Honey Bee Obscura Podcast

Latest Episodes:

End of Season Evaluations (087) Aug 18, 2022

Show notes

Towards the end of the season, it's a good idea to take a look at the equipment and other management tricks you've been using all summer while it's still fresh in your mind. Today, Jim and Kim talk about how well the veils they use worked this summer, and the bee suits they occasionally wear (did you know a good way to wash a smokey, propolis covered bee suit is to use a pressure sprayer?) and is that old smoker good for another year, or not?

There's a lot to consider… How's your location working out? What about neighbors? Have they complained about your bees? Swimming pools got used a lot this year, and were your bees in the way?

Have you experienced animal pests? Mice, bear, racoons, skunks… are any or all of them giving your bees a problem? Will moving somewhere else help solve that?

Now's the time to think about all this while it's still fresh in your mind.

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

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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, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Hive Stand Options (086) Aug 11, 2022

Show notes

Have you ever thought much about the hive stands you use? On today's episode, Jim and Kim take a long look at the hive stands they use and why they favor them. They also look at a lot of other choices available to beekeepers – all based upon personal preferences, terrain, individual strength and even weather!

Are some better than others? Absolutely! Are some expensive, while others free? Absolutely! Do you get what you pay for? Most of the time.

Your hive stand can tall a lot about how you keep bees, you know. Old, sloppy, ugly, uneven and too crowded is one extreme (We're talking stands here, not beekeepers). At the other end of the spectrum is, new, painted, just the right height, and perfectly level with enough room to work bees with ease.

How do your hive stands look?

Learn more about hive stands right here, with Kim and Jim.

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

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______________________

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

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

How Much Honey Do You Leave On A Colony? (085) Aug 04, 2022

Show notes

How much honey do you leave for the bees this winter? Like lots of things in beekeeping, it depends. Since "all beekeeping is local", it is good to start in your own backyard. Do you live in the south? Midwest? North? Far north? When are you pulling your honey? In August? Or November? Do you typically have a fall nectar flow? Is it strong or just… meh. If you don't know, check with another beekeeper. They can give you added insight to the local conditions. (This is yet another time knowing an experienced local beekeeper comes in handy. Join a local club! – ed.)

Even if you have an idea of HOW many pounds of honey you should leave, you need to determine how much your colony has in surplus of what they will need to get them through fall and winter to spring. How do you do this? If you have your colony sitting on a scale, you have a good idea – regardless of the size of equipment. But if you don't, you need to get some form of estimate. Can you 'heft' the hive like the old books suggest? Does that work for all beekeepers? What about counting honey supers and brood boxes. Whether you are counting deeps or mediums, you can estimate, based on the 'typical' weight of a super or deep and the number of frames you run.

Kim and Jim work through all your options in this episode and provide insightful direction that should help you leave enough honey on your bees, regardless where you live.

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

______________________

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

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Dealing With Heat in the Beeyard (084) Jul 28, 2022

Show notes

It's hot out there and it looks like it isn't going to cool off for most of us for awhile. Also, since mite treatments should be starting now, getting honey off in the heat is the rule of the day. So how do you stay cool when it's hot out there? Well, Kim and Jim take a good long look at how to stay cool and what happens if you overdo in the heat.

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

______________________

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

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Laying Workers (083) Jul 21, 2022

Show notes

If you have a colony of honey bees, chances are, at some point, some year, that colony will become queenless. If you do not realize it and the bees are unsuccessful at re-queening themselves, there is a pretty good chance, your colony will end up with laying workers.

In this episode, Jim and visiting cohost, Jeff Ott from Beekeeping Today Podcast, talk about laying workers. How can you tell if you have laying workers? The first sign many beekeepers recognize is the appearance of multiple eggs in a single cell. Not only are there multiple eggs, but they are not centered in the bottom of the cell, and haphazardly laid. There are other signs too, that are discussed in this episode.

Also discussed are the options you can take as a beekeeper and what you can expect for the future of that colony.

Laying workers is a tough management challenge for a beekeeper with no easy solution. Listen today as we discuss the problem and the management approaches you can consider.

Watch a special Honey Bee Obscura VideoMoment on YouTube about Laying Workers, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0QWZ2Ob3tM

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

______________________

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

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

After The Swarm (082) Jul 14, 2022

Show notes

Swarm season is fun and exhilarating. Much has been written about swarms. They've been studied, photographed, pursued and just… watched. But what does the beekeeper do with the parent colony the next day? What do they do with the swarm after they've caught it and put it in a box? In today's episode Jim and Jeff Ott (from Beekeeping Today Podcast) talk about… what should you do, After The Swarm?

Listen as Jim and Jeff talk about the post swarm queen. Which queen? Both! Either the new queen in the parent hive or the old queen in the new swarm. If you are wanting the colony to make honey or even make it through the next winter, those considerations must start now. You have some time to think about it, but not weeks or months.

It's an interesting discussion and one you don't often hear.

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

______________________

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

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

The Importance of Mentors (081) Jul 07, 2022

Show notes

On today's episode, Kim and Jim talks about what it takes to be a mentor to another beekeeper, and therefore what you can look for in a good mentor.

As a mentor, you have to develop good communication between you and your mentee. That means communication both ways – them to you, you to them. Establish guidelines for times, locations, and other requirements that you both respect.

Go into the relationship knowing that constructive criticism is necessary. Not only for mistakes, but for chances to learn something new they didn't see, or know about.

Understand that not all students learn at the same speed. Some will get it right the first time, some – will take a few more tries. Be prepared to let your mentee make decisions, and then, follow through on those decisions to see if they were good, bad or ugly. Discuss afterwards what worked and what did not. Then… why. Use that experience, good and bad to help them grow as beekeepers.

Everyone has mentors or should!

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

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, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Queen Excluders - Love Them or Hate Them (080) Jun 30, 2022

Show notes

On today's episode, Jim and Jeff Ott (from Beekeeping Today Podcast), discuss the value and use of the 'love it or hate it" piece of equipment, the Queen Excluder. Queen excluders are included in almost every "Honey Producer Starter Package", but why and how are they used?

Jim and Jeff discuss the multiple uses of a queen excluders (Did you know they will also exclude drones? Or that you can use one to help while uncapping frames of honey? Of course you did!) They discuss the types of queen excluders and why wood bound excluders are likely preferred by the bees.

When it is time pull honey, excluders make the process much faster, as the beekeeper can simply pull the honey supers above the excluder, blow out the bees and take them home to extract.

Some beekeepers don't like them and call them "honey excluders". Is this name justified? Or is it a management issue that can be addressed? But yes, many beekeepers produce honey successfully without ever touching a queen excluder.

Listen today as Jim and Jeff talk about the use of queen excluders. Afterwards, head over to the Honey Bee Obscura YouTube Channel to watch a special VideoMoment 'Queen Excluders - Love Them or Hate Them… or don't care.

You can find different types and forms of queen excluders on our sponsor's website: https://www.betterbee.com

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment! We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

______________________

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

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Water For Your Bees (079) Jun 23, 2022

Show notes

After you get through the winter, spring buildup, swarming season and the ever present varroa, you can sit back and smell the flowers, right? You're a beekeeper! There is no time to rest! Jim has a question for you… "Where are your bees getting the water they need?"

On today's episode, Jim and Jeff Ott (from Beekeeping Today Podcast) talk about where your bees are likely to find the water they need. If you are miles from your nearest neighbor, then you only need to consider whether or not there is water available for your bees in the driest time of the year. If you are located in a suburban, urban area, then you may not need to worry whether or not your bees have enough water. Your concern should shift to where your bees are finding their water.

Jim's bees are usually at his neighbor's bird bath.

It doesn't take much water for a honey bee to find it. Even a single drip from a hose bib can attract a bee or two. How do they find that?!

Have you ever seen a collection of honey bees at the edge of a bag of damp potting soil? At the edge a silage or manurer runoff? Are they collecting water or are they collecting minerals? Interesting question.

Listen today as Jim and Jeff talk about water for your bees. Afterwards, head over to the Honey Bee Obscura YouTube Channel to watch a special VideoMoment on Honey Bees and Water.

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment! We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

______________________

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

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Dealing with Marginal Queens (078) Jun 16, 2022

Show notes

Pretty much every beekeeper, at one time or another, ends up with a queen that's not doing what they think she should be doing or - not doing what all the rest of your queens are doing. So, what is happening and can you do anything to get her going?

Marginal queens are tough to identify. There is one easy fix: You just replace her. That said, how long do you wait to make a decision?

Wait!

Perhaps it is not the queen that's marginal. Maybe something else going on. Once you figure that out, when do you fix it? Or just let it go until you can combine it with a better colony? Maybe that will just spread a problem.

Marginal queens are a conundrum and the answer lies somewhere between your goals, the time of year and ultimately, Mother Nature and what she thinks should happen.

If you like the episode, share it with a fellow beekeepers and/or let us know by leaving a comment in the show notes. We'd love to hear from you!

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment! We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

______________________

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

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

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