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 time to replace her before the summer nectar flows.

There’s more of course. Listen today and see what Jim and Kim are up to when it comes to spring chores.

What do you think? Add your thoughts to the comments below!

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Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

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 your plans to accommondate a similar situation.

What do you think? Add your thoughts to the comments below!

__________________

Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

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 larva? Robbers eating larva as well as stealing honey?

Listen today and see if there are more reasons our Florida listener found partially eaten and completely eaten larvae in front of her hives in the first week of spring.

What do you think? Add your thoughts to the comments below!

__________________

Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

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 what you should know about pollen flows and your bees. Without the pollen flows you have, you won’t have the bees you have.

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Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

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 should do it and the decisions you must make along the way.

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Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

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? How do you protect your investment in woodenware? Listen today and compare your answer to ours!

___________________

Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

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 to get serious. What should the colony be doing, what should you be seeing, and just for giggles, what should you be doing to stay a half step ahead of the bees?

One thing for sure is that you’ve got to take a look inside the hive. While we’re at it, how is your mite control?  Assuming that you have them under control, is there space in the hive for bees to place nectar to dry? Is there space to store capped honey? Where is the brood nest? If you do need room for nectar and honey, where do you put that empty super? Just above the brood box, or way up on top? These are the questions Jim and Kim toss around today.

Are you ready for the spring nectar flow?

___________________

Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

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. Is it something that should concern you? What do you look at first? Pests? Pesticides? Failing queen? Inadequate food supplies? Do you try to fix it?

Listen in as Kim and Jim discuss this sometimes perplexing topic that pesters all beekeepers, one time or another!

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

There’s lots of places you can keep bees that aren’t the typical backyard. Today Kim and Jim take a look at a couple of these places.

The first is in an unused single car garage. The hive boxes sit on a bench inside the garage for easy access and he doesn’t need a cover, just a board over the top. These bees can be worked any time of day or in any weather and he uses a lot less smoke when working them.

Another placed discussed is up on the roof. There are some special concerns here you need to be aware of.

Listen today as Kim and Jim discuss Atypical Bee Yards.

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC

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 and you can’t keep them in your backyard any more, you need to find that place.

First off, what does a beeyard need to have to work for you? Access, definitely - year-round access. Gates, overflowing streams, unplowed roads, vandals, bear, cattle, and more – all pose potential problems.

First, check with your local club members or, drive around. Find a spot that meets all the requirements and find the land owner.  Now how many hives can you keep there? Are there limitations on when you can visit them? Can the landowner notify you if they spot a problem with pests or people and let you know?

Having to find a beeyard may never happen, but if it does, know what to look for, what problems can arise and make sure your bees (and you) stay safe.

We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you!

___________________

Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring 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

______________________

Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast.

Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, All We Know by Midway Music, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott

Copyright © 2023 by Growing Planet Media, LLC