Beekeeping at FiveApple

Today I share some great tips shared by Greg Rogers of Haw Creek Honey when he presented to our local club. Then we work through swarm prevention strategies (starts at 16:25) that are especially important when it's too early in the season to make splits due to drone availability.Patrons, you will find your exclusive detailed show notes here. Today's notes include: Greg's favorite YouTube...

Today I interview James Lee, president of the Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan about the goals and offerings of this important virtual education hub for beekeepers interested in increasing the genetic work towards reducing the need for treatments in hives. We talk about his work in creating the Northern Queen Initiative to provide locally raised Northern adapted queens as well as his own...

This is a hefty episode that reviews some of the many, many ways knowing bee biology will directly affect the decisions you have to make as a beekeeper in every season of beekeeping. It's long because it affects nearly everything and this is just a sampling! Beginners: take the details you need and just roll with the stuff that you haven't learned yet, but please note how important learning all...

It's that time of year as beekeepers that we find out how we did — how we did all the way back to the summer before. Some years it can be a tough report-card to get! As all things in bees there are many ways to understand what happened. The good news even if it was a bad year is this: we can do better in the coming season. In this episode I encourage you to do just that, while also acknowledging...

Ep 150: Lifecycle of the Bees (and the beekeeper) for NewbeesSo this is a version of the talk I'm giving at my local club's bee school this year, telling the story of the bees' yearly cycle. There's nothing else more important to learn as a basis for beekeeping imo. Because whenever we enter the hive, it only makes sense if we understand what the bees are already doing in that season of their...

A full overview for beginners of starting with your first nucleus colony. Things to know, things to learn, things to watch out for. Experienced beekeepers: I've asked for your help in creating a TIP SHEET to share with the patrons of this show on starting with nucs. Send me your best tips and I'll include them on the pdf I'm creating for new beekeepers. It will be available *next week* on the...

But of course there's beekeeping stuff you can do in winter! :-) Listen in to get ideas about what tasks need doing (check in on your bees food stores!) as well as thought on how to get ahead for the upcoming bee season. Along the way: an idea for setting up a 'learning nuc' and thoughts on record keeping, bee school and more.This is the video I...

The gifts we get from spending time with the bees, learning about the bees and learning from other beekeepers are so amazing. This episode is a reflection on just some of the beauties and realizations that come with beekeeping in good years and even in not so good beekeeping years. I'd love to hear what gifts you got from your bees this year.It's the last episode of 2025 and already I look...

What makes a perfect winter home for 60,000 bees? This episode explores Dr. James Tew's look at the architecture of the winter bee nest. You'll discover what scout bees look for when house hunting, what propolis really does, and why the entire colony functions as a single super-organism.A Radio-reader edition of The Honey Bee's Winter Nest" by Dr. James E. Tew, Bee Culture magazine, October 2023....

Ep145 Organic? Treatment-Free? Chemical-Free? Natural Beekeeping Terms Explained in this ABJ articleEver get confused by all the "natural beekeeping" terms floating around? In this episode I'm discussing an article (Oct 2023 ABJ) that breaks down three approaches that sound similar but are actually pretty different: organic beekeeping, treatment-free beekeeping, and chemical-free beekeeping....