Honey Bee Obscura Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Euthanizing Honey Bees (027) Jun 24, 2021

Show notes

It's rare, very rare, but sometimes beekeepers have to kill all the bees in a colony. It can be a tragic, emotional and usually it's an expensive experience. Or it can be a life saving act to save the lives of friends, neighbors and family. At the very least, it will render a box of dangerous or sick bees no longer dangerous or reduce the chance of spreading disease across the county. At any rate, it is painful to have to do this.

There are usually only 2 reasons this has to be done. The presence of American Foulbrood in a colony that has been identified by a governing body, with state laws in place that essentially force this is probably the most common reason, but still, this isn't very common anymore. The second reason is that the genetics of the bees in the colony are such that aggression is extreme, and the presence of the colony causes danger for the beekeeper and/or nearby people.

The why is often clear. The how can sometimes be less clear. If possible, late night so all the foragers are home and no stragglers are left in the bee yard to harass people, or to spread disease. Closing the colony so no bees can escape, rendering it essentially leak proof, and dumping in a 2 or 3-gallon pail of hot, very soapy water is usually the method of dispatching the bees. Leaving it closed for a day is a good idea before checking.

If aggression is the issue, occasionally moving the bees to a less dangerous place is an option, though not always the best option. Vehicle, time of day and the like can be issues to work through.

When dealing with overly defensive bees, safety for the beekeeper and the beekeeper's neighbors should always be the top concern.

In this episode, Kim & Jim discuss this extraordinary, but necessary, course of action a beekeeper may face.

______________________

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

______________________

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

Beekeeping Good Neighbor Golden Rules (026) Jun 17, 2021

Show notes

Let's face it. Unless you live in an isolated part of the world, if you keep bees, you will need to eventually deal with encounters between your bees and your neighbors. Encounters don't have to be negative. There are strategies you can use to minimize 'bad publicity' and 'hard feelings.' Some beekeeping clubs have written down these strategies and developed rules, Golden Rules, for beekeepers to help guide them to keep friendly relations with their neighbors.

In this episode, our fearless hosts, Kim and Jim take up eight rules used by a UK beekeeping club and explore their experiences with neighbors, bees, and Golden Rules.

______________________

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

Package Queens (025) Jun 10, 2021

Show notes

Packages arrive with a queen and together are installed in a hive of some kind. In a few days to a week the queen is released from her travel cage by either the bees or the beekeeper. Then the evaluation of that queen, and the bees, too, begins. How good is this queen? And when should I be able to decide if she needs replacing. A week? 2 weeks? A month? And how do you decide?

There are some basic parameters you can use to evaluate her performance. You can look at the egg laying pattern she is producing, measure how many eggs she is laying each day, and note if most are workers and only a very few, if any, are drones.

Experienced beekeepers can, because of lots of practice, estimate the amount of brood in the colony after a quick inspection, and can determine if she is producing what she should be producing depending the time she has had. Returning in a week, there should be a week's increase in the amount of brood noted. And how much is enough?

But what if she isn't producing well? Spotty pattern? Hardly any brood - basically an unorganized nest? And when does she cross the line of being very new, to being very unproductive?

Package queens can be tricky to work with, and Jim and Kim look at the ways to measure how she is doing, and what can be done with a queen that's only a C+ instead of an A+. There are several ways to make this work for the colony and for the beekeeper.

______________________

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

Questions from 1910 (024) Jun 03, 2021

Show notes

Today, Kim & Jim review questions and answers asked in an ancient A. I. Root Co. publication, published in 1910. What's changed, and what hasn't? Kim and Jim tackle questions asked 121 years ago. You'll be surprised at what they find.

Do gentle bees make as much honey as mean bees? A question you still hear because sometimes it seems mean bees are more productive, right? Maybe, maybe not.

What's the best smoker fuel? Oily rags? You're kidding, right? Pine needles, sawdust and the like too, but a petroleum-based product? Will it blow up in your smoker?

What can you do when another beekeeper brings in a truckload of colonies and sets them down next door? Will everybody starve? Can you make them move? Can you stop them in the first place?

And how much does a painted 10-frame hive with wired foundation full of bees cost? Then adjust that for inflation. Be sitting down when you read the answer to this one.

______________________

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

Tanging - What's All That Banging? (023) May 27, 2021

Show notes

What is tanging? Basically, beekeepers use some sort of device, an old cooking pot for instance, to make a loud noise by beating it with a spoon or stick, while chasing an escaping swarm. It is thought this may convince the bees that a storm with thunder is approaching and they need to find a place to land, now, and then the beekeeper can capture them and return them to their home.

When a beekeeper sees a swarm leave one of their hives, they will chase the swarm to recapture and return it to the apiary. While chasing it, the beekeeper typically crosses the property of several people, and by beating on a pan while chasing the swarm, will let property owners know that 1) the swarm of bees is theirs, and 2) the beekeeper is not there to trespass and offers no danger to the land owner.

Or…Perhaps both, but isn't tanging and drumming the same? Not quite.

When beekeepers want to move bees out of, say, a section of a hollow tree, they cut the tree, remove the section the colony is in and take it home. Then, they cut the bottom of this just so that there is a hole large enough for the bees to get through, turn the tree section upside down so the hole is now on top, place a new hive, skep or container on the section, and begin to 'drum' on the sides with a stick or old spoon. The sounds and effects of this cause the bees to want to leave, and leaving through the hole on what's now the top is the only way to go. The beekeeper continues this until all the bees have moved up.

Kim and Jim briefly explore both of these older beekeeping techniques in today's show. But turn the volume up, it's loud out there.

_________________

Be sure to check out the selection of Honey Bee Obscura Video Moments on the OneTewBee YouTube Channel.

_________________

This episode of Honey Bee Obscura is supported by the three generations of beekeepers at Leibengood Family Apiaries, providing Georgia certified, southern raised bee packages and queens to central Ohio each Spring!

______________________

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

Plastic & Wooden Packages (022) May 20, 2021

Show notes

Honey bees are purchased from commercial operations in business to sell bees to beekeepers. They can be sold as complete eight or ten frame hives with a queen, frames with comb, bees and brood and some stored food. Or, they may be sold as a 5-frame small colony, traditionally called a nucleus colony, or more commonly a Nuc, with a queen, comb, food and bees. Bees can also be bought in bulk – by the pound, traditionally in a container of some sort, without frames or comb. A queen accompanies the bees, protected in a wooden or plastic queen cage.

For over 150 years the containers used to ship the bees from the seller to the purchaser was a box with the top, two sides and the bottom made of wood, with the remaining two sides covered with wire screen so the bees inside had adequate ventilation. A feeder can of sugar syrup is fastened in the box to provide food for the bees for the several days. Once received, the beekeeper removes the feeder from the opening in the top and the bees dumped through this opening.

A new shipping box is now available and popular with some package producers. Made of plastic, it had the same dimensions as the traditional package, but all sides have tiny ventilation holes and the walls, top and bottom are thick enough that the bees inside can't reach through and sting someone holding the container, like they could through the screened containers. These, too, have a feeder provided inside with an opening on top. However, one end of the package is attached so it can be opened and the bees removed easily through this much larger opening.

There are other significant differences between these two commonly used "packages," in how they are handled, the feeder can, how the bees can be removed, and what to do with the package when the bees are gone. Is this new package better, the same, or not as good as that decades old wood and wire box?

Kim and Jim discuss these differences, both good and bad, in this segment of Honey Bee Obscura.

_________________

Be sure to check out the selection of Honey Bee Obscura Video Moments on the OneTewBee YouTube Channel, including this one on hiving a package in the rain! https://youtu.be/HLNuFm27E64

_________________

______________________

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

Old Comb (021) May 13, 2021

Show notes

Old comb. What is old comb? Old comb is that which is darkened through generations of tiny bee's feet (ok, for the technically minded, tarsus and tarsal claws...) running across its surface. Is it good for years or should beekeepers pull and replace it? At what point should it be pulled?

In this episode of Honey Bee Obscura, Kim and Jim discuss all things Old Comb.

After listening to the episode, make sure you check out this Honey Bee Obscura video moment on the OneTewBee YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/s7GD29Z8zD4

_________________

______________________

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

Spring Inspections (020) May 06, 2021

Show notes

Spring inspections, especially early spring, need a balance of not too often, but often enough to avoid problems. The first thing you see is…what's left from last fall. In the south, these inspections took place some time ago, and in the north, they are just wrapping up, but what you find early on will help determine what needs to be done now.

Mite testing is certainly on the agenda, but for today, we're going to pass on that and look at food, the queen, where the bees are in the hive and what all this will tell us. Of course, if you see lots of bees with twisted wings, a mite test isn't much of a question, but location of the bees, and is swarming or feeding going to be next?

If the bees are in the bottom boxes, you're probably OK for a bit, but if they are in the top boxes, they are probably out of food, so check for honey right now. Too, if they are in the top, it may be crowded and swarming is on their agenda sooner rather than later…check to population's location.

How's the queen? How does her brood pattern look, how much brood is there, and where is the most brood? If a solid pattern, and there's 6 – 8 frames fuller than not, you probably have a good queen with a hive full of bees thinking swarm. If a poor pattern, or only 2 – 3 frames, a new queen may be in order. Where can you get a queen now, and what kind of queen would you want? And what about feeding pollen sub and small hive beetles?

Right now, the season is being decided for you. Don't let your bees down.

Check out Honey Bee Obscura's Video Moment on Spring Inspections HERE.

_________________

______________________

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

Honey Bees Sting! (019) Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

Why do you keep a box full of bugs that you just know will sting? It should be an easy answer, but there's more here that you might think, especially if you're just getting started. Even if you've been doing this for years and you're doing everything right, someday, you will get stung, no matter what.

But what about the beekeeper dressed in only shorts and a T-Shirt, who will take a colony apart, remove the queen, put it back together, and walk away with a smile – and no stings. You have to admire that skill or is it luck?

Basic advice – always wear a veil, always. If you're going to be opening and moving things, wear at least a veil and a jacket. If you're going to be moving bees in the middle of the night or harvesting honey, wear a full suit with gloves and elastic around your cuffs and wrists.

Even more basic advice – Respect stings, wear protective gear, take care of the people around you to reduce chances they will get stung, but just know, it's going to happen. It's all in a day's work.

Listen to Kim & Jim today as they discuss this most basic and most painful aspect of beekeeping!

_________________

______________________

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

Eating Comb Honey (018) Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

So, how do you eat comb honey? It isn't a mystery, but until you have tried eating comb honey, it can be a tad daunting.

At first, it's a beautiful product. Snow white cappings, beautiful honey, the perfect sweetener. But then, you take a sample and that chunk of comb honey begins to leak, and the honey runs out and covers the bottom of the dish you have it on, along with tiny chunks of the wax from the cells and the cappings and the foundation. Suddenly it's messy. Very messy. And the beauty of the honey only remains in the eye of the beholder.

The plastic honey bear has made eating honey easy, neat, clean, and not messy. It has taken comb honey mostly off the tables of several generations of beekeepers and the people who like eating honey. Beekeepers make far less of it than when your grandparents were keeping bees and people now don't know what it is, how to handle it, nor how to eat it.

And consider - comb honey is the least processed, best tasting honey you can eat. And the bees do it all. No harvesting, no extracting, no filtering, no heating, no bottling, and never touched by human hands.

So, how do you eat comb honey? Just as fast as you can and then ask for seconds. It's that good.

_________________

______________________

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

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected