the bee business over 18 years, they run over 250 wood and plastic hives, sell nucs, some queens, honey and gladly share what they know and think you might be interested in on a weekly basis. Check out their YouTube program and we'll bet there's something there for you.

Kim brings us a new book review in this episode, "Splitting Colonies for the Small-Scale Beekeeper" by David MacFawn.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

Tennessee Bees on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/@kamonreynolds-tennesseesbe3478
Hive Life Conference - https://www.hivelifeconference.com/
Beekeeping Today Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beekeepingtodaypodcast
Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

The UK's National Honey Show Interviews and Ed Colby (S5, E24) Nov 28, 2022

Show notes

One of the largest and perhaps oldest honey shows in the world in the UK's National Honey Show. The first show opened in 1923 at the Crystal Palace, in London. While the National Honey Show took an understandable break during the second world war, it started up afterwards and is an established annual October event ever since.

The National Honey Show is a three day show highlighting honey and other hive products. There are over 250 competitive classes or categories with entries from around the world. Certainly enough to captive beekeepers of any field of interest.

Besides the competition, the National Honey Show features speakers and a large trade hall full of vendors and products.

In today's episode, special Beekeeping Today Podcast UK correspondent Louisa Cartwright talks with National Honey Show attendees regarding their impressions of their experience at the show.

Many beekeepers keep their colonies on property owned by others. Most of the time, this presents no problem. But one of the unique challenges during the fall is the addition of hunters to the woods near the fields holding colonies. What happens when these two worlds overlap? Ed Colby is here this week to read from his book, "A Beekeeper's Life: Tales from the Bee Yard", sharing his experience in the middle of this Venn Diagram!

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

The National Honey Show - https://www.honeyshow.co.uk/
Beekeeping Today Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beekeepingtodaypodcast
Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Chinese Tallow Update with Steven Coy (S5, E23) Nov 21, 2022

Show notes

Today, we've invited Steven Coy back to the how to provide an update on the Chinese Tallow tree and efforts to eliminate them. Chinese Tallow was brought to the USA in the 1700's as an ornamental. They have very successfully invaded much of the Southeast US, and are moving north and west at a slow but steady rate. USDA-APHIS has declared them invasive and have introduced two insects that feast on Tallow trees to slow, and eventually stop that spread.

However, Tallow trees are a valuable source of honey in the spring for US beekeepers, who manage their bees to take advantage of the honey flow to build their colonies to full strength so they can super pollinate a great deal of the crops we eat. No tallow, far, far less pollination.

The American Honey Producers and the National Honey Board have combined to produce a survey to measure the full extent and value of these trees to US beekeepers and to those of us who like to eat Tallow Honey. The intent is to reduce, or better, stop the insects from destroying Tallow trees, maintain the spring honey flow and keep food on the tables of all of us.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

Tallow Survey - https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc2St5V6uUJQ-rfINK2s5TOM_jgofIQfVCUORfybfYAdtQHvQ/viewform
American Honey Producers Assn - https://www.ahpanet.com/
National Honey Board Survey Announcement - https://honey.com/newsroom/press-release/industry-members-asked-to-participate-in-tallow-honey-survey
USDA-APHIS Site on Chinese Tallow - https://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/terrestrial/plants/chinese-tallow
Beekeeping Today Podcast on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@beekeepingtodaypodcast
Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Broadcom MASTERS® Award Winner - Rory Hu (S5, E22) Nov 14, 2022

Show notes

On today's show, Jeff talks with Rory Hu, the $10,000 winner of the Broadcom Foundation and Society for Science MASTERS® Scholarship for middle school students. MASTERS is an acronym for Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars. Rory's research is titled "The Effects of Pesticides, Caffeine and Tea Polyphenols on the Visual and Olfactory Learning and Memory of the Honey Bee".

Being in middle school, Rory is in the seventh grade. That is correct - seventh grade! On today's episode, Rory talks with Jeff explaining how she came up with the idea for her research, the papers she found and read on her own, the search for a local beekeeper to supply bees, her testing methodology and results.

You will want to listen to Rory explain her research and the challenges she faced, having never worked with honey bees before she started her research. Afterwards, make sure to click on the links in the show notes to see her research.

What were YOU thinking about in 6th and 7th grades?

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

Society for Science Winner's Announcement - https://www.societyforscience.org/press-release/14-year-old-develops-robotic-hand-wins-top-award-broadcom-masters/
Rory's Broadcom Project Board - https://projectboard.world/societyforsciencebcm/finalist-booth/rory-hu---san-jose-californiaa
Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Dr. Samuel Ramsey - Fall 2022 Updates - (S5, E21) Nov 07, 2022

Show notes

On today's episode, we welcome back the good friend of the podcast, Dr. Samuel Ramsey. Also joining us today is Dr. Jim Tew, sitting in this week for Kim Flottum. Sammy joins Jeff and Jim to talk about his recent move from Maryland to Boulder, Colorado, where he is now the Endowed Professor of Entomology at CU Boulder's BioFrontiers Institute and the Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Department.

Sammy also brings us up-to-date on the research on the Tropilaelaps mite in Thailand and how it could impact beekeepers around the world, should it take the path of the Varroa. Speaking of which, Dr. Ramsey introduces the listener to the Euvarroa Mite… think: a varroa with attitude hair. Regarding Varroa, Sammy is researching ways to control them by disrupting the varroa's use of the egg yoke protein, vitellogenin, found in the fat bodies of the honey bee. It is exciting research that may one day lead to control and management options against the Varroa mite.

Also, after we stopped recording the episode, Sammy shared with us the challenges he's faced as he worked toward's his PhD in entomology. He was told repeatedly, that there was "something just not quite right" about him to be a doctor of entomology. There were multiple attempts to hold him back and keep him out of the program. Honestly, as two white men, these challenges are unseen by Jeff and Jim. Sammy's experience is hard to hear. It is amazing that these attitudes still exist in such 'learned' and 'intellectually advanced' micro-societies as found in leading universities. What is unbelievable is that they are allowed to exist today.

Sammy's personal story of overcoming the challenges and obstacles thrown at him were captured in the National Geographic 2022 Explorers Festival. We encourage you to watch this compelling and inspiring presentation.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

Dr. Ramsey's Bio Frontiers Page at the University of Colorado, Boulder - https://www.colorado.edu/biofrontiers/samuel-ramsey
Sammy's National Geographic Explorers 2022 Presentation - https://vimeo.com/725731093
Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Regional Beekeepers: Fall 2022 (S5, E20) Oct 31, 2022

Show notes

This week, guest co-host Jim Tew is sitting in for Kim and we have invited four beekeepers to the podcast to talk about their season just past. We call it our Regional Beekeepers show. If you have been a long time listener, you may be familiar with one or more of these beekeepers.

Joining us this fall are Tracy Alarcon from Ohio, Ed Colby from Colorado, Duane Combs from Arizona and Paul Longwell from Washington State.

As beekeepers, we run the danger of living in a world limited by the confines of our own bee hives, bee yards or even region. But, it is a big world and we all must deal with the good and the bad while managing our bees. Biology doesn't change, but it does adapt to local environments, necessitating management differences. This can be seen in the finer nuances in beekeeping techniques, schedules or other details. By bringing together our guests, we can compare and contrast some of these challenges with our own. It is alway educational and informative!

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Winter Bees, Summer Bees and Imidacloprid (S5, E19) Oct 24, 2022

Show notes

Winter bees, those bees that emerge during the cold winter months when there is little to no exposure to the world outside, are very different from summer bees, which emerge during the hectic and exposed to everything bees are exposed to in their environment. In today's episode, we talk with Drs. Mohamed Alburaki and Miguel Corona, two USDA-ARS entomologists researching these differences and specifically the effects of the neonaticide imidacloprid on developing bee larvae.

The environment for winter bees is almost exclusively limited to what happens inside the hive. They live months longer than summer bees. Summer bees, on the other hand, live very short lives. Summer bees are either nurse bees or foragers, or maybe both, so they are exposed to all the things their environment has to offer. One of those is exposure to pesticides, the most common is imidacloprid.

It turns out, summer bees tend to prefer food given to them that has some small amount of this pesticide in it. The speculation is that the taste is what they are used to – all summer long they ate food tainted with this pesticide. Meanwhile, winter bees, who never foraged or fed bees with nectar or pollen exposed to this pesticide, didn't like it at all and would avoid it at all costs.

What this means for beekeepers is that managing your bees to avoid pesticides is the best option you can have. If you can't avoid it, be aware of your bee's tendency to favor the pesticide taste, if that is what they were raised on. It's a complicated and toxic world out there. Be aware. You can read this very well thought out USDA paper by clicking on the link provided. You may have to read it twice. We had to read it more than that, but it was well worth the time.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

Research Papers: Imidacloprid and bee phenotype: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13592-022-00922-9
Research Papers: Polyurethane vs Wooden hives: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00218839.2021.1999578
Honey Bee Obscura - https://www.honeybeeobscura.com

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening!

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

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