A winter cluster is the way a honeybee colony stays alive when temperatures drop too low for bees to fly or forage. Instead of heating the whole hive, the bees form a tight ball of workers around the queen and any brood, keeping just that cluster warm enough to survive. How a winter cluster […]
Varroa destructor mites remain the #1 threat to honey bee colonies in Northwest Ohio. From Fulton and Henry Counties to Defiance, Seneca, Paulding, Putnam, and Lucas County, nearly every beekeeper battles these parasites every year. One of the most effective, affordable, and bee-friendly tools we have against Varroa is oxalic acid — especially when used […]
Infusion vs. Mixing in Honey True infusion extracts flavors through prolonged contact, allowing honey’s natural solvents to draw out essential oils, aromas, and compounds from items like fruits or coffee over days to weeks at room temperature, resulting in a seamless, integrated taste. Simple mixing just suspends particles or liquids without extraction, yielding uneven flavor […]
There is a documented decline in managed honey bee colonies in many regions, especially in the United States, driven by multiple interacting stressors rather than a single cause. At the same time, global honey bee stock trends are uneven: some countries show stable or even increasing hive numbers due to intensive management, even as local […]
Six years ago, in the middle of a scorching Phoenix summer, I injured my neck, and my life changed forever. What started as isolated pain turned into full-body fibromyalgia: the deep aching, the brain fog, the days when even pulling on socks felt impossible. Doctors, medications, physical therapy, diets… I tried everything like many others […]
We humans love to talk. Bees? They never stop — they just do it without words. Every time you open a hive, you’re stepping into the middle of a 24/7 conversation involving 30,000–60,000 individuals. They speak with pheromones, body movements, vibrations, wing beats, and even tiny “whoop-whoop” sounds most of us can’t hear without special […]
What Is “Mindsight and Why Every Beekeeper Needs It Psychiatrist Dr. Dan Siegel coined the term “mindsight” to describe the ability to notice and understand what’s happening inside your own mind (and the minds of others, including, to some degree, your bees). In practical terms, mindsight is the pause between stimulus and response. Stimulus: A […]
