Bee Love Beekeeping... presented by Mann Lake

Beekeeping Winterization, Mentors, Varroa, Single Brood Management, Swarms, Advice for New Beekeepers... This episode is packed!

In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we dive deep into the world of honeybees and the humans who care for them. From a poetic opening that celebrates the harmony of the hive to practical, boots-on-the-ground advice, this episode blends wonder with real-world beekeeping wisdom.

We kick off a new weekly se...

In this information-packed episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we welcome master beekeeper Deborah Klughers for a rapid-fire deep dive into practical, real-world beekeeping.

Building off her legendary “100+ tips” for beekeepers presentation, Deb shares hard-earned lessons on feeding strategies, hive stands, smoker safety, mite monitoring, drone brood management, and even the controversial—but fascinating—role of bee venom in beekeeper ...

In this episode, we explore the fascinating world of honey bees, looking at how bees communicate, work together, and inspire humans—from scientists to everyday beekeepers. The show opens with a brief reflection on honey bees as masters of collective intelligence, followed by intriguing research suggesting that bees and their mathematical communication may even offer insights for extraterrestrial intelligence studies.

The conversatio...

Conversation with Dr. Jason Graham, Ph.D. Questions asked and answered.

In this episode, we kick off our coverage from the North American Honey Bee Expo with an in-depth and surprisingly entertaining conversation with entomologist and beekeeper Dr. Jason “Dr. J” Graham. Recorded live on the bustling expo floor, this episode blends science, storytelling, and practical beekeeping insight.

Dr. Graham shares his unconventional journey fr...

In this episode, we reconnect with Chris Hyatt, past president of the American Honey Producers Association and a lifelong commercial beekeeper managing 18,000 colonies across North Dakota, California, and Washington. Chris returns to give an unfiltered look at the state of commercial beekeeping after one of the most challenging years on record.

The conversation opens with a reflection on devastating winter losses, where even the mos...

In this episode, we kick off Season 3 by diving deep into the North American Bee Strategy with special guest Matt Mulica of the Honey Bee Health Coalition. Together, we explore the biggest challenges facing honey bees and beekeepers today—and what’s being done across the U.S. and Canada to address them.

From Varroa mites and emerging threats like Tropilaelaps, to honey fraud, beekeeping economics, pesticides, forage, and applied res...

"Desensitization" is the key, but how is it applied?

In this final installment of the Apitherapy series, we return to Romania to sit down once more with Dr. Stefan Stangaciu, MD, beekeeper and one of the world’s leading authorities on apitherapy.

Building on the foundation laid in episodes 250 and 251, this conversation takes a deep dive into how bee products can be used to support the body in cases of seasonal allergies and hay fev...

Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Stefan Stangaciu:

In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we discuss the step-by-step approach to treating burns with honey. Then we shift to bee venom therapy to treat all kinds of illnesses, including Lyme Disease, Cancer, Chronic Pain, and more.

Takeaways

• Honey has hygroscopic properties that aid in wound healing.
• Drinking water before consuming honey prevents stomach irritation.
• Honey can blo...

Join host Eric Bennett and Dr. Ștefan Stangaciu, MD from Romania. Dr. Stangaciu is the world’s leading authority on apitherapy, as well as being a beekeeper, medical doctor, and president of the International Federation of Apitherapy.

In part 1 of this series, we learn why propolis, pollen and bee-derived extracts often outperform honey for healing, how to extract and handle honey for medicinal use, and practical ways beekeepers ...

In this rich and wide-ranging conversation, host Eric Bennett, welcomes Rob Wright, CEO of Mann Lake, for an honest and surprisingly personal look at the current state of the beekeeping industry.

From swarm-catching mishaps and hive cutouts to global honey tastings and the future of bee health, this episode blends practical insights, industry updates, and stories that every beekeeper—from hobbyist to commercial operator—will relate...

In this episode of Be Love Beekeeping, Eric and Bee Culture editor Jerry Hayes break down the aftermath of the 2024–25 winter honey bee die-off, where roughly 1.6 million colonies were lost.

They discuss how Varroa-spread viruses, weak mite management, nutrition challenges, climate stress, and migratory pollination all converged to push colonies past their limits. A central message emerges: beekeepers at every level must sample for...

In this deeply moving episode of Be Love Beekeeping, we meet Utah commercial beekeeper Prenten Frazier of Beehive State Honey, whose 5-generation family operation was recently devastated by a catastrophic warehouse fire.

Prenten shares the gut-wrenching 4:30 a.m. phone call no beekeeper ever wants, the shock of watching 37,000 square feet of buildings, wax, equipment, and a year’s honey harvest go up in flames—and the incredible st...

Learn How to Lift a Heavy Honey Super With ONE Hand.

This episode of Be Love Beekeeping opens with a poetic reflection on honeybees and the sometimes-clumsy humans who care for them, then pivots into a very real problem most beekeepers know too well: heavy lifting and exhausting honey harvests.

After a sobering Arizona news story about a tragic bee-transport accident and a look at emerging research on the mental health benefits of b...

GENETICS MATTER!

Host, Eric Bennett takes us from poetic honeybee musings straight into the practical world of queen bee production on Hawaiʻi Island.

After a heartwarming news segment about 9-year-old beekeeper Nicholas Bard and the Santa Rosa community pushing back on an outdated city ordinance, Eric sits down with Rebeca Krones of Hawaiian Queen Company in Captain Cook.

Rebecca explains why Hawaiʻi is one of the best places on ...

Host Eric welcomes Kevin O’Connor of Bee Boys Apiary from Waiohinu on the Big Island of Hawaiʻi to talk about what many consider one of the spiciest topics in beekeeping: treatment-free, regenerative beekeeping.

Before the interview, Eric shares a fascinating new study on the waggle dance, showing that bees don’t just pass on direction and distance—they actually integrate dance information with their own cognitive map of the landsc...

What can you learn from a 50 year beekeeper? Chuck Kutik opens up about everything he has learned about beekeeping and making money in the business of bees, over the years.

In this engaging episode, host Eric Bennett welcomes Chuck, a 50-year veteran commercial beekeeper from New York.

Chuck opens up about the fascinating life of bees, the business side of beekeeping, and what it takes to balance passion, profit, and pollination. F...

Has Varroa met it's match? Is there really a birth control for mites?

Beekeepers celebrate with this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping!

We start with a love letter to honeybees and the beekeepers who tend them, then head to the Bee Love newsroom: small hive beetle turns up in southeast Alaska for the first time, and West Virginia considers a statewide Beekeeping Rights Bill that would centralize apiary regulations and protect beekeep...

Massachusetts beekeeper and entrepreneur Rick Reault (New England Beekeeping /The Colony) joins Eric for a deep, joyful dive into bees and business—from his first disastrous mead batch to an award-winning traditional made with Japanese knotweed honey and bourbon-barrel aging.

Rick demystifies the mead making process (must temps around 60–65°F, 6–8 weeks of ferment, a year of patient aging), then maps how he turned a backyard beekee...

From a Varroa-free outpost off Australia’s southern coast, beekeeper Shawn Hinves of Kangaroo Island shares how a family operation running 350 hives of pure Ligurian honey bees navigates biosecurity, fire recovery, and the realities of modern beekeeping.

The episode opens with practical fall prep—feed heavy in cold climates, consider insulation, and always test and treat for mites—before diving into global news on the EPA’s approva...