Ep145 Organic? Treatment-Free? Chemical-Free? Natural Beekeeping Terms Explained in this great article
Beekeeping at FiveAppleShow Notes
Ep145 Organic? Treatment-Free? Chemical-Free? Natural Beekeeping Terms Explained in this ABJ article Ever get confused by all the "natural beekeeping" terms floating around? In this episode I'm discussing an article (Oct 2023 ABJ) that breaks down three approaches that sound similar but are actually pretty different: organic beekeeping, treatment-free beekeeping, and chemical-free beekeeping. They're NOT interchangeable, and understanding the differences might change how you think about managing your hives. Whether you're curious about going more natural with your bees or you just want to know what other beekeepers are talking about when they describe their approach. Handy for new beekeepers trying to figure out their philosophy and seasoned beeks who want to geek out on the fine print of management styles. Article used with permission of American Bee Journal. Want to say thanks to ABJ for allowing these episodes from their archives? Grab a subscription and get access to years and years of bee magazines! One year digital only, with archive access: 21.00. One year print (with access to the archives) Links I mentioned I'd share with everyone—It's Thanksgiving after all!
If for any reason these links don't work in your podcast app, you can view them in your web browser here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/144457183
Free At Home Beekeeping Series from Alabama Extension
Direct link to Julia Mahood's presentation on recordkeeping (available only til Dec 2 it says) on the Alabama Extension Facebook page.
SBGMI Virtual Winter Conference 2026
Certified Naturally Grown apiary standards in handbook form : Whether or not you get certified, this is a top notch collection of 'best practices' imo.
Ran across this just today! "Get 40% off a year long subscription to BEE CULTURE MAGAZINE" (limited time offer; this is their fine print below) Valid on online orders only through https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/bee-culture Once on this page, click the 1-Year Print Only Option. Then click the 'Apply Promo Code' (BLUE line of text on the right hand side of screen.) Next, enter code SOC40 and click 'Apply code'. Valid 6PM EST November 26 through 11:59PM December 1, 2025. For U.S. subscriptions only. New subscriptions will begin with the February 2026 issue. If you want to get links like those every time I release an episode, join as a patron!
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If you can support the show with $3 a month or more, please sign up today: https://www.patreon.com/fiveapple About Beekeeping at FiveApple: Leigh keeps bees in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina (gardening zone 6b). She cares for around a dozen hives in a rural Appalachian highland climate. Colonies are managed for bee health with active selection for vigor, genetic diversity and disease resistance, but without chemical treatments for fifteen years. The apiary is self-sustaining (not needing to buy/catch replacement bees since 2010) and produces honey and nucs most every year.
More from Beekeeping at FiveApple
Did you know honey bees are able to detect lung cancer by smell? Today I share that amazing study as well as more about the scents our bees use to communicate vital info: food! danger! home! here it is! Plus updates on the bee yards, black jar honey contest, new requeening presentation, Bee Expo 2027 and more. Links mentioned in this episode: MSU researchers discover honeybees can detect lung cancer https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2024/06/msu-researchers-discover-honeybees-can-detect-lung-cancer Smells - by Kevin Cheatham-McFadden in Bee Culture https://beeculture.com/smells-2/ Not a subscriber to Bee Culture yet? https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/bee-culture North American Honey Bee Expo, Louisville KY Jan 7-9, 2027 https://www.nahbexpo.com/ Speaker Info: https://www.nahbexpo.com/speakers wishing you all a wonderful October! Leigh
The light and the leaves are both saying Autumn has started. Our winter bees are already emerging and there are things we can do to give them their best chance. In today's episode I'm talking about the things I'm getting done to get ready for the bees journey through Winter. kind regards to you all in every kind of weather, Leigh
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 increased wear and tear on the precious winter bees who should not be as active as the temps drive them to be. But also, it goes into novel solutions (well, not novel in Canada but novel in more Southern climes) to help. Do backyard beekeepers have any options to help? I do some thinking aloud about all that and pondering on an unexpected potential benefit of insulation perhaps?
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 it's a radio reader episode on learning to reflect on the past in a way that makes it useful for the future. As well as a bit of clarification on the last episode. Link to the article: https://beeculture.com/off-the-wahl-beekeeping-46/ Link to another good on in the same issue: https://beeculture.com/minding-your-bees-and-cues-50/ Becky Masterman & Bridget Mendel on the fascinating Nasonov gland in "Come Hither." Both full articles are available free online. And while you are there you can get access to the whole archive with a digital subscription for as low as $24. https://simplecirc.com/subscribe/bee-culture Wishing you all a wonderful week and sure hope I'll get to meet a lot of you at the 2027 North American Honey Bee Expo (Louisville, Kentucky Jan 7-9) where I'm delighted to be a speaker for one of their smaller venue "Community Series" talks. I'll likely be talking about specialty splits (but of course!) ;-) kind regards, Leigh
[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 weeks episode that was missing for many! --Leigh] Listeners, 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 more beekeepers. Answer: Nope. [Deep sigh and regroup. ] I now feel so lucky to have learned a hybrid system that still allows me to work on my long term project of stock selection towards mite resistance–while also utilizing organic acids for mite clean up in colonies that don't make the cut, with a requeen afterwards with the better genetics. Back on track! Thank you to queen breeders Ryan Williamson, Ang Roell, Troy Hall , James Lee and YouTube legend Bob Binnie for helping me understand a system that allows for both. Thank you all so much for pioneering a method that gave me resolve to farmer up! I'm happy to have a plan and have put it underway. in gratitude, Leigh Thank you to the supporting Patrons. You make this podcast possible as well as keeping all of us from needing to listen to adverts! Thank you to Lisa N the newest podcast angel and thank you to Bev M, Anderson M, Greg K, Dan G, Donald F, and Kerri A for joining this community this summer! Welcome to you all! And a special shout out to podcast angels Michael C and Will C, plus Jeff T, Deborah P, Chuck J, Bruce H and Blaine N for being with the podcast since it started in 2019! What a huge amount of gratitude I have for your continued support. It's thanks to you this podcast still exists.