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PODCAST

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast

The weekly podcast exploring the joys, challenges, and curiosities of keeping honey bees. Hosted by Dr. Jim Tew and produced by Jeff Ott, Honey Bee Obscura delivers short, focused conversations that dive into the details of beekeeping—from practical how-tos to quirky observations. Perfect for learning something new on the way to the apiary, at home, or wherever your bees take you.

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All Episodes

22:59

Replacing The Queen (128)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/06/01

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 her with a queen raised this year?! There are many considerations to factor in. Your goals as a beekeeper, the time of year, is she with an established colony or perhaps from a swarm? It can be difficult to make that call to seek her out, pull her and

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24:18

Vanishing Swarms: Now You See Them, Now You Don't! (127)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/05/25

If you've been a beekeeper for any length of time and especially, after your first year in your own bee yard, you've seen a swarm, looked away to pick up something - maybe your camera, turn around and they're gone! Just like that. Swarms are simply amzing and awe inspriring. We marvel at their role as pollinators, essential custodians of the delicate balance that sustains our ecosystems, sometime inspite of our own destruction of that same environment. Passing swarms are a testament to the marvels

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26:19

Bee Trailers - The Portable Bee Hive (126)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/05/18

Anyone who's moved more than one hive, more than once in a season has considered... a simpler way of getting the job done. We've all see photos and videos of beekeepers moving around an orchard of some sort, using BobCats or other type of all terrain forklift, loading and unloading pallets of bees. Cool... but that's not practical for most beekeepers or those who need to move anthing less than... 400 colonies. On today's episode, Jim invites Jeff Ott, from Beekeeping Today Podcast, to the show to

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19:19

Memorable Stings (125)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/05/11

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 absolutely the best time to make sure your students know as much as possible when it comes to getting stung: The best protective gear to wear, when to wear it, and including how to act around colonies so you don’t upset them. All of these should probably be repeated time

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21:42

Well... It Depends - Swarms (124)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/05/04

A lot of times, when somebody asks us a bee question, the best answer we can give them is, “It Depends.” In today’s episode, Kim and Jim explore the topic of Swarms. Where did it come from? Where do you put it? What do you do with the queen? Should you feed them? As they explore how to manage this newly caught swarm, they realize there are no definitive answers, as there are so many answers based upon the circumstances and the beekeeper’s goals. It just depends. Listen today, and let them know how

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24:15

Marking Queens (123)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/04/27

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 HER MAKES FINDING HER EASY, RIGHT? Yes, but how does that yellow spot get there? Mostly, or at least often we just buy them marked so we don’t have to do it ourselves. Actually marking a queen can be a stressful moment in her life, and yours. How do you pick her up

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19:10

What About Those Springtime Bee Yard Chores (122)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/04/20

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

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22:19

Lessons Learned: Memorable Meetings (121)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/04/13

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

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21:37

What's This About Bees Eating Their Young? (120)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/04/06

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

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21:15

What About That Pollen Flow (119)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/03/30

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

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21:16

Dealing with Old Frames (118)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/03/23

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

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22:57

Should You Paint Your Hive? (117)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/03/16

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

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20:36

Preparing for the First Nectar Flow (116)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/03/09

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

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20:54

Managing The Small Colony (115)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/03/02

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

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20:00

Considering Atypical Bee Yards (114)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/02/23

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

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24:13

Finding Bee Yards (113)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/02/16

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

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23:02

Spring Bees: Are Nucs A Good Deal? (112)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/02/09

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. How old is the queen? How much of all kinds of brood are already there? What condition is the beeswax comb in? Does it come in it’s own box, what about frame exchange and how are you going to get it home? If you’re just starting out it really pays to

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19:52

Bee Management on Warm(ish) Winter Days (111)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/02/02

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 country are already adding supers, there’s pollen coming in and the year has begun, but for those of us up north, there’s still a month of winter left. But this 50 degree day is a bonus and we can get in early, check for food, see if the bees are

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24:07

Dealing with Package Queens (110)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/01/26

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 longer for the worker bees in the package to become accustomed to this new queen, and patience in every aspect of introducing them in their new home is a good idea. There are many possible reasons for this… the environment in the colony she was living in has

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22:35

Considering New Honey Bee Queens (109)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2023/01/19

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 good queen. But what makes a good queen? Population production, mite resistance, gentle, the right color, honey production? All have some level of importance and it depends more on the beekeeper than what the books say, mostly, usually. It’s even more

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