Honey Bee Obscura Podcast

Latest Episodes:

What's That Smell? - Part 1: The Bad (047) Nov 11, 2021

Show notes

Bees, honey, smoker smoke, and lots more all have their own aroma. Beekeeping is rich in its own smells. Most are fragrant, rich and a delight to work with. Some, not so much. This is a two-part series.

In today's Part 1, we looked at smells from the smoker, which are many and varied, rich and awful, all at the same time. Then we discussed the smells of bees, the good, the bad and the ugly.

Come on along and learn what you can expect when dealing with honey, honey bees and all that comes with them, and what you already may have experienced and not thought much about. One aroma is worth a thousand words.

Watch for Part 2 - The Good, next week!

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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

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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

Small-Scale Pollination Contracts (046) Nov 04, 2021

Show notes

At some point, whether by design or accident, many beekeepers consider expanding into pollination for hire with their bees. What does that mean and what does it take? What should be considered before undertaking a small-scale pollination job?

In this episode, Kim and Jim discuss their experiences and offer their observations.

First, start thinking about what you'll need next spring NOW, so you're ready next spring! If you wait until the first dandelion, you will be late to the game!

If you are starting from scratch, talk to other beekeepers, talk to growers, talk to anybody who has done this before. Make your contacts now and remember, when exploring pollination opportunities, you are probably competing with another beekeeper.

The most important two things to research? Know what your costs will be, and know what your time is worth. Start there.

Remember this is mostly night work, do you have a day job? Do you have a good friend you can convince to help you? And what about insurance? And can you do this with your truck, or somebody else's, or do you have a trailer you can leave at the orchard with your hives on it.

Contracts are critical. Scope out the property. Know where you will place the bees. Know the crop better than the grower so you already anticipate their needs and schedule.

You can make good money pollinating a crop, but only if you know what you are getting into.

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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

Bottom Boards (045) Oct 28, 2021

Show notes

Every kind of hive has some kind of bottom board. Typically, Langstroth type hives have a bottom board that is removable. Many are reversible, too. That is one side has a ridge going around three sides that is only 3/8th of an inch tall, leaving an opening so small in the front that a mouse should not be able to get into the hive. These are used this way in the winter. The other side of this bottom board has a ridge that is 3/4th of an inch tall, to be used in the summer for better ventilation and traffic control out front.

For awhile, bottom boards with a screen were common, developed to help control varroa that would fall through if they fell off a bee above. Some people would put cardboard sticky boards under the screen to catch the varroa and give an idea of how many a hive had. These had to be covered in winter, which was sometimes a problem because of lost covers, warped covers or bent screens. They are still around, but mostly for ventilation, not varroa control.

Mostly, we use what we have, because that's the way we've always done it.

But now there are several styles of bottom boards to use. Many are now heavy duty plastic, some with built in screens and a cover, some are insulated for winter use, and some will fit an 8 frame or 10 frame hive, so no matter what kind of hive you have they will fit just right. Bottom boards are getting to be as technical as the rest of our bee hives. Finally.

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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

Preparing for Winter (044) Oct 21, 2021

Show notes

If you are comfortable outside on Christmas Day, you probably don't have to worry about wrapping your colonies for winter protection. Otherwise, this episode is for you!

At least put up a windbreak. It's easy, cheap and it helps. But what other insulation is available? There's history of what has been used, and what's available now isn't much different, but it's better.

Tar paper was common, roofing insulation is often used, already packaged units like a Bee Cozy, or those made by BetterBee are available and work well.

New insulated tops are available and should be considered for both keeping warm in during winter, and heat out during summer.

Winter ventilation is still an issue with some kinds of wintering techniques and you have to deal with that, too. Styrofoam boxes, and sheets are used with good success.

Winter protection, wrapping, and all the different kinds of hives….now is the time to figure it out.

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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

Beekeeper Waxing & Waning (043) Oct 14, 2021

Show notes

Do you remember what it was like when you first started keeping bees? Beekeeping was easier years ago, and most of us wanted more bees, more hives, more skills, more of everything beekeeping.

But there's a next chapter. Beekeepers today are better educated because there's more to do now. So, it's not wrong to want to take a day, a week, a whole season off. And there will be good times and bad times. And yes, some won't come back.

Sometimes, learning something new will keep you going. Learn queen rearing, or pollen collection, or…. something you haven't done before to get you going again.

But it's OK to do something else for a while. Beekeeping will come back, or it won't. And no matter what, it is alright!

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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

Invasive Plants (042) Oct 07, 2021

Show notes

There are, in most places, a mix of native and invasive plants that our bees will visit because they don't distinguish good from bad, noxious from native. They are looking for food, regardless of the source.

This week Kim and Jim touch on a few of these, and try and come up with some recommendations and perhaps some plans on dealing with invasive plants and your honey bees.

They start with the Chinese Tallow lawsuit going on in the south, with USDA wanting rid of it by introducing a natural pest. And purple loosestrife is now starting to diminish because they already have introduced a natural pest for that handsome weed and very predictable honey crop.

But Black Locust, Norway Maple, Japanese Knotweed, Kudzu vine, English Ivy and Autumn Olive are looked at too. There are pages of introduced species of plants, many of which are terrific honey plants.

The message is….if you and your bees are dependent on introduced or noxious weeds as food sources and a honey crop, you may want to be aware, because those plants might not be there for long.

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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

Fall Feeding (041) Sep 30, 2021

Show notes

If you have to feed your bees this fall, something probably went wrong this summer. Spring feeding, or feeding packages or splits is maybe more common, but there are some things to think about if you have to feed your bees in the fall.

Is what went wrong the fault of your bees, your management, or the environment your bees have to live in. Too many row crops, pesticides, too much lawn…is there really any food out there at all?

How much food does a colony actually need to get through the winter?

You also have to think about what kind of feeders will you use, what will you feed, how much should you feed, and when do you stop feeding.

All of these questions have to have answers, before you start.

Fall feeding may not be as simple as you thought it was.

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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

Winter Packing (040) Sep 23, 2021

Show notes

Think about honey bees overwintering in a tree. There's 4 to 6 inches of insulation, pretty good ventilation, and it's lined with propolis. Now think of our bees living in a box with less than an inch of wood for protection. We pretty much don't think of wintering anymore. There's lots of bees, swarms, we can replace what we lose easily…. well, it was easy, but it's not so much anymore. Varroa changed that.

We can protect them if we want. Insulated covers, insulated wraps, roofing paper, all manner of things we can get, and all require some level of labor to make work.

Expanded styrene boxes seem to be pretty good. Lots of insulation for both winter cold and summer heat and they use both sides of every frame. They don't recognize warm winter days though, so there's that.

In the old days beekeepers went to a lot of trouble to keep their bees alive overwinter and with the new controlled environment buildings, that sort of care is coming back.

Winter protection can mean different things based on where you live – after all, all beekeeping is local. However, no matter where you live, preparing for winter and protecting the colony inside a hive is something our bees need now more than ever.

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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

"Winter Is Coming" aka Planning For Winter (039) Sep 16, 2021

Show notes

There's a saying – Winter Begins in August and it's already September. It's time to start thinking about getting ready for winter.

What can and what should you be thinking about? Well, if winter is cold where you are, can you move your bees to somewhere that's warm? If moving bees is at all possible.

What about indoor wintering? It used to be popular and it's coming back, but the indoors are a lot more sophisticated than they used to be. Is that possible?

And are your bees winter hardy, or are they softies? And can you fix that yet this year with a tougher queen? And absolutely get varroa under control. Yesterday.

What about food? How was/is/will be the fall flow this fall? Enough, not enough, need more? And if not, how much will you have to find for them?

And what equipment will you need when you really get ready for winter? Get it now, or it may be gone. It's time to start thinking about winter, isn't it.

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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

Combining (Joining) Weak Colonies (038) Sep 09, 2021

Show notes

Right now, you have to make some decisions about how to overwinter your colonies. If you live in the deep south, there probably isn't much to think about. But if you live north of warm winter weather, there's a lot that has to be done. One of these tasks is what to do with a couple of small, weak colonies, because they are just not big enough to make it on their own.

Several options are available. In this week's episode, Kim and Jim look at the strengths and weaknesses of each to help you better decide what you can do with your weak colonies.

Combine the two and keep the best queen? That's one way, but which queen is the best queen, and why? And why were both colonies small and weak? And what do you do with the queen that you decide to remove?

Or, perhaps you can combine the two and add some bees and comb and make one stronger colony or nuc to overwinter, so you will have a nuc in your beeyard next spring, which is always a good thing.

Or, what about putting those small colonies in a well-insulated hive box so they don't have to work so hard, and maybe both will make it?

Other overwintering schemes are discussed, but the most practical, perhaps, is the most common way to handle this overwintering question. Listen in and you can decide what is best for your operation.

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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

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