Someone asked me a few questions about starting beekeeping as a hobby today, so here is my short list. I also talk about the need to interact with bees that make sense to YOU.

Hard to believe but true. Here in Canada, if you take your bees from your home to a cottage that may be in another province, you could be fined $10,000 and serve up to 6 months in jail. The rules are based on faulty science that supports provincial tariffs and border fees in Canada. It contributes to the escalated costs that hobby beekeepers face today.

In a new study, Drones are reported to transmit gut microbes to queens during mating. It opens up a whole new world and appreciation in understanding why, likely, we hobby beekeepers need to leave drones alone.

Hobby beekeeping is more than working with bees. It's a way to understand all of the things that can connect to our passion of bees and as well nature. In this unique interview, I sit down and talk with the founder of Green Goop, and how keeping or being around bees can lead to very different results.

Beekeeping used to be a relaxing hobby where it was a safe place to off load some weight or pressure. Now keeping bees seems to add to that weight. I'm deciding to do less in 2026, not more and make sure I protect the sanctuary of my experience.

Your Hobby beekeeping can get to the next level if you are ready. We are upgrading aibeehealth.ca to include a way you can analyze your front entrance bee activity to help better understand hive health. Will you join me in 2026?

While the temptation is to keep helping our bees in the winter, this may be the wrong thing to do. here is why for me, it's a time to leave them alone.

I asked myself that question, and the answer has nothing to do with honey or general beekeeping. When three of my worlds collided this week, maybe I'm starting to get it. What about you?

First time after viewing thousands of front entrance clips, we see this. It is in a 2-frame research hive spotted on October 26. The original hive is one of our 5-year survivors without chemical mite treatments. Could a certain strain of DWV actually help inoculate our bees?

With hobby beekeeping, I often wonder whether I should add a bit of thymol to help my bees. Treating for varroa seems to be something many of us think will help. But the science and the fact that tens of thousands of beekeepers no longer treat for Varroa tell us something else. Today, I discuss the powerful placebo effect on our actions with our bees. Does thinking it will help make it do so?