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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