Bee Love Beekeeping... presented by Mann Lake

What do NASA astronauts and backyard beekeepers have in common? They both know that honey bees don’t always follow the rules!

This episode of Bee Love Beekeeping starts with a wild trip into space before welcoming Ben Cooper, a Pennsylvania beekeeper with more than 50 years of experience.

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

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Ben shares practical tips for reading frames, spotting queen and brood issues, identifying pests like small hive beetles, and figuring out what your colony really needs as winter approaches. Spoiler alert: sometimes your queen isn’t broken—she’s just following the calendar!

Then it’s time for some creative beekeeping hacks that could save your wallet from getting stung. From catching free swarms with bait hives to recycling old wax and discovering the surprising flavors of seasonal honey, Ben proves that a resourceful beekeeper doesn’t need every shiny gadget on the market.

Whether you’re new to beekeeping or a seasoned beekeeper, you’ll pick up useful insights into caring for honey bees, managing your frames, and learning to expect the unexpected. Because after 50 years, even Ben knows who’s really running the hive—and it isn’t us!

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

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Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Ben: https://www.facebook.com/groups/AlleganyMountainBeekeepers

Honey harvesting without the sticky mess? Yes, please! 🐝

On this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, Eric Bennett chats with Simon Mildred of Hivekeepers, an Australian innovator making honey extraction easier with clever reusable cassettes and a compact honey harvester. Less cleanup, less fuss, and more time enjoying the bees and their sweet stuff!

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

_____________

First, Eric gets into the honey bee’s sneaky stinger, which can keep pumping venom even after detaching.

Then Simon shares how his invention could make beekeeping less intimidating for beginners, help every beekeeper sample different honey flavors throughout the season, and give those busy honey bees a little less wax-building work.

Sweet science and sticky innovation—what’s not to buzz about?

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

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Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

https://hivekeepers.com/

What do you get when you combine a French beekeeper, illegal rooftop beehives in Manhattan, a legendary bee venom pioneer, and a healthy dose of curiosity? One seriously sweet episode of Bee Love Beekeeping!

Host & beekeeper Eric Bennett, chats with Jean-François La Rivière, a beekeeper and apitherapy expert living in southwestern France, who shares the wild story of sneaking honey bees onto a New York City rooftop—black garbage bags and elevator rides included.

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

_____________

From Manhattan’s urban apiaries to the rolling pastures of France, Jean-François has spent years exploring the fascinating world of bees and their remarkable products.

Then it’s time to get sticky with apitherapy—the traditional use of bee products like honey, propolis, royal jelly, bee pollen, beeswax, and even bee venom for health and medicinal care.

Whether you’re a seasoned beekeeper or just curious about what your honey bees are making besides honey, this conversation is packed with history, unusual adventures, and enough bee-related rabbit holes to keep you buzzing!

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

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Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

https://beehealthyfarms.com/

https://www.chezlesabeilles.com/en/

What happens when a surfer, a swarm of honey bees, and a wildfire-prone corner of Southern California collide? You get one heck of a beekeeping story!

Eric Bennett sits down with Eli Lichter-Mark, a small commercial beekeeper managing hundreds of hives around Topanga and Malibu. Eli shares how he went from catching swarms and repeatedly killing off his colonies to building a real bee business—complete with forklifts, flatbeds, almond pollination, a honey kitchen, and plenty of opportunities to get stung.

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

_____________

Oh, and there’s Buckwheat, the bee-yard dog who apparently considers anything that buzzes—including motorcycles—a personal emergency.

But this episode gets seriously interesting when the conversation turns to keeping honey bees in a place where the weather can swing wildly and wildfires can turn an apiary into a pile of staples.

It’s a story about risk, resilience, sticky equipment, epic failures, and why anyone would voluntarily spend their days surrounded by thousands of flying insects. In other words… classic beekeeping.

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

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Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Eli: https://www.elisbees.com/

It’s episode 100!! And we’re celebrating with a whole lot of beekeeping, a whole lot of bees, and a guest who knows that being a beekeeper is basically a full-time workout—with honey supers instead of dumbbells!

Ryan Griffeth returns to the show to talk winter bee prep, managing hives across Connecticut’s wildly different microclimates, and what it really takes to keep colonies healthy when the temperatures drop.

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

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Ryan also gets into the business side of beekeeping, including hive management, working with clients, and turning a passion for bees into a sustainable business.

Add some laughs, a little humility, and the occasional “oh crap, I forgot to check my mites” moment, and episode 100 is a fun—and seriously useful—celebration of beekeeping, and the people crazy enough to do it. It's all about the love!

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

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Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Ryan: https://www.neckersfarm.com/

How To: Best way to find lost hive tools (she has 30 and they're all missing)!

What do you do when you love beekeeping, make your living with bees, and your body has decided it would really rather you not get stung? You apparently keep going!

This week we head to Scotland to meet full-time beekeeper Gael Wilkinson, who manages hives across the Kingdom of Fife while navigating unpredictable weather, Scottish seasons, and the occasional bee that apparently has a personal grudge.

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

_____________

Gail pulls back the curtain on the business side of beekeeping—selling honey directly to loyal customers, managing and sponsoring hives, rescuing swarms, and turning leftover beeswax into candles, balms, soap, and other goodies.

We also get a wild bee sting story (that includes projectile vomiting and pee), some questionable decisions involving hive tools, and a reminder that working with honey bees is never quite as calm and peaceful as the pictures make it look.

It’s Scotland, it’s bees, it’s business—and yes, there’s an EpiPen involved.

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

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Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Gael: https://kinbees.com/

What happens when a teenager thinks Beekeeping is going to be an easy way to make some money?

In this episode, Jeremy Jensen shares the hilarious—and ultimately inspiring—story of how a fascination with bees turned into a full-blown career.

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It's Time For Winter Bee Prep!

$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

_____________

From free hive removals and stashing colonies in the bushes to working for an experienced beekeeper and eventually buying the business, Jeremy’s journey proves that sometimes the best plans are the ones you never planned!

Jeremy also takes us behind the scenes of commercial Beekeeping in Southern California, where honey bees can keep you busy every day of the year. We talk pollination, farmers markets, honey production, queens, Varroa, and the unique challenges of keeping honey bees in a climate without much of a brood break.

Add a little ancient honey history and a warning about yellowjackets, and you've got an episode packed with bees, business, and plenty of bee-worthy laughs. Remember, it's all about the love of the bees!

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

____________________

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Jeremy: https://www.billsbees.com/

Grab your bee suit and get ready to meet royalty! In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we sit down with Delanie Craighead, the American Honey Queen, to find out what it’s really like to wear the crown, travel the country, and talk nonstop about honey bees.

Delanie shares how she became Queen, what goes into the competition, and some of the fun adventures that come with representing Beekeeping and Beekeepers across America.

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$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

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But this isn’t just about crowns and honey jars! We get into the serious side of Beekeeping, from Varroa mites and pesticides to the threat of fake honey—and why honey bees are so important to agriculture.

Delanie brings plenty of enthusiasm (and maybe a little honey-powered energy) to the conversation, showing why educating people about honey bees can be both important AND a whole lot of fun.

VIDEO VERSION Now Available on Apple Podcasts and YouTube

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Delanie:

American Honey Queen

https://www.instagram.com/americanhoneyqueenprogram/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet

https://www.facebook.com/AmericanHoneyQueenProgram/

What do Picasso paintings, bee dance-offs, and a swarm living on a greasy crane have in common? They’re all part of the wonderfully weird world of honey bees and beekeeping!

In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we head to San Diego to meet Hilary Kearney of Girl Next Door Honey, who has turned 16 years of beekeeping experience into a creative, full-time business.

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$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

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We also explore the unique challenges of keeping bees in San Diego, where year-round brood means year-round Varroa and some colonies can have seriously spicy personalities.

Add in bee news from Texas and Virginia, and you’ve got an episode packed with fascinating facts, laughs, business inspiration, and plenty of reasons to appreciate the incredible little creatures at the heart of beekeeping.

YouTube VIDEO VERSION

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Hillary Kearney: https://girlnextdoorhoney.com/

Get ready to meet your match for Africanized bee expertise: third-generation beekeeper Monica King joins Bee Love Beekeeping host, Eric Bennett, to talk about wrangling "killer bees" in the 110-degree heat of southern Arizona.

Monica shares her beekeeping secrets for night-time hive removals under red lanterns (bees hate white light and love drama). She explains why "hangry" honey bees get meaner during droughts, and reveals her go-to trick for spotting varroa mite infestations by popping open drone brood cells.

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$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

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Bonus points for the chicken-and-bee symbiosis system she's engineered on her 14-acre off-grid homestead.

Things get truly wild when Monica breaks out her craziest beekeeping stories — including the time she pulled 18 virgin queens out of a single swarm, and a bizarre cutout where four mated queens were living together in one melted, catacomb-like hive... until the bees ruthlessly picked a winner overnight.

Between water-hauling homestead hacks and gutsy mite-testing tips, this episode is equal parts survival guide and beekeeping soap opera.

VIDEO VERSION

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

[email protected]

Monica King: https://www.monicamking.com/#/