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

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges beekeepers face after losing bees during winter and how to improve in the coming season.

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 all things in bees there are many ways to understand what happened. The good news even if it was a bad year is this: we can do better in the coming season. In this episode I encourage you to do just that, while also acknowledging its really really hard to lose any of our colonies. But there's no way to be a beekeeper without losing hives sooner or later. If we truly learn from the losses, it can turn into beekeeping skills that help keep more colonies alive. Things mentioned in the episode: Ep 150: Lifecycle of the Bees (and beekeeper) - a storytelling of the yearly cycle the bees circle through and how the beekeeper interacts. Please share with friends and family who want to understand what you and your bees are doing as well as with new beekeepers who need this grounding to start learning about bees. Ep 149: Starting with a Nucleus Colony, for Newbees A guide with tips for someone starting for the first time (or starting again) with Nucleus colonies. Supporting Patrons have access to an 11 page PDF with more…

People in this episode

Host: Leigh Wilkerson

Topics covered

• beekeeping
• loss of bees
• beekeeping skills
• nucleus colonies
• seasonal challenges

Keywords

• beekeeping
• bee loss
• hive management
• nucleus colony
• beekeeping skills

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Ep 150: Lifecycle of the Bees (and beekeeper), Ep 149: Starting with a Nucleus Colony, for Newbees

Places: New Hampshire

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