Hobby Beekeeping

As hobby beekeepers, we consider the changing environment in which we introduce our bees to be important. Do we choose to treat or not? Finding a beekeeping philosophy that fits with our internal belief system is helpful. Here is part 2 of my interview.

Part one of a two-part interview with a hobby beekeeper who has bees in Ontario and New Brunswick, Canada. What are the challenges and what philosophy of beekeeping makes sense.

Knowing when a hive is starting the first steps in possible swarming can be very helpful to hobby beekeepers. It may also signal when it's time to consider splitting a hive. I explain a new statistic using our AI platform that may be helpful.

As a hobby beekeeper, I wonder about the scientific evidence that shows bees choose to live far apart in nature. We know that drifting, robbing, and general dislike of each other make hives choose to establish far apart. If we believe this, why do we put them together?

Someone asked me a few questions about starting beekeeping as a hobby today, so here is my short list. I also talk about the need to interact with bees that make sense to YOU.

Hard to believe but true. Here in Canada, if you take your bees from your home to a cottage that may be in another province, you could be fined $10,000 and serve up to 6 months in jail. The rules are based on faulty science that supports provincial tariffs and border fees in Canada. It contributes to the escalated costs that hobby beekeepers face today.

In a new study, Drones are reported to transmit gut microbes to queens during mating. It opens up a whole new world and appreciation in understanding why, likely, we hobby beekeepers need to leave drones alone.

Hobby beekeeping is more than working with bees. It's a way to understand all of the things that can connect to our passion of bees and as well nature. In this unique interview, I sit down and talk with the founder of Green Goop, and how keeping or being around bees can lead to very different results.

Beekeeping used to be a relaxing hobby where it was a safe place to off load some weight or pressure. Now keeping bees seems to add to that weight. I'm deciding to do less in 2026, not more and make sure I protect the sanctuary of my experience.

Your Hobby beekeeping can get to the next level if you are ready. We are upgrading aibeehealth.ca to include a way you can analyze your front entrance bee activity to help better understand hive health. Will you join me in 2026?

While the temptation is to keep helping our bees in the winter, this may be the wrong thing to do. here is why for me, it's a time to leave them alone.

I asked myself that question, and the answer has nothing to do with honey or general beekeeping. When three of my worlds collided this week, maybe I'm starting to get it. What about you?

First time after viewing thousands of front entrance clips, we see this. It is in a 2-frame research hive spotted on October 26. The original hive is one of our 5-year survivors without chemical mite treatments. Could a certain strain of DWV actually help inoculate our bees?

With hobby beekeeping, I often wonder whether I should add a bit of thymol to help my bees. Treating for varroa seems to be something many of us think will help. But the science and the fact that tens of thousands of beekeepers no longer treat for Varroa tell us something else. Today, I discuss the powerful placebo effect on our actions with our bees. Does thinking it will help make it do so?

As we wind down the year a look at our failed and survivor hives with some Bee Lessons on life and money management.

I often think I can save them when I see the yellow jacket attacks, but it is really only a sign of a different problem. Here are my thoughts and Hive updates.

With just two hives failing so far, it's not enough to run the data. But some failed splits may help us better understand what may have happened to them. The other question is, if we open a hive now, what do we do with it if it still has bees?

It's sad on one side, but exciting on the other to have finally lost some hives. The lost hive data when compared to those that survived may help us better understand what is happening with our bees. The work starts this week.

As the bees wind down, so do I. Here are some updates as we move into late fall.

What a week. My eyes were opened wide as I learned of this fraud. Not surprisingly, I was a part of it. Here's the story.

In this rare interview on my podcast, I bring on Dr. Gary Brook whose article I recently discussed on the ability to have bees treatment-free. It's a fascinating look at the evidence and clearly begs the question, Why aren't we all doing this?

The evidence is pretty clear now that beekeepers need not treat for mites. In this podcast, I discuss the recently published article that says using these two strategies can get you treatment-free.

While the USDA wants us to believe mites and viruses killed our bees this year, it's not true. Listen while I explain some common researcher tricks and also some common beekeeping mistakes to avoid. Yes, I loved the Dave Letterman "stupid human pet tricks" segments.

I record this podcast from the Bee House and discuss the benefits of this approach plus hive updates.

A bit of this and that, plus special thanks for sending me your comments.