A 20-year beekeeper explains exactly what to do after a bee sting — what’s normal, what’s a warning sign, and when to seek emergency care immediately. I’ve been stung more times than I could honestly count at this point —…
Confused between honey bees, wasps, and bumblebees? A 20-year beekeeper breaks down the real differences in looks, behavior, and risk — with field-tested tips. A neighbor knocked on my door a few summers back holding her phone out like evidence…
Meta description: A practical, region-specific guide to winterizing beehives across the US, Canada, UK, and Australia — covering insulation, moisture control, feeding, and the mistakes that cause winter colony loss. I want to start with a confession, because I think…
Meta description: A realistic, line-by-line breakdown of what beekeeping actually costs in 2026 — from your first hive to your first honey harvest — based on real prices, not wishful thinking. A reader emailed me last month with a question…
Meta description: New research reveals worker bees stage coordinated revolts against weakened queens, driven by viral infections that disrupt pheromone signals — and a possible fix is already being tested. I’ve talked to a lot of beekeepers over the years…
Meta description: A Massachusetts beekeeper used colored wax to track how bees recycle and relocate it inside the hive — revealing comb-building habits that challenge long-held beekeeping assumptions. There’s a specific kind of beekeeper I’ve grown to trust more than…
There’s a particular kind of bee story I’ve started craving lately, mostly because so few of them come my way. Most of what crosses my desk is some version of bad news — collapse, loss, disease, an industry under pressure.…
If you’ve kept bees for more than a single season, you already know the name. You might not call it by its full title — most beekeepers I know just call it “the Varroa guide” — but if you’ve ever…
I got a text from a reader a while back, pretty rattled, asking if the bees in her garden might be “the dangerous kind.” She’d read something online about killer bees showing up somewhere in the South and wanted to…
A few years back, I got into a conversation with a beekeeper who’d just lost half his colonies over a brutal winter. He wasn’t angry about the cold, exactly — he expected that. What stuck with him was how avoidable…
