The Buzz About Bees

One of the best ways you can help the bees is by planting food for the bees! Claire Jones, a garden designer and beekeeper, joins me on this episode. Learn what to plant for bees, why bees need flowers and which plants will help the bees the most. Claire also explains what grows well in containers, other places you can plant flowers other than your backyard and more. Show starts at 12:55 Help us out! Fill out our Treatment Free Beekeeping questionnaire at https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/treatmentfree Resources: Garden Diaries Blog - https://thegardendiaries.blog/ Claire's Honey Soap Recipe - https://thegardendiaries.blog/2013/01/07/diy-soap/ National Wildlife Service Native Plant Finder - https://www.nwf.org/nativeplantfinder Million Pollinator Garden Challenge - http://millionpollinatorgardens.org/ Claire's etsy page - https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheGardenDiaries?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=182225449 Links to all of these pages and Claire's pollinator posters can be found at https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/gardendiaries.  Free Bee Book! https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/freebeebook

What is it like to keep Africanized bees? Is it still fun working with bees when they're so aggressive? Can you cross-breed Africanized bees with European bees to get a more docile bee?   In this episode I talk about Africanized bees and how they're different from European honey bees as well as my conversation with Laryssa, a beekeeper in Texas who keeps Africanized bees, teaches beekeeping and does numerous cutouts removing wild hives from people's homes where he doesn't know what the temper of the hive will be until he gets there. Talk begins at 14:47.   Want to learn more about bees and how you can help them?  Sign up for our online class, Intro to Bees & Beekeeping. We'll teach you all about the hive, how to make a pollinator garden and other ways you can help the bees. Learn more at www.beekeepingmadesimple.com  

Ever have that hive with a queen that you can never find? In this episode, I talk share the queenspotting tips my former employer and 4th generation beekeeper shared with me.  I used to give 2 beekeeping tours a day, 5 days a week for 3 years and these tips worked for me every time except twice!  Queenspotting quiz ~ beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/queenspotting-tips All online beekeeping classes are buy one get one free until December 27th at beekeepingmadesimple.com.

What are the bees trying to do and how can I help them accomplish what they're trying to do? That's Michael's take on the role of the beekeeper.  In this episode I talk with Michael Bush, author of The Practical Beekeeper (as well as other books), and discuss his lazy beekeeping techniques, developing an intuition with your bees, treatment free beekeeping, how he got started, bee fever and more! Michael's website > http://bushfarms.com/bees.htm All of his books can be found on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Links are on his website. Photo of Michael's beekeeping calendar > beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/michaelbush

I wanted to take a break from the science of bees and beekeeping and share with you the story of one of the most well known and influential writers about beekeeping, Eva Crane. The Eva Crane story starts at 21:45.   Your Free Getting Started Guide  Download your free copy of The 7 Steps to Getting Started Keeping Bees at www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/freebeebook.

Randy Oliver from scientificbeekeeping.com talks with me about his work breeding varroa resistant bees that are calm & gentle at his farm in CA. We also talk about the role of the beekeeper when it comes to dealing with varroa mites, why powdered sugar won't get you as accurate of a mite test result as alcohol or dish soap and much more. If you haven't yet, check out scientificbeekeeping.com for information about mite testing and mite treatment options. Our Fall sale is going on now! All of our online beekeeping classes are 50% off. This our biggest sale of the year. If you'd like to keep bees this coming Spring, now is the time to start learning. Enroll at beekeepingmadesimple.com.

This is my second year using a flow hive. My first year I didn't like it, but then I figured out some tricks to harvesting that made me appreciate its convenience. Why is it so popular? Who is it definitely NOT for? What tips do I have for those with a flow hive? These are all the things I address in this episode.   Learn from my flow hive harvest mistakes! Watch my top 10 tips to harvesting from the flow hive at our blog.   Try our online beekeeping course risk free! Sign up today at https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com using the coupon PODCAST for 20% off. Try it out. If you don't enjoy the class, request a refund within 60 days. No questions asked.

There are over 19,000 different kinds of bees and 30% of them live in a tunnel or cavity. You can help these tunnel-nesting pollinators out by providing a place for them to call home. I'm not sure where the name came from, but kids these days are calling it a bee hotel.  Making a bee hotel is a fancy way of saying you're collecting hollow tubes, putting them somewhere and leaving them alone all Spring and Summer. A bee hotel won't get you honey or beeswax, but some of the common tunnel-nesting bees like leaf cutters and mason bees are great pollinators of a lot of plants including veggies, fruits and herbs.  In this episode I explain how to make a bee hotel, how to care for it and clean it out, and what to plant to attract some common tunnel-nesting bees. For those of you who love bees and want to have more in your neighborhood, but aren't able to keep honeybees, this is a great alternative. It's also a wonderful project to do with kids and help them learn more about bees. Check out our blog post about it at: https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/make-solitary-bee-hotel Here you'll see a bunch of sample bee hotels, my personal bee hotel and links to learn more about bee hotels and tunnel-nesting bees. If you enjoyed this episode, leave a review & tell me what you liked about it! 

You should take the old, dark comb out of my beehive, but then what?  If you enjoy my podcast or have found it helpful, leave a review! I would really appreciate it. Watch the video: https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/clean-old-dark-comb

What do people do with their frames of honeycomb after they extract the honey out?  That's a big question that few people have a good answer for. You have insects and small animals that will want to eat it and make a home out of it if you don't keep it safe. Luckily, I have a few options for you. I explain what I do, what large apiaries do, and the extra options you guys in cold weather states can do. Check out our video that goes along with this episode - hthttps://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/store-beekeeping-frames Did you find this episode helpful? Leave a review! Talk about what you learned in the podcast. I would be so grateful if you did!!

It's honey harvesting time. Yay! But you have a box with thousands of bees in it. How do take the honey and leave the bees behind? I explain three options for you: • the recommended option for hobbyists • what many commercial apiaries do when working with thousands of hives • some gadgets that claim to do the work for you Watch our video on how to use bitter almond oil: https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/bitter-almond-oil   Want more beekeeping how-to information? Check out our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCoYVlnLz2TjO1bz93Gn9uig    

Butterflies! You've seen these beautiful creatures flying around and maybe even tried to catch one as a kid, but how much do you really know about them? Unlike honey bees, they're not great pollinators and they don't produce delicious food for us to eat. None the less, images of butterflies are everywhere - on cards, notebooks, mugs. They add beauty to the world and are a source of food for many animals. In this episode, I talk with Jessica McAtee, a butterfly expert, so we can learn all about these fascinating creatures and how we can turn our yard into a butterfly garden.   For more info about butterflies, photos and links to butterfly resources go to https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/life-of-a-butterfly   You can learn more about Jessica's work with butterflies at HappyButterfly.net   And that wacky book I mentioned about bugs and how they reproduce is Birds & Bees: A Sexual Study by Stermer.

As I record this episode today, we are under a hurricane watch and dealing with other Summertime issues like robbing, bearding, high temperatures and dearth.  I'll explain what all of these things are and what beekeepers and bee-lovers can do to help the bees when it's super hot out. Just for the fun of it, I'll also talk about honeydew honey (honey made from bug poop) and what to do if bees are visiting your pool.  Download our free ebook, 7 Steps to Keeping Bees in Your Own Backyard, at https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com.  Use promo code PODCAST for 20% all of our online classes.

Before starting my own bee farm I worked for two other apiaries. One was a small farm and the other had 3,000 hives. I cared for bees, gave tours, bread queens, and was told I couldn't be a beekeeper because I was female. In this episode I tell the stories from my 7 years with these companies and witnessing Hawaii go through a terrible collapse of the bee population when the varroa mite arrived.  See my photos & videos of the farms & moving the bees at https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/commercial-beekeeping If you haven't yet, sign up for our newsletter at beekeepingmadesimple.com/newsletter.

For most people, the last thing they want is a swarm of thousands of bees flying by their house, but if you're a beekeeper, it's the best day ever because it means free bees! This episode is about swarms, why bees swarm, and how to lure a swarm with a bait hive.  Enroll in our online beekeeping class & start keeping bees! Use promo code PODCAST at beekeepingmadesimple.com for 20% off our Beekeeping for Beginners course. You could be keeping bees in just a couple of months. We'll show you how to get started and everything you need to know. 

"Beekeeping! Let's give it a try." That's what a lot of people said when COVID-19 forced a lot of people into quarantine.  I'm not dissing beginner beekeepers, but its causing problems for current beekeepers. In this episode I talk about: How to prevent swarming Small tasks to do now so you don't have a ton of bee things to do late summer How to prevent a mini heart attack when you realize it will take 6+ weeks for supplies to arrive What to do if you can't care for your bees as often as you used to Take our beginner beekeeping class online! Learn more and enroll at BeekeepingMadeSimple.com. Use promo code PODCAST for 20% off.

Ever wondered what it would be like to keep bees on the rooftops of buildings in New York City? In this episode I talk with author, and urban beekeeper, Andrew Cote, about his childhood growing up as a 4th generation beekeeper, his non-profit Bees Without Borders, why he tells people his profession is truck driver and all the work that goes into keeping bees in a big city (don't forget you have to pay the meter!).  Check out Andrew's new book, Honey and Venom, Confessions of an Urban Beekeeper. It's not just for beekeepers, but anyone interested in a unique and funny story about a man with one of the most interesting jobs in NYC. I have a free beekeeping book just for you! Go to beekeepingmadesimple.com to download our ebook, The 7 Steps to Keeping Bees in Your Own Backyard.

It can be overwhelming getting started keeping bees. There's equipment to buy, BEES to buy, lots of stuff to learn and getting stung! In this episode, I break down the steps I teach my students in our Intro to Beekeeping class. It's what I wish I knew when I was getting started and what has worked well for my students. I have a special gift for you! Download our ebook, The 7 Steps to Keeping Bees in Your Own Backyard for free! Go to beekeepingmadesimple.com. There's checklists, diagrams and tips on ways you can some money. When you're ready to become a beekeeper, take our online class, Beekeeping for Beginners at beekeepingmadesimple.com. Use promo code PODCAST for 20% off!

Happy Mother's Day to all the moms out there. This episode is about who makes the decisions in the honeybee hive. There is a queen, after all, but by now you probably know that she isn't in charge. So, who decides when it's time to swarm? How do the bees know what their job is in the hive because there are a lot? And when do they decide to replace the queen? Who, then, is supposed to kill the queen?! Honeybees do a great job of making decisions that benefit the entire hive and we could probably learn a thing or two from them and their decision making process. PLUS! A special podcast coupon for those looking to take an online beekeeping class, And a little bit about the cicada killer and why people are freaking out about them too! Finally, a great book about bees that I'm currently ready and a video the author made you can view on YouTube of bees doing waggle dances on a swarm and how to tell what they're saying.   Your Free Bee Book! Don't forget to download your free ebook, The 7 Steps to Getting Started Keeping Bees at www.beekeepingmadesimple.com.

Some myth busting about the Asian Giant Hornet & why it could potentially cause a lot of harm to the honey bee population. Then, I talk about all the dumb things I've done over the years as a beekeeper - why wearing fuzzy pants is a bad idea, how being a cheap beekeeper has led to a lot of these problems & why I've had to pull over on the side of a highway to let bees out of my car.  If you're just getting started keeping bees or are thinking about it, I hope these stories encourage you to not take it too seriously and have fun. Everyone makes mistakes and I've probably made more than the average person.   Want to learn more about bees and how you can help them?  Sign up for our online class, Intro to Bees & Beekeeping. We'll teach you all about the hive, how to make a pollinator garden and other ways you can help the bees. Learn more at www.beekeepingmadesimple.com

People are running to the store to stock up on food and other necessities, but what are they doing to become more self-sufficient? With just the five products you can harvest from a beehive, you can produce a sweetener, cough medicine, lotion, an immune boosting elixir, and protein-rich food. You can also create your own wood stain and furniture protector and make fabric water resistant. In this episode, I talk about the many things you can do with the products harvested from the beehive and why beekeeping is one of the best hobbies for those who want to be more self-sufficient. For links to homestead resources and a cooking with honey download: https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/homestead-beekeeping

Royal Jelly! What an amazing substance, or so they say. It can help with fertility, it can lower cholesterol, it adds collagen to your face and is a supplement that boosts your immune and gives you energy!!  BUT, it's also harvested by killing baby queen bees. Is this substance ethical? You decide for yourself. In this episode I talk about what royal jelly is, how it's harvested, its uses, how expensive it is and what's in it. I'll also give my take on whether I think it is ethical or not.  Lastly, I'll talk about whether it's what's IN royal jelly that makes a queen live so long and be fertile OR if it's something the worker bees are doing that causes infertility. Some scientists have recently changed their theory.   Your Free Bee Book! Don't forget to download your free ebook, The 7 Steps to Getting Started Keeping Bees at www.beekeepingmadesimple.com.

I try to keep this podcast about topics that beekeepers & non-beekeepers can both enjoy, but this was a topic I thought deserved its own episode. Sorry non beekeepers. Oxalic acid is a popular treatment for varroa mites, but was only approved to be used in the U.S. in 2015. This episode talks about what oxalic acid is, the different methods it's used in the hive and my experience using it. Since my bees are in Hawaii where the weather is always warm and there is always brood present in the hive, my experience was very different than most.  Bee Class Sale! Use promo code PODCAST at beekeepingmadesimple.com and get 20% off our beekeeping classes. 

Why is it better to stand still than swat at a bee? Why do bees have hair on their eyes? What drug is popular with both bees and humans? Do bees sleep and what's your proof? Why do bees shake each other? Learn the answer to these questions and a bunch of other random facts about honey bees. I also talk about how I made beeswax-dipped holiday decorations from stuff I collected on a walk in my neighborhood and dark brown wax I have laying around. Use coupon code  PODCAST for 20% our online beekeeping classes at BeekeepingMadeSimple.com.

How do bees know how to build a hexagon-shaped cell? Honeycomb is the foundation of the beehive. Learn how the bees make it, why no other shape would work as well, and how we, at our bee farm, harvest honeycomb.  We'll also be talking about the honey infusions we're working on at the farm and what the bees are doing right now in Hawaii. PLUS - we now have a phone line for you to call in about your experiences with bees and beekeeping. Share with us your stories and we will add them to the podcast. 

Did you know most wasps are non-stinging insects? Or that there's a variety of wasps that can kill a beehive of 40,000 in under an hour? Learn about these amazing creatures and why Hollywood is indebted to them in this episode about wasps. Featuring Joe O'Brien​ with his knowledge and love for these guys. In this episode we talk about: • the difference between wasps and bees • how wasps can help your garden & other benefits of wasps • a few crazy species of wasps including the "yak killers"

A shoe box full of bees, the meanest bees I ever met and encounters with queen breeders accusing us of stealing their bees. I've caught a swarms and did bee removals in the past. This episode I share some of the dumb things I've done while attempting to catch swarms, the annoying people I've met and why I still encourage beekeepers to try it anyway.

Swarm season usually comes in the Spring & Summer when there's lots of flowers blooming. Bees swarm when the hive gets too full, but it's also how they reproduce. Learn all about how bees swarm, why it's necessary for the survival of the honeybee population and what to do if a swarm of bees take up residence on your property. For the beekeepers, we'll also discuss how to prevent your hives from swarming, how to catch a swarm and why swarming is a sign of how strong the honeybee population is doing.  

Learn all about varroa mites. In this episode I will talk about how varroa mites harm the bees, where they originated, their relationship with humans, and why it's in the mite's best interest to not cause too much harm to the bees. Then for the beekeepers, I discuss integrated pest management techniques to keep mites levels low, what to do if you have an infestation and how to test your hive to see if what your mite levels are. I will discuss organic, inorganic and non chemical-based "treatments". For those of you who do not want to "treat" their hives, I offer suggestions for what to do if your hive is infested. Helpful links How to Use Apivar Strips Video Small Hive Beetles Traps that Work   I would love to hear from you! Please email me at Laryssa@beekeepingmadesimple.com with topics you'd like to hear about.

This episode is about the role of the beekeeper when it comes to keeping the bees healthy. How do beekeepers help the bee population and how do they harm it? Is beekeeping hurting the native bee population? And a special added ASMR clip of my niece eating honeycomb. Our Kickstarter campaign is still going! Make a donation & help us get our online beekeeping classes going. Our rewards include raw honey, Bee Happy Hawaii t-shirts & early access to the class. Watch our video & donate at http://kck.st/2uMKbme. If you have enjoyed listening to our podcast, please consider making even a $1 donation to our campaign. Every dollar counts! Campaign ends June1.

This podcast episode is all about the male honeybee, also called the drone. For the most part, they have an easy job, but for those that make it to the start of Winter, their easy breezy lifestyle is cut short by their sisters. Is mating their only purpose and why are scientists so sure of this? How are drones used by beekeepers to keep varroa mite levels low and why is there a popping sound when a drone mates? All these topics are addressed in this episode.   Sign up for our beekeeping newsletter Get updates on new podcasts, beekeeping videos and online class sales. Sign up at beekeepingmadesimple.com/newsletter.

The worker bee does most of the work in the hive. She makes up about 99% or more of the hive population. She takes care of the baby bees, gathers nectar, turns nectar into honey, and is the only one who stings. So what exactly are the drones and queen doing? We'll find the answers to these questions and more in this episode. Learn beekeeping & harvest honey right in your own backyard! Enroll in our beginner beekeeping course that takes you through the process of starting your first hive and keeping happy, healthy honey bees. Get 20% off when you use promo code PODCAST at checkout.

Most people have been stung by a honey bee. That's why Schmidt uses the honey bee as his basis for the Schmidt Pain Index where he rates how painful different insects' bites and stings are. We go into the most and least painful insects he has been stung by as well as where the honey bee ranks on this scale.  Getting stung doesn't just end with a little bit of pain. Did you know the honey bee dies after she stings you? We get into why insects sting and why bees die after stinging.  Another scientist also indexed the pain from getting stung, but was more specific. This man stung himself specifically with bees to figure out where the most painful places to be stung were. We discuss the most painful places we have been stung and why you should ALWAYS wear underwear when beekeeping. And finally, what exactly are killer bees and have they actually killed anyone? You might be surprised to hear that killer bees are smaller than European honeybees and so have less venom in their stinger. We go into how they got their name and if their nickname is well-deserved or not.  Ready to keep bees & harvest honey right in your own backyard? Our online beekeeping course takes you through the process of starting your first hive and keeping happy, healthy honey bees. Enroll at BeekeepingMadeSimple.com. Use promo code PODCAST for 20% off.

I started beekeeping in my last 20s. I was living in downtown Philadelphia and a friend of mine from Maine thought it would be fun. We didn't have suits, or a smoker, or had ever been around a beehive. Needless to say, the bees didn't stay long. I learned a lot the first few years beekeeping and there are a lot of things I would have done differently if I had the choice.    What if you could keep bees & harvest honey right in your own backyard? Learn how to keep happy, healthy honey bees in our online beekeeping class. Enroll today at beekeepingmadesimple.com and use promo code PODCAST for 20% off!

European honeybees have been surviving cold winters for thousands of years before beekeepers existed. But how do they do it? Why don't they freeze?  This episode talks about how bees survive the months of snow and cold weather and what beekeepers do to help the bees out in the winter.  At the end we'll share some fun facts about bees in the Winter like the fact that bees don't go to the bathroom in the hive. On the first warm Winter day, you'll see thousands of bees fleeing the hive on a "cleansing flight" to relieve themselves. Curious what bee poop looks like? If there's snow on the ground, you'll see little specks of yellow and orange.  Learn more about bees in the winter & watch our video: https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/bees-in-winter   Sign up for our newsletter at BeekeepingMadeSimple.com to learn more about bees and links to some of my favorite bee videos, websites, and books.  

The queen bee is very unique to the hive. She is the mother of all the bees in the hive. There is only one and she has an important job to do.  In this episode we will discuss exactly how much power over the hive the queen has, what happens if a queen dies, how a new queen is made and how to spot a queen bee.  Did you know a queen mates with up to 30 males in one day? Or that the queens battle it out until there is only one survivor? Learn the soap opera lifestyle of the amazing queen honey bee in this podcast.  Queen Spotting Quiz: https://www.beekeepingmadesimple.com/blog/queenspotting-tips I have a special gift for you! Download our book, The 7 Steps to Keeping Bees in Your Own Backyard, for free! Go to beekeepingmadesimple.com. There's equipment checklists, a guide to identifying what's inside the hive and tips to save money. Ready to keep bees? Sign up for our Beekeeping for Beginners online class. It's everything you need to know to get started and maintain a beehive through the seasons. Use promo code PODCAST for 20% off our classes at beekeepingmadesimple.com.