Honey Bee Obscura Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Considering the Bee Yard Habitat (138) Aug 03, 2023

Show notes

Continuing their discussion on the micro and to some extent the macro environment of a beeyard, Kim and Jim take a long hard look at what do bees need to eat, and how much should there be. They look at the weeds in the apiary, areas around the beeyard, and areas further away that may be a plus because what's growing out there. They also look at the work beekeepers and other groups are doing to provide additional forage for all pollinators, in an effort to slow the loss of habitat to due development, farms and even climate change.

It turns out that with careful preselection of a bee yard, and the things a beekeeper can do post selection, life can be made better for both your bees, and you.

Listen in as Jim and Kim bounce these questions around. Is the world is changing, or is it just Kim and Jim trying to make it work the same old way?

Pollinator Partnership - Bee Friendly Gardening: https://www.pollinator.org/bfg
Xerces Society Regional Habitat Resource Finder: https://xerces.org/pollinator-resource-center
Ernst Seed Company: https://www.ernstseed.com/

______________________

Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Dealing with Harvesting Headaches (137) Jul 27, 2023

Show notes

Every season, it seems, is different than the last, making it difficult or at least challenging. Honey harvesting is no different: what and when and how and where to harvest a honey crop. Deep south beekeepers went through this a month or more ago, but the northern half is now dealing with unpredictable late season honey flows, late summer increased varroa populations and all making good winter bees!

Will this winter be as cold as this summer was hot? Do you still leave as much honey as last year, or because of what looks like an extraordinary fall flow to come, take more than typical? And is an August varroa treatment still the right thing, or do I need to move it up, or move it back?

Listen in as Jim and Kim bounce these questions around. Is the world is changing, or is it just Kim and Jim trying to make it work the same old way?

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Dealing With Summer Robbing (136) Jul 20, 2023

Show notes

It's the time of year when summer is nearly over, but the fall flow hasn't started. Colonies are big, there's lot of foragers, and not much to forage on, yet.

A colony that is ripe for being robbed is usually small, weak, and not able to defend itself. When the beekeeper starts working these colonies, foragers from other nearby colonies may find them, harvest a bit of honey, head home and tell everybody what you just found. "Come on girls, there's lots of food right over here. Let me waggle you a map!"

The robbed colony of course takes a dim view of all this, lot of fighting breaks out, stinging is everywhere, and you – the beekeeper – have a bad situation getting worse, fast.

Today Jim and Kim talk about late summer robbing…what leads up to, how bad can it get, what can you do to prevent it beforehand, and how to you stop it.

Robbing is a very bad thing. Don't let it start, and nip it in the bud when it does.

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Beehive Life (135) Jul 13, 2023

Show notes

What else is in a beehive other than... honey bees?

If you stop and look closer the next time you are in your beeyard, you will in all likelihood begin to notice all manner of living creatures sharing the beeyard space with you and your bees.

Some, most in fact, are not a problem for your bees and in fact, many are actually beneficial to your bees. These 'pests' clean up the messes from your bees.

Once you look inside the hive, you may find even more of these creatures making a home alongside the bees. Some are really pests, eating larvae, adult bees, beeswax, honey and generally making a mess. Others are completely benign, simply using the hive as a convenient place to get out of the rain, stay warm in, or hide from their predators

Kim and Jim offer some interesting insights to all of these creatures. Listen in and find out what those earwigs, ants and springtails can do!

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Managing Mid-Summer Splits (133) Jul 06, 2023

Show notes

In this episode, Kim and Jim discuss the pros and cons of mid-summer splits. Are they good or are they bad? It can go both ways.

Mid-summer splits are used to divide a colony for swarm prevention, colony expansion, or the equalization of colony populations going into Fall and Winter. However, you have to weigh factors such as reduced late summer or fall honey collection for both the bees and beekeeper, how to queen the the split (let them raise their own or purchased) and the risks and time of either, available equipment.

Kim and Jim discuss these factors and more. It is not always as straightforward as you may think. But then… what in keeping bee is?!

How do you do your mid-summer splits? What factors do YOU weigh where you live? Let them know!

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Dealing With Seasonal Bee Management Fluctuations (132) Jun 29, 2023

Show notes

How does a beekeeper deal with the seasonal population shifts, weather and resulting needs of the honey bees in their care. How does a beekeeper balance the needs of the colony with the needs of the beekeeper? The middle of that Venn Diagram is a very small slice of common interests. Mostly, the bees and the beekeeper are at odds of what that intersection should include.

In today's episode, Kim and Jim examine this conundrum of needs and expectations - the balance-point of which changes constantly, based a multitude of seasonal variables.

Listen in as Kim and Jim sort of the details to find an approach that has worked for them. What works for you?

Let them know!

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Summer Replay - Hot Summers & Hot Bees (131) Jun 22, 2023

Show notes

Listeners, Kim and Jim are busy in the bee yard this week and have chosen this episode from the archive, for your listening pleasure. Thank you for listening!

It's been hot in Ohio so far this summer (and a lot of other places too) but it's also been wet. Hot and wet can make keeping bees a lot harder than normal. Kim and Jim talk about hot summers and their bees.

Kick the air conditioner down a couple of degrees, pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage and listen in.

Jim is visiting up in Michigan this week, and it's been hot there, too. They share the same loss of enthusiasm and eagerness for working bees when it's hot and it seems the bees are crankier than usual. Is that normal? There are lots of bees bearding on the front of the hives…

The 'personality' changes in the bee yards every summer, hot or not. Up to the middle of June of so, the bees don't even notice a beekeeper, but then that changes and the bees give all manner of trouble each visit visits. What's going on? Dearth, robbing, what ever it is it lasts until at least early October, when they quite down again.

Shade helps. Get them in afternoon shade if you can. It's a lot easier on the bees, and even more so for the beekeeper.

What about water? You have to make sure there's always water available in your yard. Keep your bees out of your neighbor's pools and pet dishes, so they stay out of trouble.

Hot summers and honey bees. Turn that air conditioner down a couple more degrees, will you please?

Watch the Honey Bee Obscura VideoMoment for this episode here: https://youtu.be/IWr7Bj0EUQs

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Getting Your Bees Through Droughts (130) Jun 15, 2023

Show notes

Summer is in full force in most of the country now. Nectar flows are on and the honey is starting to ripen in the supers. It is the time of year beekeepers have been planning for all winter long!

Summer is pretty nice now, isn't it?

Eventually, every location will experience a drought (especially with all the extreme weather events experienced by all parts of the country, and world). What do honey bees do during these periods of drought? What can a beekeeper do to lessen the stress on their colonies during this these times?

On today's episode, Kim returns to talk with Jim about providing watering alternatives for honey bees. What do you do? What works for you and what does not? Let Kim and Jim know!

Listen today!

__________________

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Learning To Deal With Stings (129) Jun 08, 2023

Show notes

All beekeepers must one day, cross a threshold: dealing with bee stings. For some, it is a small, hardly seen threshold. For others, it is a major challenge that takes time to overcome. On today's episode Jim and Jeff Ott talk about learning to overcome the fear (though, not the pain) of a honey bee sting, or two... or 10.

Jeff from Beekeeping Today Podcast, joins Jim to talk about the Learning to deal with stings.

Was learning to deal with stings a challenge for you? If so, or even if not, let us know how you over came the fear and what you do to minimize the risks of being stung.

Listen today!

__________________

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Replacing The Queen (128) Jun 01, 2023

Show notes

Replacing a seemingly good queen can be a difficult decision to make. If her brood pattern is good, the colony temperment is nice, they've produced a good crop... and the only fault against her is that she is last year's queen... should you replace her with a queen raised this year?!

There are many considerations to factor in. Your goals as a beekeeper, the time of year, is she with an established colony or perhaps from a swarm? It can be difficult to make that call to seek her out, pull her and crush her. Then... if you do replace her... do you buy a new queen or have the colony raise their own? How soon do you introduce a new queen? How do you know if the colony will accept her?!

On today's podcast, Jim invites Jeff Ott from Beekeeping Today Podcast, to talk about the Replacing the Queen.

__________________

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott