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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

20:30

Rim, Feeding Rim or Spacer (089)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/09/01

So, what’s that thing you put between two supers to give additional space between top bars below and bottom bars above so there’s room for…something you want to add to the hive. Is it a spacer, a rim, or what? Kim has always called it a ‘rim’ and thought he had one until this week. Because it’s getting time to think about winter feeding, and he always used a rim to make room for the pollen patties he feeds, couldn’t find it. He looked in a few catalogs, but could not find them listed. Jim simply

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20:55

Dealing With Wax Moths (088)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/08/25

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 weak colonies sometimes can’t keep up and soon they’ll have more wax moth larvae than honey bees. Stored equipment is another challenge. Some beekeepers will freeze supers after harvest to kill any moth larvae before storing them away for the winter. If

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15:59

End of Season Evaluations (087)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/08/18

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 summer, and the bee suits they occasionally wear (did you know a good way to wash a smokey, propolis covered bee suit is to use a pressure sprayer?) and is that old smoker good for another year, or not? There’s a lot to consider… How’s your location working

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19:04

Hive Stand Options (086)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/08/11

Have you ever thought much about the hive stands you use? On today’s episode, Jim and Kim take a long look at the hive stands they use and why they favor them. They also look at a lot of other choices available to beekeepers – all based upon personal preferences, terrain, individual strength and even weather! Are some better than others? Absolutely! Are some expensive, while others free? Absolutely! Do you get what you pay for? Most of the time. Your hive stand can tall a lot about how you keep

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18:02

How Much Honey Do You Leave On A Colony? (085)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/08/04

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 pulling your honey? In August? Or November? Do you typically have a fall nectar flow? Is it strong or just… meh. If you don’t know, check with another beekeeper. They can give you added insight to the local conditions. (This is yet another time knowing an

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16:01

Dealing With Heat in the Beeyard (084)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/07/28

It’s hot out there and it looks like it isn’t going to cool off for most of us for awhile. Also, since mite treatments should be starting now, getting honey off in the heat is the rule of the day. So how do you stay cool when it’s hot out there? Well, Kim and Jim take a good long look at how to stay cool and what happens if you overdo in the heat. We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment. We'd love to hear from you! ___________________ Thanks

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19:32

Laying Workers (083)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/07/21

If you have a colony of honey bees, chances are, at some point, some year, that colony will become queenless. If you do not realize it and the bees are unsuccessful at re-queening themselves, there is a pretty good chance, your colony will end up with laying workers. In this episode, Jim and visiting cohost, Jeff Ott from Beekeeping Today Podcast, talk about laying workers. How can you tell if you have laying workers? The first sign many beekeepers recognize is the appearance of multiple eggs in a

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20:48

After The Swarm (082)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/07/14

Swarm season is fun and exhilarating. Much has been written about swarms. They’ve been studied, photographed, pursued and just… watched. But what does the beekeeper do with the parent colony the next day? What do they do with the swarm after they’ve caught it and put it in a box? In today’s episode Jim and Jeff Ott (from Beekeeping Today Podcast) talk about… what should you do, After The Swarm? Listen as Jim and Jeff talk about the post swarm queen. Which queen? Both! Either the new queen in the

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19:04

The Importance of Mentors (081)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/07/07

On today’s episode, Kim and Jim talks about what it takes to be a mentor to another beekeeper, and therefore what you can look for in a good mentor. As a mentor, you have to develop good communication between you and your mentee. That means communication both ways – them to you, you to them. Establish guidelines for times, locations, and other requirements that you both respect. Go into the relationship knowing that constructive criticism is necessary. Not only for mistakes, but for chances to learn

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22:42

Queen Excluders - Love Them or Hate Them (080)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/06/30

On today’s episode, Jim and Jeff Ott (from Beekeeping Today Podcast), discuss the value and use of the ‘love it or hate it” piece of equipment, the Queen Excluder. Queen excluders are included in almost every “Honey Producer Starter Package”, but why and how are they used? Jim and Jeff discuss the multiple uses of a queen excluders (Did you know they will also exclude drones? Or that you can use one to help while uncapping frames of honey? Of course you did!) They discuss the types of queen

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19:16

Water For Your Bees (079)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/06/23

After you get through the winter, spring buildup, swarming season and the ever present varroa, you can sit back and smell the flowers, right? You’re a beekeeper! There is no time to rest! Jim has a question for you… “Where are your bees getting the water they need?” On today’s episode, Jim and Jeff Ott (from Beekeeping Today Podcast) talk about where your bees are likely to find the water they need. If you are miles from your nearest neighbor, then you only need to consider whether or not there is

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18:13

Dealing with Marginal Queens (078)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/06/16

Pretty much every beekeeper, at one time or another, ends up with a queen that’s not doing what they think she should be doing or - not doing what all the rest of your queens are doing. So, what is happening and can you do anything to get her going? Marginal queens are tough to identify. There is one easy fix: You just replace her. That said, how long do you wait to make a decision? Wait! Perhaps it is not the queen that’s marginal. Maybe something else going on. Once you figure that out, when do

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21:09

Small Furry Pests (077)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/06/09

It doesn’t take long after getting into beekeeping and then repeatedly, as long as you have beekeeping equipment laying around or stacked neatly, until you have to deal with small furry pests. Mice, rats and other critters love the shelter, warmth, relative safety and often food, found in beekeeping equipment. In today’s episode, Jim Tew talks with Jeff Ott, from Beekeeping Today Podcast, about Small Furry Pests. There are ways to deal with mice and rats. What works in a bee yard? The guys talk

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18:03

Exploring Honey Prices (076)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/06/02

During a recent trip to a big-name US drug store, Kim saw honey on the shelf for $4.99 per pound. It was a blend of honeys from Argentina and India. A US commercial beekeeper shoots for a price of honey (in the 55-gallon barrel to a packer) for about the going price of diesel fuel, which, at the end of May was pushing $7 per gallon. In today’s Honey Bee Obscura episode, Kim and Jim dissect this problem a bit. This quickly leads to the question we should all ask ourselves before we casually hand out

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18:40

Dealing With Feisty Bees (075)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/05/26

Jim’s beeyard is the center of attention this week, because his bees were bothering his wife and a very patient, longtime neighbor. That’s not a good thing. So, exasperated, Jim asks Kim for his ideas about all that was going on and to help figure out why. Two of his colonies were swarming or at least it looked that way. Plus, he is experiencing a nectar dearth at the moment. Is robbing part of the problem? Regardless, his bees are feisty and others are paying the price. It was a mixed bag of bee

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18:31

How To Plan Raised Pollinator Beds (074)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/05/19

If a pollinator garden is in your future this summer, constructing a raised bed is one way to keep it under control and is a much easier approach to providing food for your bees, beauty for your yard and not an aching back for you. There are all varieties of raised bed gardens. The one pictured below is made of metal, purchased from a gardening company that specializes in these and will last years with little maintenance. Simpler models have only metal corner posts, the gardener supplies the wooden

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16:10

Final Thoughts on Package Bee Season (073)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/05/12

So you have already put in your two packages (you did get two, right?) and a few days, or maybe a week later you checked them and…..something’s wrong! What can go wrong with a new package? Kim and Jim chat a bit about the things that can and for some, will go wrong with new packages. First check, the queen’s dead in her cage. Get a new one, find some brood from another colony, join with another colony? All work, but which is best? After a week you check and…..no bees! They all left! Where did they

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20:45

Installing Package Bees in Inclement Weather (072)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/05/05

Package season is about over for 2022. Perhaps thankfully too, depending on where in the country you live. Installing packages does not always go well or as depicted in bee books or Internet videos. Sometimes, the weather just does not cooperate. In this week’s episode, Jim talks with Jeff Ott from Beekeeping Today Podcast about installing packages in bad weather. When you order and pay your deposit in January and February for your packages later in the spring, you envision they will show up on a

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21:44

Planning A Successful Bee Association Meeting (071)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/04/28

Have you ever been involved in planning and carrying out a beekeeping meeting? If not, there are a host of things to consider that you may have missed when you simply ‘attend’ a meeting. Kim and Jim have attended probably thousands of meetings, and over the last 30 plus years, have seen everything that can go wrong, go wrong, and what those who make good plans did to fix it. They’ve seen lots of meetings run as smooth as glass. Plus, Kim has served as President of both the Connecticut and Ohio State

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18:45

Finding Bee Yards (070)

Honey Bee Obscura Podcast ·

2022/04/21

What are the important considerations for finding a new bee yard? There are a whole lot of right answers to this question and Kim and Jim explore almost all of them. For starters, year-round access, locked gates, dangerous animals, safety, and liability (yours and the property owner)? There are many questions you should ask. The answers, of course, are going to be all over the map (sorry) and you will need to know (and probably have in writing) the answers to all of them. Plus, talk to as many

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270 results

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