Visited the outyard today to drop off new hive stands and check in on the girls.
Archive for January, 2011
Doing Cutouts
2011
01.22
01.22
Cutouts are simply removing unwanted hives from places humans deem unacceptable. Normally the wall of a house, or the eve of a barn or such. They can be a traumatic experience for both bee and beekeeper alike. In this podcast, I cover some of the legal, political and technical issues of cutouts.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download (5.7MB)
Preparing Swarm Traps for Spring
2011
01.18
01.18
I ran 10 traps last year and caught 6 swarms. This year I’ve got 30 traps, and will be starting a grand experiment to find optimum locations, as well as making a DVD on swarm trapping.
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Winter is the most under used season of beekeeping, it is a time for maintenance, ordering equipment, planning marketing, and preparing for the coming year.
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Winter losses do some good.
2011
01.18
01.18
If you are in Texas, the end of Winter is nigh. I saw the first Dandelion bloom yesterday.
Chinese Honey not Dumped per se
2011
01.15
01.15
Quick Summary – Chinese honey was found to be not dumped, but was causing ‘material injury to an industry in the United States’.
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I’ve heard it dozens of times “Dumped Chinese Honey” and went to the root of the report.
Preparing Queen Rearing videos
2011
01.14
01.14
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I’ve been lucky enough to tap into some real experts. Both Michael Bush and a New Zealand beekeeper both have done Queen Rearing Presentations and both have given me permission to use their materials for a video.
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I’ve been processing the sound of Michael Bush’s video and will have it ready soon. This weekend, I will also hit the editor to knock out the Kiwi’s presentation and make it a video.
Honey again proven useful in wound management
2011
01.05
01.05
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Honey has been used in wound management since the ancient Greeks. So no surprise yet another study confirms it.
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However, what is great about this article is the very simplistic explanation as to why it works, even laymen can understand the gunk around their bathtub drain.
http://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/medizin_gesundheit/bericht-33220.html
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How this affects us, as beekeepers, is providing us a new market to sell honey too. It will be hard to get mainstream medical folks to buy our honey, but I think with an advertising push, cattle ranchers might buy a 5 gallon bucket to treat wounded cattle. Especially, for those ranchers who have gone organic.
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Just an idea.
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Tell me what Videos You want to see!
2011
01.03
01.03
So far I’ve drifted through different topics making videos. A new year is here and I want to make a master plan.
At some point this spring, I’ll put out a Swarm Trapping DVD, and some videos on how to light a smoker, cover basic equipment, and one on how to get into beekeeping.
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But…
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Now that I have something of a following, I want to hear from YOU what you’d like to see videos on. 
