100% Local Ohio | Your Cincinnati Bee Connection
Posted in Beekeeping Philosophy on Jun 24th, 2010
A question arose on one of the forums I read: Do you talk to your bees? Well, of course I do. I can’t imagine not. After a while, you know, I believe we get to know one another. I already ask them to forgive me for squishing them, to tell me what they’re doing, to [...]
Posted in Beekeeping Philosophy on Jun 18th, 2010
So. Yesterday I received news that Deb’s Uncle Doyle in Waco, Kentucky has collected tons of honey this year. Over the years he’s kept many hives, but now that he’s older he keeps only one—simply because he loves it…the heat in all that protective clothing keeps him from expanding his little operation again. Anyway, I [...]
Posted in Beekeeping Philosophy on Jun 17th, 2010
You know, I’ve been thinking. I think I’d better stick with beekeepers who share my newly emerging philosophy of natural beekeeping: chemical-free hives, foundationless frames, small-cell comb, etc. Then again, if I don’t work with beekeepers who subscribe to other philosophies, how can I hope to spread what I’m learning about natural beekeeping? I don’t want [...]
Posted in Beekeeping Philosophy on Jun 2nd, 2010
Just when I’ve built up a lot of equipment, my beekeeping philosophy evolves. I guess if you simply “keep” bees, the equipment doesn’t matter so much. But if and when you get more involved, some off-beat equipment makes more and more sense. Figures. Here’s what I’m thinking: I currently own and use two different sized [...]
Posted in Beekeeping Philosophy on May 28th, 2010
Did I tell you I’ve decided to read “Linda’s Bees” blog from beginning to end. Every single entry for 4 or 5 years. And she posts a lot. Well, I skip those entries that contain pictures of flowers. Sure, I like flowers. But, frankly, I hate pictures of flowers. They bore me. Fortunately—and this is [...]
Posted in Beekeeping Philosophy on May 26th, 2010
You know that feeling you get when you’re on to something? When your intuition tells you this is something really important? Well, I’ve got it. I’ve been almost obsessed with reading Linda’s Bees. I’m determined to read the entire thing from beginning to end…over 700 entries at this point. This is Linda’s fourth year of [...]
Posted in Beekeeping Philosophy on Apr 12th, 2010
There’s more than one way to skin a cat. We were on hand yesterday to watch Christy install her bees. She was gentle. She went to great lengths to avoid any violence or aggitation to the bees…it was an elaborate process. Here she is preparing her brood box to welcome its new family. Here’s Jana [...]
Posted in Beekeeping Philosophy on Apr 2nd, 2010
A long-time beekeeper wrote an article for the April issue of Bee Culture magazine, and I like his philosophy. He doesn’t medicate his bees. At all. Ever. For any purpose. Not even mites. All but one beekeeper I know makes a very big deal of medicating for mites. But this fellow believes that because mites have [...]
Posted in Beekeeping Philosophy on Jan 9th, 2010
Before I could get a new, officially sanctioned entrance reducer in place (okay, I admit it…I haven’t even ordered it yet), snow covered the entrance to both hives. And snow’s supposed to be a great insulator, right? So, I guess things are toasty in there. I hope these bees can stand my hands-off approach.
Posted in Beekeeping Philosophy on Jan 6th, 2010
So, yesterday I slogged up to the two snow-dusted hives with my one-and-only entrance reducer. And then I stood there. One entrance reducer and two hives poses one of those philosophical moments: To which hive do I choose to give the advantage of warmth? The hive we call the “swarm hive” is the stronger of [...]