Beekeeping at FiveApple

Updated Ep166 Warmer autumns are good for bees right? Turns out, not really.

Found a research article that was food for thought on how warmer autumns may be having effects on our bees that aren't so good: creating smaller late-winter clusters by i

Ep165: Bee Radio Reader "Reflections on the Past Seasons"

Ep165: Bee Radio Reader "Reflections on the Past Seasons" by Richard Wahl (Off the Wahl Beekeeping Column, Nov 2025. Read by permission of Bee Culture magazine. ) Today

updated Ep164 After 16 years, a shift for me

[Last Thursday Apple podcasts had an outage and the episode didn't show up as a new one in your feed. Here it is again for the Apple folks -- just a duplicate of last wee

Ep164 After 16 years, a shift for me

This has been a test year in my bee yards, to see if my old treatment-free methods that worked so well for 16 years in an isolated bee yard would hold up in areas with mo

Ep163 Robbing prevention (and a tip I love!)

Today it's about the bee's most awful behavior: ROBBING. I found a tip on reducing robbing while doing inspections and it works great!! The PerfectBee.com website I ment

Ep162 July Ramble–thoughts in the heat, fun letter, invitation for you

Today Episode: July bee yard update William's tips on honey harvest (see Williams letter here) Tip on making bee boxes last longer "painting with glue" — this whole p

Ep161 Making sense of the assays—with Ang Roell of They Keep Bees

UBO, PKB, FKB, mite washes, Harbo assays... It's an alphabet soup out there of ways to test your bees for hygienic traits and resistance to varroa. You may be testing to

Ep160 Honey Harvesting Process

In this episode I share my own process for getting honey from the hives to the jars. It's quirky but it works for me and I'm hoping you might find ideas for your own proc

Ep159 Queen Introduction: Tips to get that caged mated queen accepted

So you have a caged mated queen and a colony that needs requeening, how to make that happen (so that your special queen actually survives the process!) is what we cover t

Ep158 Ryan Williamson of Sourwood Farm (Virginia) Interview

Something special today! This interview with Ryan Williamson of Sourwood Farm of Virginia has been the one where I learned the most. He is a full time beekeeper selling l

Ep157  More Springtime Tips: Keeping bees in the boxes, avoid the honey dome, get more comb drawn, know if your hive is queenright or queenless.

Ep157  More Springtime Tips: Keeping bees in the boxes, avoid the honey dome, get more comb drawn, know if your hive is queenright or queenless.  In case you missed it:

Ep156 Spring in the 🐝 bees!

Today it's a ramble through things going on in the bee yard as Spring has taken over and the bees won't wait! Doing some quick splits to save the day, still aiming for mo

Ep155 Tina Sebestyen Interview: Miller Method & More

I ask Tina about the Miller (graftless) method of Queen rearing and her recent articles in ABJ, then we wander into chat between bee friends of goings on in our apiaries,

Ep154 Swarm prevention & tips from Greg Rogers

Today I share some great tips shared by Greg Rogers of Haw Creek Honey when he presented to our local club. Then we work through swarm prevention strategies (starts at 16

Ep153 Interview with James Lee of SBGMI

Today I interview James Lee, president of the Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan about the goals and offerings of this important virtual education hub for beekeeper

Ep 152: Knowing Bee Biology Makes Better Beekeepers

This is a hefty episode that reviews some of the many, many ways knowing bee biology will directly affect the decisions you have to make as a beekeeper in every season of

Ep 151 If you lost bees this winter: figuring it out and going forward

It's that time of year as beekeepers that we find out how we did — how we did all the way back to the summer before. Some years it can be a tough report-card to get! As a

Ep 150: Lifecycle of the Bees (and the beekeeper) for Newbees

Ep 150: Lifecycle of the Bees (and the beekeeper) for Newbees So this is a version of the talk I'm giving at my local club's bee school this year, telling the story of t

Ep 149: Starting with a Nucleus Colony, for Newbees

A full overview for beginners of starting with your first nucleus colony. Things to know, things to learn, things to watch out for. Experienced beekeepers: I've asked for

Ep 148 January for the Beekeeper

But of course there's beekeeping stuff you can do in winter! :-) Listen in to get ideas about what tasks need doing (check in on your bees food stores!) as well as though