Management Episodes

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

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...

It’s early March, bees are flying every few days, early maples are blooming. Are you asking yourself, “Are my bees ready for the nectar flow?” On today’s episode, Kim and Jim look at what’s going on in their hives now that spring is starting...

The more colonies you have, the more you will notice differences between them throughout the year. On today's episode, Kim and Jim talk about what do you do when you open one of your colonies and it seems 'smaller' than the other colonies around it....

It happens to most beekeepers are one point, where you have to find someplace else to keep your bees. A new, different beeyard. Where do you start? Whether you have too many in your backyard and need to put more someplace else, or the world changed...

There are a lot of good reasons to start a new colony in your beeyard using a nucleus (nuc) colony, consisting of a mated queen, brood and drawn comb rather than buying a package of bees. But there are some issues to pay particular attention to also....

It’s going to be 50 degrees tomorrow. Kim and Jim are going to have to check their bees for the first time this very early spring. So what do they do, how do they examine a colony this time of year way up north? The beekeepers in the warmer parts of...

The queens that come with packages today seem to be different that those we could get five or ten years ago and we think that points to some changes need to be made regarding a simple concept – Patience. It would appear that it’s taking a bit...

This is the time of year to think seriously about the queens you have in your colonies, or the queens you had in your colonies last season. If replacement is on the table, what should you be looking for? The simple and probably best answer is… a...

American Foulbrood is in the news lately… and for a good, positive reason. But what does it mean if you determine or a state apiarist determines you have a case or two or more of AFB in your bee yard? A vaccine is not a cure. It is a means for...

It’s the beginning of a new year and Jim and Kim are thinking about New Year’s Resolutions. Almost everybody makes a few Resolutions every January – even beekeepers, but many times resolutions are made and never achieved. Kim wants to do better...

What would you do if you received a call from a neighbor saying that your bee equipment was scattered across multiple yards? What would be YOUR first thought? In today’s episode, Jim invites Beekeeping Today Podcast’s Jeff Ott to the show to talk...

Knowing what you did or saw, added or removed from a colony is useful. Whether that happened earlier in the day or the prior season. Keeping track of what, how why and when you did something in the bee yard, for a specific colony will help keep you...

Why on earth would honey bee foragers go out on a freezing day in winter to collect water? Ice and snow everywhere, but there they are, trying to get a drink and bring some home for their sisters. Why? Kim and Jim explore some of the reasons why. They...

When you’ve been keeping bees for decades, sometimes you do things because that’s the way you’ve always done them, right? But the world continues to change. It has to keep up with whatever is going on wherever it’s happening. And because the...

Does your state Agriculture Department have a bulletin they share with everybody on the phenology, or bloom dates, of the wild flowers, trees and shrubs that grow in your state? Today Kim and Jim discuss the chart used by Ohio beekeepers. Ohio’s...

Post-harvest time is a good time to look for wax moth in your colonies. Believe it or not, wax moths are around pretty much all of the time. On today’s episode, Kim and Jim discuss wax moths! Strong colonies keep them pretty much under control, but...

Towards the end of the season, it’s a good idea to take a look at the equipment and other management tricks you’ve been using all summer while it’s still fresh in your mind. Today, Jim and Kim talk about how well the veils they use worked this...

How much honey do you leave for the bees this winter? Like lots of things in beekeeping, it depends. Since “all beekeeping is local”, it is good to start in your own backyard. Do you live in the south? Midwest? North? Far north? When are you...