Bee Love Beekeeping... presented by Mann Lake

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 beekeeping, the conversation “heads down under” to Byron Bay, Australia.Host Eric Bennett sits down with Cedar Anderson, co-founder of Flow...

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a heartwarming news segment about 9-year-old beekeeper Nicholas Bard and the Santa Rosa community pushing back on an outdated city ordinance, Eric sits down with Rebeca Krones of Hawaiian Queen Company in Captain Cook.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 the planet to raise queen bees, how controlled genetics (via Dr. Joe Latshaw) produce gentle but hard-working stock, what their year-round queen br...

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 landscape to anticipate landmarks and fly more efficiently.Kevin walks us through the philosophy behind his 100% treatment-free beekeeping business: no plastic, no feeding, no foundat...

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. From moving thousands of hives for blueberry pollination to dealing with bears, yellow jasmine, and lightning strikes, Chuck’s stories blend humor, humility, and de...

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 beekeepers. Our main segment features Eric Walgren and Adam Pachl from GreenLight Biosciences on Narroa, a new RNA treatment that prevents Varroa...

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 beekeeping hobby into a diversified honey operation: honey wholesale and retail, classes, apothecary goods, candles, and seasonal pollination. You’ll hear a practical revenue framework (“five ways to make $20k”), the realities...

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 approval of an RNA-based Varroa treatment. Then we travel to Kangaroo Island, where strict ferry inspections, proposed wash-down stations, and community vigilance aim to keep Varroa off the island...

Opening was recorded at Apimondia in Copenhagen. This episode blends field notes and a feel-good interview with Elsa Gallagher of the Bee & Butterfly Habitat Fund. Practical beekeeping takeaways: habitat is the foundation for bees, and forage diversity consistently outperforms monocultures. Gallagher explains how her team equips landowners with locally adapted seed mixes: a native “picture” bordered by a clover-rich “bee mix,” free for 2–25 acre projects and cost-share above that. She outlines city and campus pathways, from park strips to roadside plantings, stressing the power of local champions. For small yards, the advice is simple: mo...

"It was sheer panic!" That's how Amber explains her wild & crazy beekeeping story.In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we open with a poetic ode to honeybees and a couple of “beekeeper bloopers,” then sit down with Amber Leach, North American Sales Manager at Veto-Pharma.We dig into Varroa Integrated Pest Management (IPM): why testing before and after treating matters, how to avoid resistance through rotation and correct use, and what’s new in Apivar 2.0.Amber breaks down Varroa EasyCheck (alcohol wash, sugar roll, CO₂), shares high-altitude lessons from 7,500 ft, and explains why comm...

How many sources of income do your beehives produce? If it's just honey sales and a few wax products, you will want to listen to this episode!In this week's Bee-Love Beekeeping, we explore the magic of honeybee navigation and take a trip to Hawaii’s North Shore to meet beekeeper Katie Metzger, founder of Hanai Hives.We kick off with a look at groundbreaking research on honeybee eyesight, revealing how these incredible insects read the polarized sky to travel miles and return home without losing their way—even on cloudy days. Then, we dive into...

This episode features a beekeeper-engineer’s quest to copy what a honey bee colony does naturally in a hollow tree—and to put that into a production hive. Alex Gamberoni of Primal Bee, shares how repeated winter losses drove him and his co-founder to model nest shape, airflow, and dew point, ultimately designing the insulated, trapezoidal “Primal Bee” nest that aims to reduce winter losses (reported

Working With Bees instead of Managing Bees. In this episode, Eric takes us across the pond to southwest Scotland for a heartfelt conversation with Titanilla Kiss, a natural beekeeper originally from Budapest, Hungary.Tita shares her journey from hospitality to beekeeping, the mentorship that shaped her early days, and how she now tends her colonies in the challenging, ever-changing Scottish climate. With a philosophy rooted in observation, respect, and balance, she blends natural remedies, herbal tonics, and even mushroom extracts into her beekeeping practice—all while honoring the bees’ resilience and life cycles.🌼 What You’ll Hear i...

This episode of Bee Love Beekeeping takes listeners on a journey from the ancient art of beekeeping to the frontiers of agricultural technology. Host Eric Bennett sits down with Eliyah Radzyner of Beewise to discuss the urgent need for innovation in hive care—especially as North America faces devastating colony losses.Eliyah shares his personal journey into beekeeping, the “aha moment” that computers could manage hives better than he could, and the creation of Beewise’s BeeHome— "Half Hive, Half Robot," that can monitor, diagnose, and treat colonies remotely. By tackling the three biggest beekeeper challenges—distance, timing, and...

Featured Guest: Dr. Tom Seeley – Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, renowned honey bee researcher, and author of six influential books including Honeybee Democracy and Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz Runners. In this fascinating conclusion to our conversation with renowned honeybee biologist Dr. Tom Seeley, we journey deep into the intricate world of honey bee behavior, decision-making, and hive life. Every beekeeper needs to hear this!From the poetic dance of foraging to the precise mechanics of swarming, Dr. Seeley reveals what decades of research have uncovered about one of nature’s most sophisticated societies.<p...

Featured Guest: Dr. Tom Seeley – Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, renowned honey bee researcher, and author of six influential books including Honeybee Democracy and Piping Hot Bees and Boisterous Buzz Runners.🐝 Topics Covered:The difference between Langstroth hives and natural bee homesCollective intelligence in bees and parallels to the human brainWorker bee piping: how to know when a swarm is about to launchBee lining/Bee hunting: how to track wild honey bee colonies using this ancient techniqueNatural hive insulation and its benefits for overwinteringEarly experiments with dissecting bee treesVarroa control and genetics-based resistance methodsThe behavioral genius of ho...

In this delightfully global episode, host Eric Bennett heads to Denmark (virtually!) to meet Lars Fischer and Sophus Knusen — two passionate hobby beekeepers with world-class honey and hearts full of beekeeping joy. From getting stung below the eye to winning the award for best honey in the world, these friends share their love of bees, their Danish-style queen rearing techniques, and their winning formula for perfectly creamy spring honey. We also dive into the incredible story of Apimondia, the world’s largest beekeeping congress — coming to Copenhagen this September — and get a behind-the-scenes look at what’s i...

In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, host Eric Bennett sits down with Joshua Diggins, a Florida beekeeper, Navy veteran, and branch manager for Mann Lake. Josh shares fascinating insights on how submarines and beehives are surprisingly similar. Before the interview, Eric highlights the mental health benefits of beekeeping, from reducing stress and anxiety to helping veterans and those with PTSD find mindfulness, connection, and purpose. Beekeeping programs have been used successfully in prisons, youth initiatives, and even healthcare as “green therapy.” Josh then discusses the unique challenges of beekeeping in Florida, including how to mana...

Welcome to the first full video episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, presented by Mann Lake! If you prefer to consume video versions of podcasts, you'll find us our YouTube channel at https://www.youtube.com/@BeeLoveBeekeeping and video of this episode at https://youtu.be/lgdeWybgefk In this special debut, host Eric Bennett chats with one of the most beloved figures in the beekeeping community, Jeff Horchoff, better known as Mr. Ed. Jeff is a Louisiana beekeeper, YouTube personality with over 150,000 subscribers, and the caretaker of bees for a Benedictine monastery. Above all...

In this special episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we take a step away from our usual beekeeper interviews to explore an important and sometimes misunderstood topic: the relationship between honeybees and native bees. With headlines circulating like “Americans Are Saving the Wrong Bees” and “Honeybee Invasion,” it’s time to dig deeper into the science and separate fact from fear. Are honeybees really hurting native bees, or is the truth more nuanced?To help us answer that, we’re joined by Jennifer Michelle, a sustainable health strategist with a background in public health, epidemiology, and medical entomology. Jennifer off...

"Bees in the pants is never fun!" You'll find this, and other fun & enlightening quotes, in this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping.Host, Eric Bennett, welcomes experienced beekeeper John Stephens for a deep dive into a simplified, yet highly effective, approach to hive management—the single deep brood box system.But before we get to the honey and science, the show kicks off with a chuckle-worthy parody segment: “You Might Be a Beekeeper,” a hilarious twist on Jeff Foxworthy’s classic routine. With lines like “If you’ve apologized to a bee for getting stung… you might be a...