This week, Jerry Hayes sits in with Jim while Kim is out. In this episode, Jerry talks about one of the most unusual hive designs he's ever built and worked with... a hive made out of a old 55-gallon drum. We know honey bees will build their nests just about anywhere... but is this practical? Useable? Find out by listening today! What is your most unusual hive? ______________________ Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring today's episode. Betterbee’s mission is to support every beekeeper with excell...
Oct 05, 2023•20 min•Ep. 147
(This Archive Special first released, September 2, 2021.) Beekeepers are very often asked to help friends or neighbors that have “bee” problems…. honey bees, carpenter bees, yellow jackets, hornets, bumblebees and the like. But most of us aren’t exterminators. We don’t have the tools, the experience, or the time to help. But “can’t you just get rid of them for me?” lets you know they think you know how to do this… and are ‘glad to help.’ Sometimes they are your bees. A colony swarms and if you a...
Sep 28, 2023•17 min•Ep. 146
In this episode, Jim invites Beekeeping Today Podcast's Jeff Ott, to sit in for Kim to help answer a couple of recent listener emails. In response to a recent episode where Jim talks about dealing with heavy 10-frame, deep supers, a listener sends in a suggestion and a question. Jim gives this recommendation thoughtful consideration and discusses the pros and cons. In a second letter, a listener states that they have a jar full of propolis and wasn't quite sure what he could do with it. Jim and ...
Sep 21, 2023•23 min•Ep. 145
This week, we continue with the theme of Fall management. Kim is out so, Jim invites Jeff Ott, from Beekeeping Today Podcast to join him to talk about dealing with heavy honey supers that remain and prepping the colonies for the coming Winter. Jim uses all 10-frame deep equipment, including his honey supers. It is just the way he’s always done it. But now, moving all that weight is a challenge to get to the brood boxes below to check on the queen and do proper mite level checks. What are your op...
Sep 14, 2023•20 min•Ep. 144
What do you do when the honey is all harvested, but it is still warm and not quite time to button up the colonies for Winter? On today's episode of Honey Bee Obscura, Jim has invited Beekeeping Today Podcast's Jeff Ott, in to discuss what he does to prepare the bees for Fall. There are many different things a beekeeper could do, such as extracting the honey they've harvested, maybe clean some old equipment, check on feed levels, and feed if necessary, are just a few. Is there any one thing a bee...
Sep 07, 2023•19 min•Ep. 143
This is honey harvest time of the year, for the majority of the beekeepers in the Northern Hemisphere. Undoubtedly, you will end your uncapping and extracting time with frames with broken end bars, bottoms or even the foundation punched through or out. Do you save it? Replace it? Or... something different. In today's episode, Kim and Jim discuss what a beekeeper can do to keep these old and/or broken frames going. Bees can fix many mistakes the beekeeper makes with the uncapping knife or machine...
Aug 31, 2023•22 min•Ep. 142
After building your colonies up in the spring, managing them through the early summer, collecting them out of the trees and out of the bushes after they swarm and all the effort maintaining their health… your goal as a beekeeper is to harvest honey. You’ve lifted the supers of honey from the hives, get it to your garage, shed or even kitchen and you pull a frame of pure honey out… and now what?!! This is the meaning of all that time, effort and money. So, how do you get the honey out from under ...
Aug 24, 2023•22 min•Ep. 140
What’s changed in the past 150 years or so? For some of us who have been around awhile, it seems like a lot. Most honey is still produced in the boxes Langstroth put together. Size and shape maybe different now, but it is all still, moveable frames in a box. Hive tools, smokers, veils and the rest of our tools remain nearly unchanged. Now designs, new material to make them with, but basically the same. Who keeps bees now as to then? It used to be a man’s world, but the population of who is keepi...
Aug 17, 2023•23 min•Ep. 141
It seems that everyone talks about managing bees and selling honey. There's also a lot of discussion about extracting honey - such as: removing bees from the supers, what kind of extractor works best, uncapping and even bottling. But what about all those wet wax cappings laying around? Hopefully, they're mostly in some sort of pan, tray or tank. But just what do you do with those cappings? In this episode, Kim and Jim talk about the cappings and how a hobbyest can process and melt them down to u...
Aug 10, 2023•20 min•Ep. 139
Continuing their discussion on the micro and to some extent the macro environment of a beeyard, Kim and Jim take a long hard look at what do bees need to eat, and how much should there be. They look at the weeds in the apiary, areas around the beeyard, and areas further away that may be a plus because what’s growing out there. They also look at the work beekeepers and other groups are doing to provide additional forage for all pollinators, in an effort to slow the loss of habitat to due developm...
Aug 03, 2023•21 min•Ep. 138
Every season, it seems, is different than the last, making it difficult or at least challenging. Honey harvesting is no different: what and when and how and where to harvest a honey crop. Deep south beekeepers went through this a month or more ago, but the northern half is now dealing with unpredictable late season honey flows, late summer increased varroa populations and all making good winter bees! Will this winter be as cold as this summer was hot? Do you still leave as much honey as last yea...
Jul 27, 2023•22 min•Ep. 137
It’s the time of year when summer is nearly over, but the fall flow hasn’t started. Colonies are big, there’s lot of foragers, and not much to forage on, yet. A colony that is ripe for being robbed is usually small, weak, and not able to defend itself. When the beekeeper starts working these colonies, foragers from other nearby colonies may find them, harvest a bit of honey, head home and tell everybody what you just found. “Come on girls, there’s lots of food right over here. Let me waggle you ...
Jul 20, 2023•22 min•Ep. 136
What else is in a beehive other than... honey bees? If you stop and look closer the next time you are in your beeyard, you will in all likelihood begin to notice all manner of living creatures sharing the beeyard space with you and your bees. Some, most in fact, are not a problem for your bees and in fact, many are actually beneficial to your bees. These ‘pests’ clean up the messes from your bees. Once you look inside the hive, you may find even more of these creatures making a home alongside th...
Jul 13, 2023•23 min•Ep. 135
In this episode, Kim and Jim discuss the pros and cons of mid-summer splits. Are they good or are they bad? It can go both ways. Mid-summer splits are used to divide a colony for swarm prevention, colony expansion, or the equalization of colony populations going into Fall and Winter. However, you have to weigh factors such as reduced late summer or fall honey collection for both the bees and beekeeper, how to queen the the split (let them raise their own or purchased) and the risks and time of e...
Jul 06, 2023•22 min•Ep. 133
How does a beekeeper deal with the seasonal population shifts, weather and resulting needs of the honey bees in their care. How does a beekeeper balance the needs of the colony with the needs of the beekeeper? The middle of that Venn Diagram is a very small slice of common interests. Mostly, the bees and the beekeeper are at odds of what that intersection should include. In today's episode, Kim and Jim examine this conundrum of needs and expectations - the balance-point of which changes constant...
Jun 29, 2023•21 min•Ep. 132
Listeners, Kim and Jim are busy in the bee yard this week and have chosen this episode from the archive, for your listening pleasure. Thank you for listening! It’s been hot in Ohio so far this summer (and a lot of other places too) but it’s also been wet. Hot and wet can make keeping bees a lot harder than normal. Kim and Jim talk about hot summers and their bees. Kick the air conditioner down a couple of degrees, pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage and listen in. Jim is visiting up ...
Jun 22, 2023•16 min•Ep. 131
Summer is in full force in most of the country now. Nectar flows are on and the honey is starting to ripen in the supers. It is the time of year beekeepers have been planning for all winter long! Summer is pretty nice now, isn't it? Eventually, every location will experience a drought (especially with all the extreme weather events experienced by all parts of the country, and world). What do honey bees do during these periods of drought? What can a beekeeper do to lessen the stress on their colo...
Jun 15, 2023•20 min•Ep. 130
All beekeepers must one day, cross a threshold: dealing with bee stings . For some, it is a small, hardly seen threshold. For others, it is a major challenge that takes time to overcome. On today's episode Jim and Jeff Ott talk about learning to overcome the fear (though, not the pain) of a honey bee sting, or two... or 10. Jeff from Beekeeping Today Podcast , joins Jim to talk about the Learning to deal with stings . Was learning to deal with stings a challenge for you? If so, or even if not, l...
Jun 08, 2023•22 min•Ep. 129
Replacing a seemingly good queen can be a difficult decision to make. If her brood pattern is good, the colony temperment is nice, they've produced a good crop... and the only fault against her is that she is last year's queen ... should you replace her with a queen raised this year?! There are many considerations to factor in. Your goals as a beekeeper, the time of year, is she with an established colony or perhaps from a swarm? It can be difficult to make that call to seek her out, pull her an...
Jun 01, 2023•23 min•Ep. 128
If you've been a beekeeper for any length of time and especially, after your first year in your own bee yard, you've seen a swarm, looked away to pick up something - maybe your camera, turn around and they're gone! Just like that. Swarms are simply amzing and awe inspriring. We marvel at their role as pollinators, essential custodians of the delicate balance that sustains our ecosystems, sometime inspite of our own destruction of that same environment. Passing swarms are a testament to the marve...
May 25, 2023•24 min•Ep. 127
Anyone who's moved more than one hive, more than once in a season has considered... a simpler way of getting the job done. We've all see photos and videos of beekeepers moving around an orchard of some sort, using BobCats or other type of all terrain forklift, loading and unloading pallets of bees. Cool... but that's not practical for most beekeepers or those who need to move anthing less than... 400 colonies. On today's episode, Jim invites Jeff Ott, from Beekeeping Today Podcast, to the show t...
May 18, 2023•26 min•Ep. 126
If you’ve been keeping bees for a bit, you probably already have a couple of stories about that “one time in a beeyard”, or honey house, or somewhere that gave a whole new meaning to the word “sting”. Teaching a beginner’s class is absolutely the best time to make sure your students know as much as possible when it comes to getting stung: The best protective gear to wear, when to wear it, and including how to act around colonies so you don’t upset them. All of these should probably be repeated t...
May 11, 2023•19 min•Ep. 125
A lot of times, when somebody asks us a bee question, the best answer we can give them is, “It Depends.” In today’s episode, Kim and Jim explore the topic of Swarms. Where did it come from? Where do you put it? What do you do with the queen? Should you feed them? As they explore how to manage this newly caught swarm, they realize there are no definitive answers, as there are so many answers based upon the circumstances and the beekeeper’s goals. It just depends. Listen today, and let them know h...
May 04, 2023•22 min•Ep. 124
On today’s episode, Kim and Jim discuss all the pros and cons about marking queens. Lots of questions come up when you mention marking queens. For most of us it’s a no brainer. “Look, there’s that yellow spot, there’s the queen!” MARKING HER MAKES FINDING HER EASY, RIGHT? Yes, but how does that yellow spot get there? Mostly, or at least often we just buy them marked so we don’t have to do it ourselves. Actually marking a queen can be a stressful moment in her life, and yours. How do you pick her...
Apr 27, 2023•24 min•Ep. 123
Depending on where you live, spring chores were over a couple of months ago, or you’ll be finishing them up about the time you check this podcast out, so we’ll keep it short, sweet and important. You can make a quick list with a couple of questions. Is there enough food? When was the last time you checked for mites? Do you need to treat? How old is the comb? Is it time to replace it? Do your bees have enough room to grow? Have you reversed brood boxes? Finally, just how old is that queen. Is it ...
Apr 20, 2023•19 min•Ep. 122
Are you a club president or in charge of planning meetings for your beekeeping organization? They always go well, don't they? No... of course not. They don't. What do you do when they don't? In this episode, Kim and Jim discuss their most memoriable meetings where anything that could go wrong, did go wrong. What did they do in that situation? How did they adapt planning for future meetings? Listen today to hear how they met the challenge. How would you do things differently? How can you change y...
Apr 13, 2023•22 min•Ep. 121
Jim got a call from a listener who had a question. She wrote, “I went out to my bees early this week, and in front of the hive and on the landing board I saw partially eaten larvae, larva skins and a mess, all over. What could cause that to happen?” Today, Kim and Jim discuss they reason why adult bees eat the larvae. There has been some research on that subject but not much. Is it the lack of protein between pollen flows? Hygienic behavior, including the disposal of infected or varroa infested ...
Apr 06, 2023•22 min•Ep. 120
It seems that pollen flows just don’t get the respect that a good honey flow does, do they? And you’ve got to wonder why? In today’s episode, Kim and Jim take a kind of long look at pollen flows, trying to figure out how to tell there’s a pollen flow going on in the first place. It’s easy to see when a honey flow is going strong, but is a pollen flow? Bees don’t store much pollen compared to honey, and the way it’s stored it’s kind of hard to tell if it’s pollen, or bee bread, or honey. Find out...
Mar 30, 2023•21 min•Ep. 119
So, you take a quick look at that top box this spring, and it’s pretty much empty and you don’t need the room for a bit, so remove the box. Then you take a look at the frames, to see what can be done with them, or, what should be done with them. What you do, of course, it depends on the type of frames you have. Wooden frame, beeswax foundation, wooden frame, plastic foundation, all plastic frame and foundation in one piece. In today’s episode, Kim and Jim discuss changing out old frames: Why you...
Mar 23, 2023•21 min•Ep. 118
You've spent lots of money on your woodenware and you want it to look good, last many years, and be safe for your the honey bees and the environment. What are your options? In today's episode, Jeff Ott (from Beekeeping Today Podcast ) joins Jim Tew to discuss the topic of what to paint your hive with before your bees arrive. You have many options: latex, enamel, stain, beeswax and resin... or nothing at all. Jim and Jeff discuss these and share their experiences and preferences. What do you do? ...
Mar 16, 2023•23 min•Ep. 117
