Beekeeping Buddies – Details, episodes & analysis

Welcome to Episode 19 of Beekeeping Buddies. The podcast where Steve and Luke talk about beekeeping in the Central Illinois area.

Around the Yard:

• Final OA Treatment: One last OA treatment for the year!
• Winter Prep: Buttoning up for winter

In the News:

• Beekeeping 101: Drones and how they help the hive!
• Upcoming Beekeeping Courses: Find your local club and get signed up for your annual beekeeping beginner course.
• Upcoming Holiday Markets: Keep an eye out for your local beekeeper as they brave the cold in the holiday markets.

Tune in to Episode 19 for all this and more as we delve into the world of beekeeping in Central Illinois, providing you with practical advice, the latest news, and answers to your buzzing questions.

Riverview Road Apiary Nucs: https://riverviewroadapiary.com/products/spring-2025-nuc

Heart of Illinois Beekeeping Club: https://hoibees.org/

Dalan Animal Health Queens: https://bluetoad.com/publication/?m=5417&i=830245&p=38&ver=html5

North American Honeybee Expo: https://www.nahbexpo.com/

Christmas In the Village Peoria, IL: https://christmasinthevillagepeoria.com/

Beekeeping Buddies Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/beekeepingbuddies/

Welcome to Episode 18 of Beekeeping Buddies. The podcast where Steve and Luke talk about beekeeping in the Central Illinois area.

Around the Yard:

• Final OA Treatment: One last OA treatment for the year!
• Suit Cleaning: Have an older suit? How do you clean it?

In the News:

• Beekeeping 101: Queen and how she works and what she does!
• Nucs vs Packages: What Steve and Luke think about bees vs packages. We also cover our new offering!

Honeybee Hotline:

• Pollen Bound: What is a pollen bound hive and what do you do with it?

Tune in to Episode 18 for all this and more as we delve into the world of beekeeping in Central Illinois, providing you with practical advice, the latest news, and answers to your buzzing questions.

Riverview Road Apiary Nucs: https://riverviewroadapiary.com/products/spring-2025-nuc

Heart of Illinois Beekeeping Club: https://hoibees.org/

Dalan Animal Health Queens: https://bluetoad.com/publication/?m=5417&i=830245&p=38&ver=html5

Dr. Jamie Ellis Podcast: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/honey-bee/podcast/

Bob Binnie Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@bobbinnie9872

North American Honeybee Expo: https://www.nahbexpo.com/

Beekeeping Buddies Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/c/beekeepingbuddies/

Welcome to Episode 9 of Beekeeping Buddies. The podcast where Steve and Luke talk about beekeeping in the Central Illinois area.

Around the Yard:

• Harvesting Honey: We’ll discuss the best practices for harvesting honey in Central Illinois, including timing and techniques to ensure a successful yield, and how much we've gotten so far.
• Flow Hives: An exploration of the advantages and disadvantages of using Flow Hives in our region.
• Grafting Queens: Tips and tricks for grafting queens, a crucial skill for managing and expanding your apiary.
• Beekeeping Tours: Sharing our recent experiences and insights from our beekeeping tours.

In the News:

• The Indoor Farmer Podcast: Luke recently guest-starred on The Indoor Farmer podcast, where he shared insights on urban beekeeping and his journey from engineering to beekeeping.
• Michigan State VSH Queens: Exciting developments from Michigan State University's research on Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) queens, which could revolutionize mite resistance in hives.
• UBeeO Test Kits: A look at the new UBeeO test kits designed to help beekeepers easily monitor hive health and detect issues early.

Honeybee Hotline:

• Queenless Hives in July: We answer viewer questions on how to determine if a hive has gone queenless in July, including signs to look for and steps to take to address the issue.

Droning On:

• Mite Checks: As we prepare for winter, we'll discuss the importance of mite checks and the methods we use to keep our hives healthy.
• Winter Treatments: An overview of the treatments we recommend to ensure your bees are well-protected against the cold months ahead.
• Feeding Hives: Strategies for feeding your hives to build up their strength and resources for the upcoming season.

Tune in to Episode 9 for all this and more as we delve into the world of beekeeping in Central Illinois, providing you with practical advice, the latest news, and answers to your burning questions.

Indoor Farmer Locals Channel - https://theindoorfarmer.locals.com/landing/video

Indoor Farmer Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Waylontheindoorfarmer/

Sustainable Beekeepers of Michigan - https://sbgmi.org/queenportal

UBeeO - https://opterabees.com/

Join us in this episode of beekeeping buddies where we talk about the challenges of moving hives, our flow hive experience, what we do when we find EFB, Queen Grafting, upcoming events and more with Steve and Luke as we talk about beekeeping in the midwest!

Mann Lake QC100 - https://www.mannlakeltd.com/honey-bees/queen-rearing/complete-queen-rearing-kit/?sku=QC100&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw-O6zBhASEiwAOHeGxVxc1pSIr9FpaXF2iAwi2a4jqNpCHy5PyGYmNA6vk9a5vmgpc4XM8hoC2OkQAvD_BwE

HiveoRama - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089320765104

Want to support beekeeping buddies? Consider a contribution on our Patreon:

https://patreon.com/BeekeepingBuddies?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink

Join us, Steve and Luke, your friendly neighborhood beekeeping enthusiasts, as we embark on an exciting journey into the world of honeybees, hives, and all things buzzing! We have our first beekeeping buddy Valerie Ross on our episode! We talk about what it is like to be a beginner beekeeper!

With over a decade of combined experience in beekeeping, we're no strangers to the sweet, sticky world of apiaries. From our humble beginnings as hobbyist beekeepers to our thriving bee yards nestled in the heart of Peoria, IL, we've seen it all – from swarms to honey harvests, and everything in between.

In this episode, we'll take you into our personal bee yards and remember what it was like being a beginner beekeeper, sharing the latest updates and insights from our buzzing colonies and our grafting. Whether it's the thrill of spotting a new queen or the challenges of managing hive health, or even the heartbreak of losing a hive, we'll give you an up-close look at the joys and responsibilities of beekeeping.

If you have beekeeping questions you might want answered, feel free to send us an email at beekkeepingbuddies@gmail.com

AFB Vaccine - https://dalan.com/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw65-zBhBkEiwAjrqRMIYmpFDlPuKtm52L_gQXnm-ExoS4r_s2T_Yndv9Yknd-Dqa0yiMNiBoCsHcQAvD_BwE

Sunflower Pollen Benefits - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-018-32681-y#:~:text=We%20discovered%20that%20sunflower%20(Helianthus,the%20potential%20for%20broad%20anti

Frame Being Drawn Video - https://youtu.be/SZ339p8kXSw

In Episode 6 of Beekeeping Buddies, hosts Steven Schmidt and Luke Harvey take listeners on a comprehensive journey through several key aspects of beekeeping. The episode kicks off with an in-depth discussion on Queen Rearing, where Steven and Luke share their expertise on raising healthy queens and the critical role these queens play in hive health and productivity.

The duo then transitions into the topic of Nectar Flow, explaining its significance and offering strategies for beekeepers to maximize honey production during this crucial period as we transition to white clover. 

They also tackle Hive Swarming, providing valuable tips on managing and preventing swarms to maintain a stable and productive hive environment and what is going on in the midwest.

Listeners will also learn about best practices in Honey Collection, from the ideal timing to effective techniques for harvesting honey. A common issue, Queens Laying in Mediums, is addressed, with Steven and Luke offering practical solutions to manage and resolve this challenge.

The episode delves into Swarm Collection, where Steven and Luke share their experiences and methods for safely capturing swarms, turning potential problems into opportunities for hive expansion. They also evaluate Package Queen Quality, giving insights on how to assess and ensure the quality of queens received in bee packages.

For those interested in advanced beekeeping techniques, the hosts introduce Queen Grafting, providing a beginner-friendly overview of this method for raising new queens.

Finally, the episode wraps up with a fun segment on Apitourism, highlighting a local destination covered in the farm bureu magazine and how that might tie into your local small business.

Join Steven and Luke in Episode 6 for an hour of engaging and informative beekeeping conversation, perfect for both novice and experienced beekeepers.

Frame Queen Cells Removed From

Cells Stitched into a Frame

Final Cell Stitched into a Frame

Come join Steve and Luke and hear us talk about complications with our package installations, Luke's beekeeping trip to Japan, a busy swarm season (including a birthday swarm), and a recent cutout we completed.

Steve's Favorite Nuc Box - https://blueskybeesupply.com/polystyrene-medium-6-frame-nuc-kit-unassembled/

Luke's Favorite Nuc Box - https://www.betterbee.com/nuc-boxes/lyson-w1130-nuc-with-latches.asp

Queen Calculator - https://www.iowabees.com/gc

Ginza Honeybee Project - https://tokyogreenspace.wordpress.com/2009/08/06/ginza-honey-bee-project/

Book your own trip - https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g14129573-d9865132-Reviews-Ginza_Honey_Bee_Tour-Ginza_Chuo_Tokyo_Tokyo_Prefecture_Kanto.html

Steve's Farm Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@schmism

Riverview Road Apiary - https://riverviewroadapiary.com/

Riverview Road Apiary Youtube - https://www.youtube.com/@riverviewroadapiary8486

Welcome to a bonus episode. While Luke is overseas looking at Apis Cerana, we needed to discuss some important legislation and some great articles by commercial beekeeper Charles Linder. Listen to is discuss beekeeping lobbiests, the why we need to be comcerned about the FDA becoming involved in our miticide treatment process. We also discuss splits, and how to split with medium frames.

American Bee Journal - https://americanbeejournal.com/

Illinois State Beekeeping Association - https://www.ilsba.com/

Heart of Illinois Beekeeping Association - https://hoibees.org/

Central Illinois Beekeepers Association - https://cibabees.org/cibawp/

Riverview Road Apiary - https://riverviewroadapiary.com/

Join us in Episode 3 where we talk about some early spring losses, when we should be putting out hive traps, VSH Queens and their prices, Bee Expo and available videos as well as the upcoming Hiveorama, introduce our new product review corner, and answer some questions from the honeybee hotline.

Thank you again for joining us and we look forward to buzzing along with you again soon.

Hiveorama August 10th, 2024 - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100089320765104

Bee Smart Inner Cover - https://www.beesmartdesigns.com/product-list/inner-hive-cover

Cornell Bait Hive Plans - https://ecommons.cornell.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/6a183063-f398-4552-b4dd-f14a9488faed/content

What's going on with our late winter temperatures? We talk about our very pleasant and strange very early spring temperatures, a virtual beekeeping conference, how do we get to varroa sensitive hives, our thoughts on making a queen builder, UBeeO test kits, the Apimayne hive type, beekeeping in the news, and the honeybee hotline!

Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan - https://sbgmi.org/ 

Illinois Queen Initiative- https://illinoisqueeninitiative.com/

UBeeO Testing - https://opterabees.com/

Apimayne Hive Type - https://apimaye-usa.com/

New York Times Don't Keep Bees Article - https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/19/business/beekeeping-companies-colony-collapse.html

Schmit Farm (Steve) - https://www.facebook.com/SchmidtFarm2/

Riverview Road Apiary (Luke) - www.riverviewroadapiary.com

Beekeeping Buddies - www.beekeepingbuddies.org