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Explore every episode of the podcast Beekeeping Today Podcast

Dive into the complete episode list for Beekeeping Today Podcast. Each episode is cataloged with detailed descriptions, making it easy to find and explore specific topics. Keep track of all episodes from your favorite podcast and never miss a moment of insightful content.

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TitlePub. DateDuration
Hive Insulation and Overwintering with Etienne Tardiff (293)26 Aug 202401:04:27

In this episode, Jeff and Becky sit down with Etienne Tardiff, a beekeeper from the Yukon, who shares his unique approach to wintering bees in some of the coldest climates imaginable. Etienne, blending his engineering background with hands-on experience, discusses the importance of managing temperature and insulation within the hive during long, harsh winters. He explains his use of polystyrene hives and condensing hives to control moisture and maintain an optimal environment for the bees, which is crucial in areas with significant temperature fluctuations.

Listeners will also learn about Etienne's data-driven approach to beekeeping, including his use of sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, and CO2 levels within the hive. This technology helps him make informed decisions that improve colony health and optimize honey consumption during the winter months. His insights offer valuable lessons for beekeepers looking to enhance their practices, whether dealing with extreme cold or more temperate climates.

Additionally, the episode includes this month's "audio postcard" from Dr. Dewey Caron, who discusses the critical role of communication in beekeeping, from bee-to-bee interactions to beekeeper management strategies. Dr. Caron's insights complement the conversation with Etienne, emphasizing the importance of understanding and managing the intricate dynamics within the hive.

Tune in to this fascinating conversation to explore the intersection of technology, traditional beekeeping, and expert advice from seasoned professionals.

Listen today!

Websites we recommend!

 

Copyright © 2024 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

______________

Betterbee is the presenting sponsor of Beekeeping Today Podcast. 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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks to Bee Smart Designs as a sponsor of this podcast! Bee Smart Designs is the creator of innovative, modular and interchangeable hive systems made in the USA using recycled and American sourced materials. Bee Smart Designs - Simply better beekeeping for the modern beekeeper.

HiveAlive offers a unique supplement with seaweed extracts, thyme, and lemongrass, proven to maintain low disease levels, increase bee populations, boost honey production, improve bee gut health, and enhance overwinter survival. Check out their new HiveAlive EZ Feed Super Syrup this fall! Visit www.usa.hivealivebees.com and use code "BTP" for a special discount.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Red Jack Blues by Daniel Hart; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott.

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Copyright © 2024 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

Kamon Reynolds and NAHBE 2025 (292)19 Aug 202400:59:54

In this episode, Jeff and Becky are joined by Kamon Reynolds, the beekeeper behind the North American Honey Bee Expo. Kamon shares his journey from a young beekeeper to managing a full-time business and organizing a major beekeeping conference.

Listeners will learn about Kamon's strategies for managing queen issues, including the importance of having backup queens and splitting hives to maintain strong colonies. He also discusses preparing for the dearth period in Tennessee, when nectar flow slows and robbing increases.

Kamon highlights the growth of the North American Honey Bee Expo, which started with 225 attendees and has grown to over 3,200. The expo features a vast trade show with over 140 vendors, offering the latest in beekeeping equipment and innovations. Kamon emphasizes the value of networking, sharing ideas, and discovering new products at the expo.

Additionally, Kamon talks about his YouTube channel, where he provides honest reviews of beekeeping products and shares real-world experiences. His goal is to create a relatable and informative resource for beekeepers. The episode also covers the Next Gen Bee program, supporting young beekeepers with free conference admission, hotel reimbursement, and beekeeping gear.

Tune in to learn from Kamon's experiences and discover new ways to enhance your beekeeping practice.

Listen today!

Websites we recommend!

Copyright © 2024 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

______________

Betterbee is the presenting sponsor of Beekeeping Today Podcast. 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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks to Bee Smart Designs as a sponsor of this podcast! Bee Smart Designs is the creator of innovative, modular and interchangeable hive systems made in the USA using recycled and American sourced materials. Bee Smart Designs - Simply better beekeeping for the modern beekeeper.

HiveAlive offers a unique supplement with seaweed extracts, thyme, and lemongrass, proven to maintain low disease levels, increase bee populations, boost honey production, improve bee gut health, and enhance overwinter survival. Check out their new HiveAlive EZ Feed Super Syrup this fall! Visit www.usa.hivealivebees.com and use code "BTP" for a special discount.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Red Jack Blues by Daniel Hart; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott.

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Copyright © 2024 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

Podcast Memorial to Kim Flottum (283)19 Jun 202400:14:40

During this seventh year anniversary week of the podcast, we bring you this special memorial episode honoring our former co-host, colleague, and dear friend, Kim Flottum, who passed away in December 10, 2023. This episode is dedicated to celebrating Kim's remarkable life and his immense contributions to the beekeeping community.

Join hosts Jeff Ott, Becky Masterman, and Honey Bee Obscura's, Jim Tew, as they reflect on Kim's enduring legacy. This heartfelt tribute includes touching memories and stories shared by friends, colleagues, and family members during Kim's memorial service held in April in Medina, Ohio. Hear from Kim's friends those he touched, like Brenda Bray, Tracy Alarcon, and Eugene Makovec, who recount their cherished moments with Kim and the profound impact he had on their lives and careers.

Kim Flottum was a cornerstone of our podcast and the Honey Bee Obscura Podcast. His passion, knowledge, and warmth made a lasting impression on all who knew him. From his early days at The A.I. Root Company to his influential role in beekeeping media, Kim's curiosity and dedication to learning were truly inspiring.

Listen today and hear these moving tributes and to celebrate the life of a true beekeeping legend. You can leave your own remembrances in the comments section of this episode.

______________

 

Betterbee is the presenting sponsor of Beekeeping Today Podcast. 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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks to Bee Smart Designs as a sponsor of this podcast! Bee Smart Designs is the creator of innovative, modular and interchangeable hive systems made in the USA using recycled and American sourced materials. Bee Smart Designs - Simply better beekeeping for the modern beekeeper.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Copyright © 2024 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

Winter Storage, CO2, and Varroa with Dr. Brandon Hopkins (S5, E18)17 Oct 202200:47:00

Would you believe varroa mites, carbon dioxide and indoor wintering are working together to make keeping bees easier and more profitable? Well, believe it.

Today, we talk with Dr. Brandon Hopkins from Washington State University. His research has shown that if colonies are overwintered in an environmental chamber that can control the levels of the gasses the bees are exposed to, that by adjusting the level of carbon dioxide from a normal 0.04% to over 8.5%, mites in those colonies die. Really. And what's more, the bees don't, really!

Temperature was set at just about 40 degrees, the chamber was dark, and after 64 days, mite mortality was extremely high. High enough to prove that this could be a mite controlling tool to use in indoor wintering.

To show a difference, another chamber was set up with a 0.12% carbon dioxide concentration, and there was a significant difference in mite mortality was recorded between the two. High carbon dioxide equally high mortality, low concentration equals low mortality.

There is much more research underway. Stay tuned!

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Project Apis m - Costco USA Scholarship Winners #2 (S5, E17)10 Oct 202200:44:21

Join us for our second episode on the 2022 Project Apis m and CostCo Scholarship Awards. Students who receive this PhD Scholarship award bring new energy, ideas, and expertise to the scientists on the leading edge of bee health research. The award program supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based doctoral degrees in fields of enhancing honey bee health while improving crop production.

Today's we introduce two additional 2022 winners, plus the PAm Executive Director, Danielle Downey. First up, Angela Encerrado.

Angela's research is on the impact two commonly used chemicals used in almond orchards: a fungicide, Propiconazole and an insect growth disruptor, Pyriproxyfen, on honey bee health. Next is Rogan Tokash. Rogan's research looks into the affects pesticides have on honey bees. Danelle introduces the scholarship program as well as other research and projects spearheaded by Project Apis m.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Minnesota Honey Producers' Ambassador Program and More (S5, E16)03 Oct 202200:48:18

The Minnesota Honey Producers Association has a whole bunch of good things going for them and in this episode we learn about their new Honey Ambassador Program (notice we didn't say Honey Queen Program), plus the state wide habitat program.

First off, we talk with Becky Masterman, who've we had as a guest on the podcast in the past. Rebecca is with the University of Minnesota Bee lab and is part of the Bee Squad which has been very involved in both of these programs, working to get people together to work together to work better at producing habitat. 

We also talk with Josh Munoz, a Marine veteran and is the first MHPA Honey Bee Ambassador promoting honey and beekeeping in the state. Josh also runs the Minnesota Veterans Bee Program. He teaches agriculture in a St. Paul high school focusing a lot on habitat and honey bees and is working to shape high school ag curriculum.

Also on today's episode, we talk with Dan Whitney, past Minnesota Honey Producers President and a commercial honey producer, who spends a good amount of time in Texas running over 2000 colonies, and produces nucs and queens each spring. Dan was instrumental in getting the Ambassador program going and in very active in the new Minnesota Habitat Program. 

All told, 3 very active people getting a lot of good work done to better Minnesota for bees, beekeepers and beekeeping. Listen today!

Also in today's episode, Ed Colby returns with a story from his book, "A Beekeeper's Life: Tales of a Beekeeper." In previous readings, Ed has talked about keeping bees on Granny's property. In this episode, Ed shares with us a remembrance of her upon her passing.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Pragmatic Beekeeping with Cliff Struhl (S5, E15)26 Sep 202200:44:38

In this week's episode, we visit with Cliff Struhl about his thoughts on better ways to keep bees than is generally done today (and the past 170 years). Cliff is owner of Bee Smart Designs and has produced several products that aim to reduce some of the stresses we apply when keeping bees in a standard wooden box.

He starts with the boxes we use and compares them to the hollow trees bees prefer. He looks further at the insulation needs on both the walls and the top, the metal covers that get really hot in the summer, the entrances and the bottom boards. Basically, we keep bees in a very artificial environment, and as a result and the bees are extremely stressed. We have to be active managers so they can thrive.

We also discuss the pragmatic approach for queen rearing, mating, purchasing queens, and overall genetics. Is pragmatic beekeeping the same as 'natural beekeeping'? We find out where there may be differences.

He sums this all up by stating that beekeeping requires thoughtful input from the beekeeper since the bees are not able to fend for themselves when kept in the artificial environment we normally provide.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

HBHC Varroa Management Guide Updates with Dr. Dewey Caron (S5, E14)19 Sep 202200:46:14

On today's episode we are joined by professor, author and noted speaker Dr. Dewey Caron. Dewey is an active member of the Honey Bee Health Coalition where he helps with the creation and maintenance of the Coalition's Hive Management program. Today he joins us to talk about the just updated, Varroa Management Guide.

Varroa management is a very serious problem for beekeepers around the world. Sadly, varroa was just found in Australia this year with devastating consequences as hundreds, if not thousands of colonies, have been destroyed in an attempt to eradicate the mite before it establishes a foothold on the last, varroa-free continent.

The HBHC has published several useful tools for beekeepers to help them manage varroa to a level where the negative effects of varroa, such as the varroa associated viruses and diseases can be limited. This is includes varroa management videos, the Varroa Management Decision Tool, Commercial Beekeeper Case Studies, the Varroa Resistance and Testing Team and today's topic the Varroa Management Guide.

The Management Guide explains the tested, practical, and effective methods to manage the mites in your colonies. Dewey talks with us about the updates, varroa and also talks about the latest edition of his book, "Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping."

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Bee Time with Mark Winston (S5, E13)12 Sep 202200:34:54

Mark Winston joins us on today's episode. Mark just retired from Simon Frazer University in British Columbia. For many years his research focused on honey bees, beekeeping and agriculture. For about a decade he was a regular contributor to Bee Culture magazine, where he explored the biology of honey bees, and the sociality of beekeepers.

His writings include the books The Biology of The Honey Bee, Killer Bees, Nature Wars (his observations on agricultural pesticides), From Where I Sit: Essays on Bees, Beekeeping and Science, Travels in Genetically Modified Crops (his perspectives on genetically modified plants) and his two thoughtful observations of the relations of bees and man in Bee Time, Lessons From The Hive, and his last bee book, Listening To The Bees (how bees, people and society and people are alike).

He took that level of thought from bees and applied it to people where he began working in his university's new Center For Dialogue. There he achieved wide recognition as a distinguished educator, consultant and communicator.

Our talk with Mark looks back on his time in honey bee research, his books on bees and beekeepers and some of his newer work on communications.

** Correction: In the opening, Jeff mistakenly refers to the product "Apistan". Apistan is the product name of the acaricide fluvalinate. The Amitraz product he should have referenced is Apivar. We apologize for any confusion and misdirection.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Dr. Tracy Farone - Veternarian To The Bees (S5, E12)05 Sep 202200:46:53

Dr. Tracy Farone, joins us in this episode. Tracy is a veterinarian, a professor of biology at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania, a board member of the Honey Bee Veterinary Consortium, a beekeeper and a regular contributor to Bee Culture magazine. Veterinarians, you will hear her say, were brought into the beekeeping world because of the diseases bees face and the potential for antimicrobial resistance.

It's been a change the industry has had to face. It was not all that long ago, products such as Terramycin™ (oxcytetracycline) was found on farm store shelves and beekeepers were directed to use it in the treatment of American Foulbrood. It was also occasionally suggested to use it as a dusting on the top bars of brood frames to prophylactically prevent AFB. With the rise of antibiotic resistant varieties of diseases, the unprescribed use these medications has been stopped and now available for use on animals and livestock only under the prescription of a veterinarian.

"I understand why beekeepers want to do what they've always been doing, but they're facing more and more bee health problems. It would be good to get veterinarians on board." she said. "We can contribute here. We can provide so much more than a prescription or VFD to the industry. If we can blend veterinary medical expertise within the beekeeping industry, it's not just an arranged marriage, but a marriage where we can help each other."

This is a fascinating discussion and one you will not want to miss.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Project Apis m - Costco Scholarship Awards (S5, E11)29 Aug 202200:48:34

When we started this podcast back in 2018, not only did we want to bring you the known and established voices in beekeeping and honey bee research, we also set out to highlight the new voices. Today's episode we introduce two new researchers.

Project Apis m and CostCo established the PAm-Costco Scholarship Awards, in 2013. The students who receive this PhD Scholarship award bring new energy, ideas, and expertise to the scientists on the leading edge of bee health research. The award program supports outstanding graduate students pursuing research-based doctoral degrees in fields of enhancing honey bee health while improving crop production.

Today's guests are two of the 2022 winners. In fact, they are Co-Awardees, Audrey Parish and Chris Robinson. Audrey is a PhD candidate in Irene Newton's lab at Indiana University. As you will soon hear, Audrey studies how the honey bee larval microbiome helps protect larvae from various stressors.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

We welcome HiveAlive back as an episode sponsor. HiveAlive is the #1 liquid feed supplement for honeybees worldwide.  It contains a unique blend of seaweed extracts, thyme and
lemongrass. HiveAlive has been proven to increase bee strength, produce more honey, improved bee gut health and improved overwinter survival. Ask about HiveAlive and new HiveAlive Fondant & Pollen Patty at your local beekeeping store or visit the website www.usa.hivealivebees.com for more information. Listeners of the podcast can claim a special discount online using the code "BTP" at the checkout!

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Archive Special: Katarina Davitt - Bananas and Bees (S5, E10)22 Aug 202200:55:29

In this archive special episode from November, 2020, Master Beekeeper, Katharina Davitt reveals the nutritional benefits honey bees derive from bananas. Yes, you read that correctly, bananas!

We all know that bananas are good for people. They are full of carbs, minerals, vitamins, are good for digestion and just taste good. But the one thing all beekeepers learn when they start out is that when bees are threatened, they release alarm pheromone and that smells like bananas. So up to now, wise beekeepers didn't bring bananas to the bee yard.

But it turns out feeding bananas to honey bees is actually a good way to get good food into a hive. Really. Katharina Davitt tell us why and how. Her University of Montana Master Beekeeper research project explored the nutritional requirements of honey bees and the properties of bananas. Katharina shares data behind this! The conclusions reached from this study found that colonies cannot live on bananas alone, but bananas will help in the spring, during a summer dearth and in the fall.

But who would have thought – bananas for bees?!

Before the talk with Katharina, Kirsten, Kim and Jeff discuss the ongoing debate pitting the honey bee against native bees and pollinators. Why the debate? What's the issue and what's the real problem? Kim, Kirsten and Kim explore it all.

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

We welcome HiveAlive back as an episode sponsor. HiveAlive is the #1 liquid feed supplement for honeybees worldwide.  It contains a unique blend of seaweed extracts, thyme and
lemongrass. HiveAlive has been proven to increase bee strength, produce more honey, improved bee gut health and improved overwinter survival. Ask about HiveAlive and new HiveAlive Fondant & Pollen Patty at your local beekeeping store or visit the website www.usa.hivealivebees.com for more information. Listeners of the podcast can claim a special discount online using the code "BTP" at the checkout!

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Bee Culture October Event with Jerry Hayes (S5, E9)15 Aug 202200:41:20

Bee Culture's Annual October Event is back. After two years of dealing with Covid delays, Editor Jerry Hayes has put together a two day event in Medina, Ohio that you will not want to miss.

On today's episode, we talk with Jerry about the thirteen fantastic and inspiring leaders scheduled to talk of their journeys to get to where they are today, and a close look at the projects they are involved in now.

The list is long and diverse, including researchers, business leaders, industry professionals, commercial beekeepers, state bee inspectors, bee breeders, professors and more. You can (and really you should) attend in person, or tune in for live Zoom presentations, or tune in later for recorded zoom presentations.

Listen today and find out the speakers and all the rest of the information you will need to be apart of this fantastic event. And check out even more info at https://www.beeculture.com/beeing-diverse-inspiring-leaders-in-beekeeping/.

In this week's Bee Books Old And New, Kim reviews the reissued book by Lesley Goodman, "Form and Function In The Honey Bee", available directly from Northern Bee Books or Amazon.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

We welcome HiveAlive back as an episode sponsor. HiveAlive is the #1 liquid feed supplement for honeybees worldwide.  It contains a unique blend of seaweed extracts, thyme and
lemongrass. HiveAlive has been proven to increase bee strength, produce more honey, improved bee gut health and improved overwinter survival. Ask about HiveAlive and new HiveAlive Fondant & Pollen Patty at your local beekeeping store or visit the website www.usa.hivealivebees.com for more information. Listeners of the podcast can claim a special discount online using the code "BTP" at the checkout!

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Seventh Year Anniversary Special with Pollinator Partnership (282)17 Jun 202400:42:33

Welcome to a special episode of the Beekeeping Today Podcast, presented by Betterbee. As we kick off our seventh year and celebrate the first day of Pollinator Week, we are thrilled to bring you a conversation filled with insights and stories that highlight the importance of pollinators in our ecosystems.

In this episode, Jeff and Becky delve into the fascinating world of pollinators with our guest, Anthony Colangelo, the Outreach and Education Specialist from Pollinator Partnership. Anthony brings a wealth of knowledge about pollinators, sharing his current projects across North America and his involvement in the Pollinator Steward Certification Program.

Join us as we discuss:

- The diverse roles of various pollinators in our environment.

- The unique challenges and adaptations of bees in extreme climates.

- Practical tips for beekeepers to protect themselves and their bees from common pests like ticks.

- Anthony's involvement in groundbreaking initiatives like Bee Friendly Farming and the importance of community science projects like iNaturalist.

As we celebrate this milestone—our 282nd episode—not only do we reflect on the journey so far, but we also emphasize the ongoing need for awareness and action to support pollinator health globally. Whether you are a seasoned beekeeper or just starting, this episode is packed with actionable insights and heartwarming stories to inspire your practice.

Don't miss out on this enriching discussion that connects beekeepers and nature enthusiasts with the critical issues facing pollinators today. Tune in to learn, laugh, and be part of our growing community dedicated to making a difference in the world of beekeeping and beyond.

Listen Today!

Links and websites mentioned in this episode:

 

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Betterbee is the presenting sponsor of Beekeeping Today Podcast. 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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks to Bee Smart Designs as a sponsor of this podcast! Bee Smart Designs is the creator of innovative, modular and interchangeable hive systems made in the USA using recycled and American sourced materials. Bee Smart Designs - Simply better beekeeping for the modern beekeeper.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Copyright © 2024 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

The Bee Girl's Summer Tour with Sarah Red-Laird (S5, E8)08 Aug 202200:57:16

On this week's episode, we are joined by Sarah Red-Laird, the Bee Girl and she is on a mission this summer. Sarah is visiting all sorts of people in the Midwest who are trying to do the same thing she is doing from her home in Oregon. All are trying to regenerate bee pasture in one way or another. Her trip is supported by Browning's Honey and a host of individual's who follow her work.

She just visited Judy WuSmart in Nebraska finding out about the zillions of acres of corn that grows there. Sarah was sitting on the grounds of Blue Dasher Farm visiting with Jon Lundgren, an annual guest on our podcast, while talking with us.  She was working with Jon's team, learning more about regenerative farming and helping bees find food.

Sarah also shares a lot about the Beegirl organization and how it supports Honey Bee Habitat Conservation. You can find out a lot more about her non-profit organization, her mid-west trip this summer and the programs she is involved in  on her website at www.BeeGirl.org.

This week, Kim reviews three books by Wally Shaw, on Bee Books Old and New with Kim Flottum:

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

We welcome HiveAlive back as an episode sponsor. HiveAlive is the #1 liquid feed supplement for honeybees worldwide.  It contains a unique blend of seaweed extracts, thyme and
lemongrass. HiveAlive has been proven to increase bee strength, produce more honey, improved bee gut health and improved overwinter survival. Ask about HiveAlive and new HiveAlive Fondant & Pollen Patty at your local beekeeping store or visit the website www.usa.hivealivebees.com for more information. Listeners of the podcast can claim a special discount online using the code "BTP" at the checkout!

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Beyond Pesticides with Jay Feldman (S5, E7)01 Aug 202200:50:17

This week, Kim and Jeff talk with Jay Feldman, Executive Director and Co-Founder of Beyond Pesticides. Beyond Pesticides is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., which works with allies in protecting public health and the environment to lead the transition to a world free of toxic pesticides.  

Beyond Pesticides provides visitors to their website a wealth of information to help folks understand, truly understand, the chemicals they apply around their house and garden in order to eradicate pests. Perhaps the best is Beyond Pesticide's ManageSafe™ Tool. Using ManageSafe, a homeowner can select the pest they are have, then read about that pest, whether it is a real concern, preventative measures, non-chemical/mechanical controls, biological controls, an ascending order list of the least-toxic chemical controls and the chemicals to avoid.

This is a valuable resource for beekeepers and those interested in all pollinators. Book mark it and share it with your family, friends and neighbors!

This week, Kim reviews three books by Wally Shaw, on Bee Books Old and New with Kim Flottum:

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

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

We welcome HiveAlive back as an episode sponsor. HiveAlive is the #1 liquid feed supplement for honeybees worldwide.  It contains a unique blend of seaweed extracts, thyme and
lemongrass. HiveAlive has been proven to increase bee strength, produce more honey, improved bee gut health and improved overwinter survival. Ask about HiveAlive and new HiveAlive Fondant & Pollen Patty at your local beekeeping store or visit the website www.usa.hivealivebees.com for more information. Listeners of the podcast can claim a special discount online using the code "BTP" at the checkout!

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Apitherapy with Deb Klughers (S5, E6)25 Jul 202200:43:28

This week we talk with EAS Master Beekeeper, Deborah Klughers. Deb lives out on the eastern end of Long Island where she keeps her own bees and manages colonies for other people in the area. Deb is leading the EAS Conference track on Apitherapy, August first through the fifth. 

Apitherapy is the use of hive products to improve a one's health. Everything from propolis, honey, pollen, royal jelly and well… everything including as you will hear, drone and worker larvae!

However, what probably gets the most press, is the use of bee venom commonly called, "Sting Therapy". It's a bit controversial, but quietly common. It is a fascinating discussion and one we hope you enjoy, whether you proactively like sting therapy or it is just an unintentional fringe benefit of keeping bees!

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

The Small Hive Beetle with Drs. Morgan Roth and Aaron Gross (S5, E05)18 Jul 202200:45:24

On this episode, we learn share everything you ever wanted to know about Small Hive Beetles, with Drs. Morgan Roth and Aaron Gross, from Virginia Tech.

Small hive beetles cause about $3 million dollars damage to US beehives every year. Today we explore their life cycle, how they find your hives, the damage they can do if you don't interfere, how they spread, and most importantly, what you can do to slow, or stop them from destroying your hive and killing your bees.

They eat honey, pollen, eggs and larvae. And they bring with them a fungus that turns their fecal waste into a slime that may be the worst thing imaginable in a bee hive.

There are several ways to attack this creature and stop them from spreading to other hives. You can trap them inside your hives, you can make the area around your hives dangerous for them to burrow in when they leave and pupate outside the hive or you can provide pesticides or bacteria outside the hive that will stop them.

Also in today's episode, Ed Colby returns with a story from his book, "A Beekeeper's Life: Tales of a Beekeeper", titled Staying Cool. Ed has a great tale on how to keep cool on while working bees in the heat of the summer!

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Hive Heart with Duane Combs (S5, E04)11 Jul 202200:39:11

On today's episode, we talk with Dwayne Combs about his business Beehive Monitoring USA and the line of beehive sensors, by a Slovakian company manufacturing the HiveHeart monitor. Dave's business is the US distributor of the equipment they produce.

The device he sells is called HiveHeart 3.0. You can obtain the HiveHeart internal monitoring device and one of 2 levels of scales you can also purchase. With these come an App for your phone. The Hive Heart uploads the data it collects from your hive to your phone, then your phone sends that data to the Bee Hive Monitoring servers in the cloud. You data is analyzed and available to you in easy to view graphs or downloadable as individual reports.

All of the data is useful to the beekeeper to make informed management decisions on the health and productivity of their monitored colonies. Additionally, it will help reduce the number of visits a hive will require, will warn of impending problems, and prepare the beekeeper for what needs to be done on the next visit.

Duane also discusses the challenges of being a beekeeper in the Southwest in an area where Africanized Honey Bees (AHB) are still an issue.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Jim Tew - Lessons Learned Archive Special (S5, E03)04 Jul 202200:44:39

We're taking the week off to prepare for our July 4th Holiday with our families. We hope you enjoy this special from our first year of the podcast where we introduced many of you to Dr. Jim Tew. Jim cohosts the Honey Bee Obscura podcast with Kim and is a long time contributor to our lead sponsor, Bee Culture.

We hope you have a safe and enjoyable long holiday weekend.

We invited (mostly retired) Dr. James Tew to the podcast to share with us some of his beekeeping experiences and observations. Jim brings an insightful and sometimes humorous perspective from how he got into bees... and how a bee once got into him!   Jim has retired from the Ohio State University Ag Extension in Wooster, Ohio and still lives and cares for his own bees in the area.

Jim has several books on beekeeping available on Amazon, can be seen regularly on Bee Culture's Kim and Jim Show, and monthly in Bee Culture.

Kim wraps up the show with his Inner Covered.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Regeneron Science Talent Search Finalist - Amara Orth (S5, E02)27 Jun 202200:43:14

First up on today's podcast, Jeff talks with Maya Ajmera, CEO of the Society for Science who along with the pharmaceutical company Regeneron, host an annual science contest for high school seniors. Maya talks with Jeff about the contest and what it takes and means to be a finalist!

Next Kim and Jeff talk with Amara Orth. Amara lives on her family farm in Glenwood Iowa, near Council Bluffs. Her parents have 25 colonies and her grandfather has a couple thousand colonies. She's been around bees her whole life. Amara graduated from high school this spring and will be attending Stanford college this fall. A couple of years ago, when working bees with her grandfather, he said something that got her attention….the bees sound different today, and that got her to thinking about the sounds of bees.

Amara set up a series of listening devices on her 25 hives to eavesdrop on her bees so she could identify the vibroacoustic patterns she detected in each hive. She measured the sounds and vibrations in each hive and developed a mathematical model that analyzed colony health with an accuracy of 92%. She entered her research in Regeneron Science Talent Search Awards program and placed 9th out of several thousand entries, earning a $50,000 award.

Listen in today and find out more about the sounds of colony health.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Asian Giant Hornet and Indoor Wintering Research with Dr. Kelly Kulhanek (S5, E01)20 Jun 202200:39:46

Dr. Kelly Kulhanek recently moved to Pullman, WA., where she has started her work there on assisting with the Asian Giant Hornet research. In addition to this she is working with the research on indoor wintering of honey bees for commercial beekeepers. All of this will help her with her new role as extension specialist for WSU.

In today's episode, Kelly talk with Kim and Jeff about the current status of the Asian Giant Hornet in Washington State and the steps state beekeepers can do to prepare for the possibility this of invasive pest. Additionally, WSU has received multiple grants to research all the aspects of the indoor wintering of honey bee colonies in refrigerated warehouses. Kelly is working on this research. So far, the results have demonstrated a clear benefit, so much so, many large commercial beekeepers have already started building and renting warehouse space to house their bees over the winter.

We hope you enjoy our conversation with Kelly. 

This week also kicks off Pollinator Week. Pollinator Partnership worked to get the week designated to celebrate all the benefits pollinators bring the environment. Go to their website to learn how you can participate in the week long activities.

Finally, this show is the start of the fifth year of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Thank you, our listeners, for following the podcast on your platform of choice. We're here each week for you. We have a great season in store. If you know of a guest or have a topic in mind for an episode, let us know in the comments. We'd love to hear from you.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Flow Hive's CEO - Cedar Anderson (S4, E52)13 Jun 202200:45:52

Seven years ago, father and son set out to redesign the way honey is harvested from bee hives. There must be a way, they reasoned, to get the honey from the comb without disturbing the bees and then bottling the honey directly from the hive. They placed their idea on Indiegogo and early orders exceeded all expectations when they topped over $12.5 million US dollars! Today, after over 50 iterations of the product, Flow Hive has established itself as a solid name in honey production for the small scale beekeeper.

In this episode, we talk with Cedar Anderson, who alongside his father, invented the concept of the Flow frame, super and hive. We talked with Cedar's father and co-inventor in the spring of 2021. Today, Cedar talks about the origins of the Flow Hive, the changes they've made and how as a company, they are now giving back to the planet through their multiple pollinator programs and research support.

One program they are working to expand is Billions of Blossoms. It's a project dedicated to planting trees that bees can use. Not just honey bees, but all kinds of bees. So far this year they have planted a half million trees and another half million are planned across the United State, Australia and other countries

For the Flow Hive itself, they've expanded community support by ramping up their instructions, added to their YouTube sits and now have a regular call in program so you can talk to the folks who actually make and use these hives, in person, and ask them the questions you have with your equipment. 

Listen to our talk with Cedar and hear for yourself all the projects they've developed to make the world a better place, one bee at a time. You might even consider a Flow Hive! 

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Professional Bike Racer and Beekeeper - Maghalie Rochette (S4, E51)06 Jun 202200:48:35

This week we talk with professional bike racer, Maghalie Rochette, from Quebec, Canada. She is good. Really good. Maghalie came in 2nd in the Canadian National Championships, September, 2021; Is three-times Canadian Cyclocross Champion, three-times Pan American Cyclocross Champion and a Cyclocross World Cup winner. She has her sights set on greater goals this season! But what, you may be asking, does this have to do with beekeeping? Good question!

We all know we beekeepers are a generally thought of as being a bit odd to most other people. Admittedly, most people think anyone who willingly puts their bare hands into a box of thousands of stinging insects, is, let's say, eccentric. That distinction is something we also wear as a badge of distinction and honor. We we see the beauty in the honey bee and the hive.

So Kim and Jeff thought, let's turn this back on itself. Who are the beekeepers who you would never guess are beekeepers? Recently, they talked with the NYPD Official Beekeepers, Darren Mays. He wears a badge and pistol along with his smoker and hive tool. 

Today's guest, Maghalie is paid to ride bikes fast and she wears lycra to work. Not your typical beekeeper. Listen to today's episode to learn how beekeeping and bike racing are actually quite complementary. 

Anyone can be a beekeeper!

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Much More Than Record Keeping with HiveTracks (S6, E52)10 Jun 202401:01:07

(281) Join us in this episode as we delve into the sophisticated world of beekeeping record management, focusing on the innovative platform, HiveTracks!

Explore the capabilities of HiveTracks—a mobile app and cloud-based system designed to streamline beekeeping management. Our dialogue with James Wilkes and Max Rünzel, the visionaries behind HiveTracks, showcases the evolution of this platform and its pivotal role in empowering beekeepers with strategic, data-driven decisions about their hives.

Listeners will discover the extensive benefits of using HiveTracks for record-keeping, including simplified hive inspections and integrated weather data for optimal planning. The platform caters to beekeepers of all scales, from hobbyists to commercial operators, ensuring a tailored experience to meet each user's unique needs.

Furthermore, we discuss the advanced features of HiveTracks, such as its community insights capabilities which harness the collective expertise of the beekeeping community to provide dynamic insights and regional updates. Another innovative feature for beekeepers who market and sell honey is "Honey Stories," which allows beekeepers to share the unique narrative of each honey jar through a shareable public profile link via a simple QR code.

Don't miss this enlightening exploration of how technology like HiveTracks is not only simplifying beekeeping management but also fostering a more interconnected beekeeping community. Whether you are an experienced beekeeper or a newcomer, understanding the tools available can profoundly impact your success and enjoyment of the craft.

Listen Today!

Links and websites mentioned in this episode:

 

______________

 

Betterbee is the presenting sponsor of Beekeeping Today Podcast. 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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks to Bee Smart Designs as a sponsor of this podcast! Bee Smart Designs is the creator of innovative, modular and interchangeable hive systems made in the USA using recycled and American sourced materials. Bee Smart Designs - Simply better beekeeping for the modern beekeeper.

This episode is brought to you by Dalan Animal Health. Dalan is dedicated to providing transformative animal health solutions to support a more sustainable future. We are redrawing the boundaries of animal health by bringing our vaccine technology platform to underserved animal populations, such as honeybees and other invertebrates.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Copyright © 2024 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

NYPD Beekeeper - Darren Mays (S4, E50)30 May 202200:49:23

Imagine responding to every emergency call into 911 about swarms in New York City - across all five boroughs, including Times Square!  Well, imagine no more because, today's guest, Darren Mays was the Official beekeeper for the New York City Police Department up until he retired. 

Darren worked nights as a regular police officer, responding to the calls all police officers responded to. Robberies, domestic disputes, prisoner transports, and everything else. In the morning, he'd go home to sleep, but he was always on call for the 911 for honey bees and swarms… When he'd get the call, he'd head back into the city, collect the swarm, and take them home. All in a day's work!

When you think about swarms and honey bees, it is natural to think of green fields, apple trees and blue skies. Not… a security camera on 42nd and Broadway on Times Square in bustling New York City! This was Darren's world.

It is said that New Yorkers have seen and are used to seeing, everything. But not honey bee swarms. These stopped people in their tracks and caused quite the commotion. Darren would arrive and with the calmness of an experienced beekeeper (or movie cop hero) save the day by removing the bees letting the city continue in its day.

We hope you enjoy listening to Darren's experiences as the official NYPD beekeeper as much as we do!

Also in today's episode, Ed Colby returns with a story from his book, "A Beekeeper's Life: Tales of a Beekeeper", titled Granny. Granny wants bees on her land… but she  off the beaten track. It's a conundrum that only Ed could get himself into!

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Beekeeping With Disabilities - Justin Ruger (S4, E49)23 May 202200:48:46

Can you imagine the difficulty in trying to work a standard Langstroth hive when sitting in a wheelchair? Or how about working bees while blind?

These are just two of the handicaps that Justin Ruger is working on so that people with handicaps like these can work bees.

Justin is in a wheelchair so he knows what he's talking about. His group is a 501 3c charitable program, working to get training apiaries in every state to accommodate teaching handicapped people how to keep bees, no matter their condition. These apiaries will have all the requirements needed for these people.

Along with University in Pennsylvania, he is developing techniques for teaching, building specialized equipment and developing standards for state programs.  This way, beekeeping organizations and equipment manufacturers can use the specifications and recommendations as guidelines to providing the right location setup and the right equipment for establishing their own accessible apiraries

Check out their web site for even more information on Accessible Beekeeping. And share what you find with everybody you can.

Also in today's episode, Kim returns with a new Bee Books Old and New, presented by Northern Bee Books. This week, Kim reviews, The Principles of Bee Improvement, by Jo Widdicombe

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Bee Hunting with Dr. Tom Seeley - Archive Super Episode - (S4, E48)16 May 202200:48:46

In this replay from the Beekeeping Today Podcast Archive Super, we talk with Dr. Tom D. Seeley. We originally talked with Tom in 2019. Dr. Seeley is a Horace White Professor in Biology at Cornell University where he teaches courses on animal behavior, specializing in understanding the social life of honey bees. His scientific research focuses on the phenomenon of swarm intelligence, which is defined as the solving of cognitive problems by a group of individuals who pool their knowledge and process it through social interactions.

Tom joins Jeff and Kim in this episode to discuss bee hunting (aka: bee lining). He also delves deeper into the topic of his article in the January 2019 Bee Culture on Darwinian Beekeeping. 

Tom is a author of several books related to honey bee biology and behavior, including:

In the podcast, Tom references his video on the topic of Bee Hunting. You can find it On YouTube.

We hope you enjoy the episode. Leave comments and questions in the Comments Section of the episode's website.

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Pol-Line VSH Honey Bees with USDA-ARS Drs Frank Rinkevich and Mike Simone (S4, E47)09 May 202200:59:28


Drs. Michael Simone-Finstrom and Dr. Frank Rinkevich, are research entomologists at the Baton Rouge Honey Bee Research Laboratory in Baton Rouge, LA. They have completed an extensive set of tests in commercial beekeeping operations on mite resistance, overwintering, honey production and virus loads of the varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH) P0L Line of honey bees bred there since the 1990s.

The line, called the Pol-line is drawn from the original line to be used as pollinator bees, have as a basis for mite resistance, the VSH trait, where mites in brood cells are removed by nurse bees before they are able to complete development.

Over the season these bees were subjected to moving to almonds, and from almonds to other pollination jobs or to honey production areas in MS, CA, ND and SD to sample a wide variety of environments.

The results are definitely encouraging. Listen to learn more!

Next on their agenda? Getting these bees into the hands commercial beekeepers so they can take advantage of the money saving, and honey bee saving attributes of these bees.

Also in this episode, Jeff meets up with Dr. Dewey Caron and receives an update from on Dewey's PNW Honey Bee Survey.

Finally, before the main interview with Drs Simone and Rinkevich, Kim delivers his review of Brother Adam's book, "Beekeeping at Buckfast Abbey", presented by Northern Bee Books.

This is one packed episode!  Let us know what you think by leaving comments for this episode above. Start a discussion!

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk and Rob Seccomb - Commercial Beekeeper Course and More (S4, E46)02 May 202200:53:31

On today episode, we welcome Dr. Jerry Bromenshenk ('retired' from the University of Montana) and Rob Seccomb to talk with us about the Bee Health Guru app and the new Commercial Beekeeper Course they are developing in partnership with the SAVE Farm program in Kansas.

SAVE (Service Member Agricultural Vocation Education) received funding from USDA NIFA under a subcontract from the SAVE Farm in Manhattan, Kansas. For this three-year project, Jerry and Rob will produce online training resources for members and veterans of the military centered on Commercial Beekeeping, while Kansas State Department of Agriculture will provide the hands-on-training, including getting a CDL and a Certification for Loader Operation. The genesis of the program started with Fort Riley's Warrior Transition Battalion's occupational therapists. The SAVE program offers transition from the security and comradery of the military to the serenity and immersion offered by farming, avoiding what can be a debilitating and often dangerous period following discharge.

Join us as we learn about the SAVE program, the Bee Health Guru app, the future of Jerry's electronic monitoring conferences and more!

Kim returns in this episode with Bee Books: Old and New, reviewing a timely book by Richard Ball, Swarm Control.

Let us know what you think by leaving comments for this episode above. Start a discussion!

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Regional Beekeepers: Spring 2022 Update (S4, E45)25 Apr 202200:54:57

We first met the Regional Beekeepers back in May of 2020. Then twice a year since, we've made a point to catch a chat with them to talk about their bees, their challenges, their successes and plans for the next six months.

This time, we move from west to east. First we meet Paul Longwell from Olympia, WA. A master beekeeper. He maintains AŽ Hives, Long Langstroth hives, and standard Langstroths.

Next stop is along the western slope of Colorado where we meet up with commercial beekeeper, Ed Colby. Ed is a regular here on the podcast reading portions of his book, Tales from the Bottom Board

Next stop is just east of Akron, Ohio, where we check in with Tracy Alarcon. Tracey has years of experience keeping bees and raising his own queens. He's even been the county bee inspector. So he's seen all the good and bad. Fortunately, most of the bad has been with other's colonies!

Last stop on the trip is in Locust, North Carolina where we meet up again with chemical free beekeeper, Mark Smith. Mark is building his chemical free apiary using no outside bees since 2011. He posts regularly on Instagram under Flatwoods Bee Farm.

We invite you to join us and compare your story to theirs. Let us know what you think by leaving comments for this episode above. Start a discussion!

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Earth Day Update from Dr. Jonathan Lundgren (S4, E44)18 Apr 202200:37:37

Happy Earth Day… week. Earth Day is this Friday, April 22… and in recognition of that day, we've invited Dr. Jonathan Lundgren back to the show to talk about his work at Blue Dasher Farm and with the Ecdysis Foundation's research on regenerative agriculture and soil conversation.

We first learned of Jonathan in the Peter Nelson film, The Pollinators. If you have not seen it, do yourself a favor and rent it online at your earliest opportunity… if only for the photography alone! Peter has been a guest on the podcast a couple of times, as well.

Jonathan's and the Ecdysis Foundation is working to show that regenerative agriculture is ultimately less expensive and healthier for the soil, crops and bees. Yes bees!  Bees that forage on farmlands using regenerative agricultural practices are showing to be more resistant to varroa mites and therefore healthier! It makes sense, since the bees tend to be less stressed by agricultural chemicals and have varied foraging opportunities – all contributing to a healthier colony, able to ward off varroa!

Research will continue as part of the 1,000 Farm Initiative.

Let us know what you think by leaving comments for this episode above. Start a discussion!

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Best For Bees with Dr. Erica Shelley (S4, E43)11 Apr 202200:59:49

This week, Kim is back and we talk with Dr. Erica Shelley.  We find out what her research organization, Best For Bees, Ltd. does, and learn about their latest discoveries that will make your bees safer than you can imagine.

Best for Bees performs beekeeping field work for honey bee researchers. Their latest project is working with Dr. Peter Kevan in developing equipment that will successfully make api-vectoring a beekeeping tool.

Did you know that there are a multitude of soil borne fungi that make their living by eating mites and other tiny soil creatures? This new technology will isolate these soil-borne fungi, then using equipment they have developed, have bees move inert fungi into a beehive (this is the api-vectoring part of the solution), where they will become active in the friendly environment of a hive, then will find and eventually devour varroa mites, without harming the bees, the honey, the wax or the hive in any way. It's an innovative hive entrance/exit device and it is one cool piece of beekeeping equipment.

This bee vectoring technology (that is bees moving something into a hive) can be used to protect the hive from any number of pests and predators without the issues of toxins in the hive, resistance by the mites and others to chemicals, and remain as safe as can be for the bees, the beekeepers and those who consume our products.

Plus, her team has developed a very innovative entrance device that can control traffic at the entrance, can be used to reduce or enhance traffic and protect the hive from all manner of exterior pests and predators. ProtectABee is something every beekeeper will want to have.

Take a look at how this works and where you can get one, or more.

Let us know what you think by leaving comments for this episode above. Start a discussion!

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Pesticides, Melittology and PolliNation with Andony Melathopoulos (S4, 42)04 Apr 202200:58:36

Dr. Andony Melathopoulos, an entomologist with the Oregon State University Agricultural Extension Service, returns to Beekeeping Today Podcast to talk to us about pesticides and how beekeepers can help mitigate the risk to their bees by understanding label on a pesticide container. The first challenge is to actually see and read the fine print. The second is to understand the fine nuances of the wording. Andony gives us a test in reading the label. Listen in and see how well you do!

After the discussion on pesticides and labels, Andony discusses the Oregon Bee Atlas and the Oregon Certified Master Melittologist program. The Bee Atlas has set the goal of identifying every bee in the State of Oregon. They've developed a largest database of its kind in the United States. Accordingly, they have developed a certification program in order to help educate those who have the interest and drive to take their understanding 'to the next level' through a structured learning program.

Blueberries pollination is big business in Oregon, but there is trouble hidden there. Besides the low rates for hives – especially given the record fuel prices – European Foulbrood lurks in the fields. Why do honey bees experience more EFB coming out of blueberries than any other crop? Is there an answer?

Finally, Androny talks about his podcast, PolliNation. In PolliNation, Andony talks with researchers, land managers and citizens who work to improve the health of all pollinators.

Also in this episode, Ed Colby stops by with a tale from his stay with the former President of Ukraine, Viktor Yushenko and his family, while at the 2013 Apimondia Congress. Check out Ed's book, A Beekeeper's Life. Tales from the Bottom Board.

All in all, a big episode, guest co-hosted by Honey Bee Obscura Podcast's Jim Tew! Join us!

Let us know what you think by leaving comments for this episode above. Start a discussion!

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Bee Informed Partnership Loss & Management Survey with Geoff Williams and Mikayla Wilson (S4, E41)28 Mar 202200:46:05


This week, we invite Geoff Williams and Mikayla Wilson from Bee Informed Partnership to talk with us about their 2022 Loss and Management Survey! It kicks off in April - in just a few days!

The Bee Informed Partnership was started in 2007 by the Apiary Inspectors of America as a non-profit organization with the goal to improve honey bee colony health and survivorship in the United States. The Colony Loss and Management Survey is one of BIPs longest running programs.

BIP defines "Colony Loss" as as a turn-over rate, as high levels of losses do not necessarily result in a decrease in the total number of colonies managed in the United States. This is often misinterpreted that the 'bees are disappearing'. Beekeepers should be able to correct this while talking with non-beekeepers.

Geoff and Mikayla talk about this year's survey and how you can participate, whether you are a commercial, sideliner or hobby beekeeper.

BIP has other programs which Geoff and Mikayla discuss, including the Tech Transfer Program, and the Sentinel Apiary Program (which is still accepting participating beekeepers until April 24th) and how you can support BIP without sending a dime. BIP is part of Amazon Smile where 0.5% of your purchase is donated to a non-profit charity of your choice. Make BIP your charity of choice!

Let us know what you think by leaving comments for this episode above. Start a discussion!

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

We welcome HiveAlive back as an episode sponsor. HiveAlive is the #1 liquid feed supplement for honeybees worldwide.  It contains a unique blend of seaweed extracts, thyme and lemongrass. HiveAlive has been proven to increase bee strength, produce more honey, improved bee gut health and improved overwinter survival. Ask about HiveAlive and new HiveAlive Fondant & Pollen Patty at your local beekeeping store or visit the website www.usa.hivealivebees.com for more information.  

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

All New AFB Vaccine with Dalan Animal Health (S6, E51)03 Jun 202400:53:24

In this episode, Jeff and Becky delve into the groundbreaking development of the first American Foulbrood (AFB) vaccine for honeybees with Annette Kleiser, co-founder of Dalan Animal Health, and Tim Ferris, a commercial beekeeper based in Pennsylvania and New Zealand.

Annette shares her journey from concept to market, highlighting the challenges faced in creating a vaccine for bees, a vital yet often overlooked livestock. Tim discusses his practical experiences with the vaccine, emphasizing its importance in preventing the devastating effects of AFB.

American Foulbrood has long been a severe threat to beekeeping, capable of destroying entire colonies due to its highly contagious nature. Historically, the only control methods were burning infected hives or using antibiotics. This episode explores the innovative approach of using an oral vaccine, which offers a promising solution to this persistent problem.

Learn about the future implications of this pioneering vaccine and its role in enhancing bee health and sustainability.

(Photo above courtesy USDA)

Links and websites mentioned in this episode:

 

______________

 

Betterbee is the presenting sponsor of Beekeeping Today Podcast. 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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks to Bee Smart Designs as a sponsor of this podcast! Bee Smart Designs is the creator of innovative, modular and interchangeable hive systems made in the USA using recycled and American sourced materials. Bee Smart Designs - Simply better beekeeping for the modern beekeeper.

This episode is brought to you by Dalan Animal Health. Dalan is dedicated to providing transformative animal health solutions to support a more sustainable future. We are redrawing the boundaries of animal health by bringing our vaccine technology platform to underserved animal populations, such as honeybees and other invertebrates.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Copyright © 2024 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

HiveTracks 2022 Update and AID-CSB Partnership in Uzbekistan and Ethiopia (S4, E40)21 Mar 202200:49:13

On today's episode, we invite back friend of the podcast, James Wilkes to talk about the latest updates and changes to the HiveTracks: the Beekeeper's Companion, which has grown beyond being just a great hive management application for your mobile device. We also talked about the exciting new international program he and our other two guests, Laura Becker and Sarah Denton are working on to localize the Beekeeper's Companion app for women beekeepers in Uzbekistan, Ethiopia, and Lebanon.

In those developing countries, beekeeping is more than a hobby, it is a means to a better livelihood in the face of climate change. The AID-CSB projects localize the Beekeeper's Companion app to incorporate traditional and local beekeeping knowledge along with weather data to help beekeepers monitor and manage their hives.

Let us know what you think by leaving comments for this episode above. Start a discussion!

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

We welcome HiveAlive back as an episode sponsor. HiveAlive is the #1 liquid feed supplement for honeybees worldwide.  It contains a unique blend of seaweed extracts, thyme and lemongrass. HiveAlive has been proven to increase bee strength, produce more honey, improved bee gut health and improved overwinter survival. Ask about HiveAlive and new HiveAlive Fondant & Pollen Patty at your local beekeeping store or visit the website www.usa.hivealivebees.com for more information.  

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Bees in the D 2022 Update and More (S4, E39)14 Mar 202201:02:31

Today, we invite back Brian Peterson-Roest from Bees In The D. Bees In The D is a non-profit organization whose mission is to create a cooperative effort between residents, schools, organizations, and businesses in the city of Detroit and Southeast Michigan to contribute to both the health of honey bee colonies and native pollinators, and the education of their importance to our environment.

Brian was with us back in December of 2019 and introduced us to their program in S.E. Michigan. In this episode, he returns to talk about their updates and all their growth. Also, he discusses their plans to build the Michigan Pollinator Center to serve as the Bees in the D main location and to help educate the community about the importance of pollinators and honey bees.

They run at 100 miles per hour. Listen to this episode and see if you can keep up with everything they are doing!

Before we talk with Brian, we talk with Dr. Jeff Pettis, who is the current President of Apimondia. A couple of weeks ago, Apimondia announced that the 2022 Congress scheduled in Ufa, Russia, was canceled due to Russia's (senseless) invasion and war with Ukraine. Jeff joins us to talk about the decision and the announcement made on March 13 to relocate the 2022 Congress!

Also in this episode, we welcome back Ed Colby as he reads story from his new book, A Beekeeper's Life: Tales from the Bottom Board. This week, he talks about levitation in line while at Apimondia in Ukraine in 2019!

This is a packed episode! One of our longest yet. Let us know what you think by leaving comments for this episode above. Start a discussion!

Thank you for listening!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

We welcome HiveAlive back as an episode sponsor. HiveAlive is the #1 liquid feed supplement for honeybees worldwide.  It contains a unique blend of seaweed extracts, thyme and lemongrass. HiveAlive has been proven to increase bee strength, produce more honey, improved bee gut health and improved overwinter survival. Ask about HiveAlive and new HiveAlive Fondant & Pollen Patty at your local beekeeping store or visit the website www.usa.hivealivebees.com for more information.  

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

End of Winter Discussion with Kim, Jim Tew & Jeff (S4, E38)07 Mar 202200:47:08

What should a beekeeper be doing this time of year - end of winter and the beginning of spring? What is different between the southern and the northern tier of States?

Where do you start? What do you look for? What can you do? 

In today's episode, we invite long time Ohio State University extension beekeeper and educator and cohost of the Honey Bee Obscura Podcast , Dr. James Tew, to talk with us about his experiences and insights into this important and potentially critical time of year.

Discussions include:

  • What do you do with the old equipment?
  • When do you retire it?
  • How do you know if it is still serviceable?
  • Is there a standard way to determine if the equipment will still work? Does it matter?
  • Why does Kim sit on his hive bodies?

You will be surprised by how these three beekeepers approach this question. (Or not... remember, three beekeepers... five ways of doing something...)

Late winter, early spring inspections start the beekeeping year. How you start, definitely effect the rest of the year.

Listen in and listen as three experienced beekeepers discuss their approaches to late winter, early spring management!

If you like this episode, share it with other beekeepers. Do you have a different approach? Leave a comment on the episode page and start a conversation!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

We welcome HiveAlive back as an episode sponsor. HiveAlive is the #1 liquid feed supplement for honeybees worldwide.  It contains a unique blend of seaweed extracts, thyme and lemongrass. HiveAlive has been proven to increase bee strength, produce more honey, improved bee gut health and improved overwinter survival. Ask about HiveAlive and new HiveAlive Fondant & Pollen Patty at your local beekeeping store or visit the website www.usa.hivealivebees.com for more information.  

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Combplex Update with Hailey Scofield and Nathan Oakes (S4, E37)28 Feb 202200:55:54

This week we welcome back to the podcast Hailey Scofield and Nathan Oakes. They joined us back in November, 2019, when they were nominated as the one of the 18 finalists in the Empire State Development and Cornell University's Center for Regional Economic Advancement for "Grow-NY" – a food innovation and agricultural technology business challenge. They introduced us to their 'bee laser' for the automatic removal (or 'zapping') of varroa from the body of a honey bee.

Jump ahead 27 months and they've moved from upstate New York to just outside Austin, Texas and are about to release their new product – the bee laser frame. They've gone through multiple iterations of the laser, refining their approach, placement, software and hardware. They've settled on placing the laser in the corner of the frame with an opening just big enough for the passage of a single honey bee. If the laser detects a varroa clinging to the bee, it gets zapped, explodes and dies. They honey bee is none the wiser and goes on about her business. If no varroa is detected, the bee is counted and that's it until the next bees passes through.  At the end of the day, a beekeeper can get a report of the number of bees that passed through the frame and the number of varroa detected and the number of times the laser fired. Through the software the beekeeper can get an understanding of the colony's mite load.

It sounds like science fiction. It is definitely science… but fiction? They say not! Listen in to the episode to learn more about the Bee Laser and check out their updated website for more information.

Also on this week's episode, Northern Bee Books presents "Bee Books Old and New with Kim Flottum". This week, Kim reviews three books: Charles Dadant That Bee Man From Champagne, An Eyewitness Account of Early American Beekeeping: The Autobiography of A.I. Root , and Practical Small Scale Queen Rearing Using The Miller Method.  All are good reads and provide great information on the history of beekeeping and practical bee management techniques.

If you liked today's episode, subscribe/follow to keep up to date with the latest releases!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

2022 Almond Season with John Miller (S4, E36)21 Feb 202200:44:15

In today episode, we welcome back Friend of the Podcast, commercial beekeeper, and longtime industry advocate, John Miller, to share with you his perspective of the 2022 almond pollination season. We caught up with John while he sat in the cab of his pickup at a stop in Central California. On John's last visit to the podcast, he talked with us about his plans for indoor wintering. Today, we asked just how that went.

His take? Indoor wintering works with more healthy bees the result and it's going to change what happens every spring in California's almond orchards.

Indoor wintering now allows for the inspection of colonies before leaving they leave the indoor facility in January. That is an equally big change in shipping bees to California. The result? More colonies are healthy in January and the California border inspection stations aren't overwhelmed with thousands of trucks backed up loaded with bees heading to the almond orchards each January.

The almond bloom is about a week early this year up north and hive theft is still happening. Locked gates help a lot but don't stop it completely.

There is a change underway in the industry as more commercial beekeepers are focusing on raising bees for pollination and later packages than in producing honey. Like a big game of 'whack-a-mole', tariffs and trade sanctions just push the problem of cheap honey imports to pop up from new countries. (Locally produced and sold honey is still valuable!)

Listen in as John shares his observations of the largest movement of honey bees in the world from the cab of a pickup truck with today's guest.

If you liked today's episode, subscribe/follow to keep up to date with the latest releases!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast: 

______________

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Bees for Development with Nicola Bradbear (S4, E35)14 Feb 202200:54:07

In this episode, we welcome Nicola Bradbear to the podcast for the first time. Nicola is the Director of Bees for Development. Bees for Development uses bees to reduce poverty through sustainable beekeeping and increase biodiversity.

One of the most overlooked aspects of using beekeeping as an income source in developing countries, is that the beekeeper does not need to own land. In 1993, Nicola Bradbear drew on that foundation to start an organization to teach low to no income people in developing countries how to keep bees using locally sourced equipment, start businesses that can thrive locally, and develop global markets for their products. Bees for Development shares beekeeping skills with people in the poorest communities of the world, giving a reliable, sustainable income for life. 

Bees for Development has learned that simple, low-cost and local styles of beekeeping work best while keeping to the principles of natural beekeeping. Their programs are successful. Listen today to learn more about this incredible organization and Nicole who leads it.

If you liked today's episode, subscribe/follow to keep up to date with the latest releases!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

______________

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Scientific Beekeeping with Randy Oliver (S4, E34)07 Feb 202200:53:21

On today's episode, we are joined by Randy Oliver. If you don't read Randy's ABJ column and don't check in on his Scientific Beekeeping website, you've been missing some of the most up to date news on breeding mite resistant bees, and the newest, best mite treatment discovered so far.

Randy discusses his breeding program producing honey bees that are totally resistant to varroa, mostly, but he's not quite ready to say they are completely resistant, but feels he will soon. 

Regarding his tests using controls for varroa, he has an organic product, that is easy on bees, tough on mites and you can use it with honey supers on. Only hitch – it's not registered. And that's his goal right now - you can help. Listen in on some of the best news on varroa we've had in 30 years. 

If you liked today's episode, subscribe/follow to keep up to date with the latest releases!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

______________

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Beekeepers Lab with Bee Culture's Kim Lehman (S4, E33)31 Jan 202200:44:23

We have a special treat this week because Kim Lehman has come for a visit. Kim is an educator at heart and works with children of all ages. She started her regular column, All The Buzz In Bee Kids Corner, for Bee Culture over 20 years ago, and every other month offers puzzles, quizzes, drawings, educational bits and pieces, submitted photos and more aimed at grade school kids. She has a huge following of kids in her Bee Buddy Club, with members in every single state. Check out Kim Lehman this time, you might even get a sing along song.

Also in this episode, we start a new segment called, "Bee Books: Old & New" sponsored by Northern Bee Books. In this new segment Kim (Flottum) who's not only an author, editor and book reviewer, is an avid antiquarian bee book collector for decades. He puts all this together, working with our newest sponsor Northern Bee Books, a new, used and antiquarian book seller in the UK, and every other week will offer his reviews of beekeeping books from authors who wrote 150 years ago, to those just released. Find out what you've missed, and what's new, right here every other week on Bee Books: Old & New.

If you liked today's episode, subscribe/follow to keep up to date with the latest releases!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

______________

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their sponsorship of Bee Books: Old & New with Kim Flottum. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry. Check them out today!

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a regular podcast featuring interviews with leading bee and insect researchers in the world of pollination, hosted by Dr. Kirsten Traynor.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Venom Collection with Whale Labs' - James Watts (S4, E32)24 Jan 202200:46:51

Today, we welcome James Watts from Whale Labs, in Australia. Whale Labs works on a variety of research projects, but today we talk with him about the honey bee venom collection and the commercial value of that venom. Whale Labs has developed a honey bee venom collector that is easy to use, does not harm the bees, and makes collecting bee venom fast, easy, safe and very profitable. Moreover, regular collections do not harm the hive, nor reduce honey production.

The collector consists of a glass plate placed in at the entrance of the hive. Alarm pheromone is administered near the entrance of the hive to draw bees out of the hive. When bees start walking on the glass plate, embedded wires in the plate are made to pulse, or vibrate, which irritates the bees, that then sting the glass plate, ejecting venom. The barbed sting does not catch on the plate, so when the bees are empty of venom, they quit and return inside.

The venom crystalizes and is easily gathered by scraping it off the glass plate.

Raw venom in this form can be sold for $80 - $100 per gram. However, if it has the various components extracted, using an HPLC and a mass spectrometer (together valued at somewhere near $100,000), the principle component of this that is used in cosmetics and elsewhere, has a value of somewhere in the neighborhood of $1500/microgram, and one gram of venom contains about 200 micrograms of this particular valuable component.

Whale Labs sells collectors, provides technical support, and the market for the collected products. Visit them at www.Whalelabs.com/au.

Listen today. This could be your next profit generator from your operation.

If you liked today's episode, subscribe/follow to keep up to date with the latest releases!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

______________

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Honey Marketing with Jay Williams, William's Honey Farm (S4, E31)17 Jan 202200:50:15

On today's show, we welcome back Jay Williams of William's Honey Farm and South Hall Farms. Right off, Jay, who was with us in December, talked about preparing and entering the Good Food Awards contest for Honey Has WON this very prestigious award for this year. You heard him here first!

This time, Jay walks us through his beekeeping operation, looking at the products he sells, the marketing and branding operation he has developed, and his work at South Hall Farm, near Nashville.

Jay spends about 30 – 40% of his time actually managing his 100+ colonies, raising queens and harvesting products. Another 20% or so is spent on marketing the products his bees produce, and about 30 – 40% of his time is aimed at giving lessons and teaching, giving tours and otherwise using what he does to make money by sharing and showing.

His philosophy starts with "What is your time worth?", and follows that with telling stories to get the customer involved, getting his message out, using social media, finding and catering to his niche market of local honey users, knowing your costs, staying ahead of the curve with bees, beekeeping and beekeeping products, being ready to fail but getting up and figuring it out, and making it all work together.

His work at South Hall Farms consists of managing the pollinator gardens that surround the Southern Hospitality Farm and Resort, supporting the many native bees, birds and butterflies that visit these gardens, and taking care of the bees they have on site.

When you are done listening to this fantastic marketing genius, great beekeeper and award-winning honey producer, you will be much better prepared to make it all work for you, too.

Also in this episode, we welcome back Ed Colby as he reads story from his new book, A Beekeeper's Life: Tales from the Bottom Board. This time we learn a little about quarterback Terry Bradshaw and spring time management.

Listen and subscribe/follow today!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

 

______________

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Honey Bee Genetics and Behavior with Dr. Christine Grozinger (S6, E50)27 May 202400:49:05

In this enlightening episode, we are joined by Dr. Christina Grozinger, a distinguished researcher from Penn State University, who delves into her extensive work on bee behavior, genetics, and the vital role of nutrition in bee health. As the director of the Center for Pollinator Research, Dr. Grozinger offers invaluable insights into the complexities of pollen nutrition and its critical impact on bee resilience and hive productivity.

Listeners will benefit from a deep dive into how various stressors like pesticides, poor nutrition, and parasites affect bee colonies at a molecular level. Dr. Grozinger discusses her pioneering research in understanding the genetic underpinnings of bee behavior, particularly how genes from the queen and drones influence colony dynamics and individual bee actions.

Moreover, this episode covers the groundbreaking development of Beescape, an online tool that provides beekeepers with detailed information about their local environment, including land use, floral resources, and potential pesticide exposure. This tool is designed to help beekeepers and researchers make informed decisions to enhance the health and productivity of their colonies.

Whether you're a seasoned beekeeper or new to the field, this episode is packed with cutting-edge scientific findings and practical guidance that can transform your beekeeping practices and help ensure the sustainability of your hives.

Links and websites mentioned in this episode:

 

 

______________

 

Betterbee is the presenting sponsor of Beekeeping Today Podcast. 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

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global offers a variety of standard and custom patties. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

Thanks to Bee Smart Designs as a sponsor of this podcast! Bee Smart Designs is the creator of innovative, modular and interchangeable hive systems made in the USA using recycled and American sourced materials. Bee Smart Designs - Simply better beekeeping for the modern beekeeper.

This episode is brought to you by Dalan Animal Health. Dalan is dedicated to providing transformative animal health solutions to support a more sustainable future. We are redrawing the boundaries of animal health by bringing our vaccine technology platform to underserved animal populations, such as honeybees and other invertebrates.

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

Thanks for Northern Bee Books for their support. Northern Bee Books is the publisher of bee books available worldwide from their website or from Amazon and bookstores everywhere. They are also the publishers of The Beekeepers Quarterly and Natural Bee Husbandry.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments in the show notes of this episode or: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Be Strong by Young Presidents; Epilogue by Musicalman; Faraday by BeGun; Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus; A Fresh New Start by Pete Morse; Wedding Day by Boomer; Christmas Avenue by Immersive Music; Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Copyright © 2024 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

2022 Broodminder Update with Rich Morris (S4, E30)10 Jan 202200:47:32

This week we've invited Rich Morris, of Broodminder, to provide updates on what's new and what's improved with his Broodminder Hive Monitoring sensor collection.

Broodminder has been in the hive monitoring business for many years and Rich states they are starting to design and release their second and third generations of products. For starters, Broodminder has completely reworked their mobile app so it is faster, shows more information and is easier to use.

This past year, they introduced a "SubHub", an information collector for up to 50 hive sensors in a beeyard.  The beekeeper can then make one quick stop at a yard and download the data to their cellphone or iPad/tablet to the Internet.

They've also reworked the scales this year so now you can use the original simple front-end scale, or use a scale that weighs the whole hive. A scale can come assembled, or unassembled for you to do yourself. You'll save money with this new scale.

The BeeCounted web page is becoming very useful for Broodminder users, and beekeepers anywhere. A map shows where Broodminder users are by zip code, and you can look at the data from any of these users, yourself included, and see if your hives are similar, or different than nearby hives, which may give you a heads up on trouble.

That's just a start of the products designed and built for beekeepers by beekeepers. They also have a variety of cellular and WiFi enabled collectors that keep your hives connected so you can monitor them from wherever you are at any given moment

If distant hive monitoring, or even backyard hive monitoring is important, or you're just curious as to what's going on inside, you will be interested in what this episode!

Listen and subscribe/follow today!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

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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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

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We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

2021 Asian Giant Hornet Update with Sven-Erik Spichiger (S4, E29)03 Jan 202200:54:56

This is the third time we've talked with Sven-Erik Spichiger about the Asian Giant Hornet in the state of Washington, and this time he shares some history, enlightens us with the discoveries they've made so far, what they managed to accomplish this past season, and what they plan for next year. All this to keep this pest, or better, get rid of this pest, before it becomes established in the Pacific Northwest.

The good folks in Washington have spent their third season searching for that newest pest – sometimes called The Murder Hornet – with some amount of success, and a lot of good experience and a host of new techniques for finding, capturing and measuring what this new pest is up to.

The AGH was originally found in British Columbia in 2019. In 2020 Citizen Scientists, USDA, APHIS and Washington State Entomologists set up thousands of traps in the northern part of the state. They captured one nest. But they began to refine their equipment, condense the areas they were looking in, and get more people interested in helping them find more.

In 2021 they again set thousands of traps and caught several, used better tracking tags for live captured hornets, and began looking at where they were living, and what they were eating. Alder trees are popular, but so are holes in the ground at the base of trees.

The researchers observed the AGH favored the paper wasp nests of the PNW. The wasp nests are a great source of food, and figuring out how the AGH attacked, destroyed and then ate their wasp lunch was an interesting find. They also determined the WA State AGH was genetically related to AGH in Korea.

In 2022, more citizen scientists will help out, and Washington researchers will worth with counterparts in Korea to study the native population of these creatures. This will provide better insight to the biology, diet, nesting habits and more, of the AGH of Washington State.

Oops... sorry, we couldn't find the photo of Sven-Erik eating a larvae... dipped or otherwise.

Listen today and FOLLOW today!

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

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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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

Dr. Samuel Ramsey - 2021 Holiday Replay (S4, E28)27 Dec 202100:55:24

Hey everybody. Kim and Jeff are taking the week off and will be back next week with a new episode.

For this week's Holiday Reply, we bring you our talk with Dr. Sam Ramsey from April, 2021. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do!

Thank you for listening and Happy New Year!

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Dr. Samuel Ramsey is back with us again, looking at all sorts of questions than bother beekeepers, and working with smart kids and science!

Sammy hasn't not let any grass grow under his feet since he was forced to return home from his research in Thailand studying Tropilaelaps mites (Tropilaelaps clareae and T. mercedesae) so we are ready if and when they arrive in the US. It turns out there is a very clever way to identify which species of Tropi-mite, as they call them in Thailand, is infesting a hive. Believe it or not, they actually "melt" the DNA of the creature and can ID them from what's left. That's a big step in the right direction for these nasties.

While in Thailand, he also observed the Giant Asian Hornet, the "murder hornet" we now have poking into in Pacific Northwest. He worked with local beekeepers looking for nests, watching them destroy honey bee colonies and then harvesting the larvae of a destroyed hornet nest for a delicacy food. He also found out why some bees spread water buffalo dung on their hives to keep the hornets away. This is really a mind blower.

Sammy's work on varroa and fat bodies didn't slow down one bit this year. They've uncovered that the female mite harvests certain proteins from the fat body and then funnels them directly into the developing egg without first digesting the protein rich meal. These whole, complete proteins are needed by the embryo to complete development. Now, how can that process be interrupted? That's the million-dollar question. Just imagine if the discovery leads to a control which doesn't involve putting poison into the hive…

When Sammy was here last, he talked about forming his Ramsey Research Foundation, to replace the original "GoFundMe" site. Through the Foundation you can help support the work he's involved in - heading back to Thailand in the fall, working more with Giant Hornets, and finding out how to quit putting poison in our beehives. Check out the Foundation, and see if you, or better your beekeeping group, can help make this a better world for us, our bees, and beekeepers everywhere.

Links and websites mentioned in this podcast:

______________

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

Thanks to Strong Microbials for their support of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Find out more about heir line of probiotics in our Season 3, Episode 12 episode and from their website: https://www.strongmicrobials.com

This episode is brought to you by Global Patties! Global Patties is a family business that manufactures protein supplement patties for honey bees. Feeding your hives protein supplement patties will help ensure that they produce strong and health colonies by increasing brood production and overall honey flow. Global offers a variety of standard patties, as well as custom patties to meet your specific needs. Visit them today at http://globalpatties.com and let them know you appreciate them sponsoring this episode! 

We want to also thank 2 Million Blossoms as a sponsor of the podcast. 2 Million Blossoms is a quarterly magazine destined for your coffee table. Each page of the magazine is dedicated to the stories and photos of all pollinators and written by leading researchers, photographers and our very own, Kim Flottum.

_______________

We hope you enjoy this podcast and welcome your questions and comments: questions@beekeepingtodaypodcast.com

Thanks to Bee Culture, the Magazine of American Beekeeping, for their support of The Beekeeping Today Podcast. Available in print and digital at www.beeculture.com

Thank you for listening! 

Podcast music: Young Presidents, "Be Strong"; Musicalman, "Epilogue". Original guitar background instrumental by Jeff Ott

Beekeeping Today Podcast is an audio production of Growing Planet Media, LLC

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