Average Joe Beekeeper

Oh No – Honey Pails can Crack!

This past Saturday, Tony Jackson and I collected 63 frames from various hives in two of my apiaries. We spun them on Sunday and gathered about 215 lbs. of honey.

Today I was cleaning up all of the bakery "proofing" trays that I use to keep the work area clean and sanitary. I put them on my work tables and started lifting some of my buckets to finish settling.

When I was placing one of the buckets on the tray, the bucket cracked and honey started pouring out the side. Since I had some clean empty buckets right next to the table, I was able to get most of the 42 lbs. of honey into another bucket before it all spilled out on the clean tray.

The extra bucket, quick reflexes and a whole lot of luck resulted in only losing a couple of pounds of honey that overflowed the tray. I was able to collect that overflow and will feed it back to the bees.

Tony casually mentioned that I should be careful with my older buckets as they have been known to crack and cause the loss of honey.

I don't know if that jinxed me or if it was just a coincidence but now, I am reconsidering reusing my collection buckets. I might need to start labelling them with the year I start using them and cycle them out after 2 or 3 uses in the way that many beekeepers cycle out old comb.

Oh well, catastrophe averted and bottling will begin in a couple more days!

Average Joe Beekeeper

For those in and around Ashboro, NC - the Average Joe Beekeeper will be talking about Summer Management at the Randolph County Beekeepers Association meeting on Tuesday, June 2, 2026 - meeting details are in the attached flyer. Hope to see plenty of folks there!

The Iredell County Beekeepers Association invites you to a Special Edition of our monthly meetings on Tuesday, June 9, 2026, where we will be hosting Ashby Miller, a well-known North Carolina beekeeper and speaker.

He is the co-owner/operator of Ashby Farms and runs more than 500 hives in multiple locations in North Carolina, Southern Virginia, Georgia and Florida producing local wildflower honey along with specialty honey including both tupelo and sourwood.

Ashby has over 8000 subscribers on his Ashby Farms NC channel with over 185 videos that he has posted describing all aspects of beekeeping. Our meeting will start an hour earlier than normal at 6pm to allow plenty of time for Ashby to share his beekeeping insights while allowing interaction with all our attendees and guests.

We meet at the Iredell County Extension Office at 444 Bristol Dr., Statesville, NC. Refreshments will be served! This is a free event and we hope to see many of our members, beekeeping friends and folks interested in learning about honey bees on June 9th!

For those in or near Lenoir, NC on Thursday, May 21, 2026, I'll be presenting "Bee-Engaged: An Average Joe Beekeeper’s Guide to Honey Bee Pheromones" to the Caldwell County Beekeepers Association at the Greenway Presbyterian Church, 415 Pennell St. NE Lenoir, NC. at 6:30pm.

Stop by to learn a little bit about the fascinating world of bee pheromones and how these substances influence the entire rhythm of the colony! I'm hoping to make some new bee friends and to see some other friends & followers there!

Are you interested in advancing your beekeeping knowledge past the basic/beginning stage? Do you need some beekeeping education and review to take the Journeyman test at the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association (NCSBA) Summer Meeting in July in Winston-Salem, NC?

Then this in-person class is for YOU!

The Davie County Beekeeping Association will be hosting a two day Intermediate/Journeyman class in Mocksville, NC on June 13 & 20, 2026. The class includes over 12 hours of instruction by the Average Joe Beekeeper along with several other Davie County Beekeepers on advanced topics including bee anatomy & biology, pests, plants & pesticides, seasonal management, diseases, plus honey & wax.

The class is scheduled for 8am – 3:30pm on June 13 with lunch served during this session. Then it wraps up the following week on June 20 from 8:15am – 12:30pm. This class provides the attendees information from the NCSBA’s Master Beekeeper Program (MBP) curriculum. Completing this course should help you to prepare for the NCSBA MBP Journeyman test or simply expands your knowledge to better understand “beehavior”.

Cost is $50 and you can register online at: https://daviebeekeepers.org/intermediate-beekeeper-class where the schedule and agenda along with the location details can be found.

Intermediate (Journeyman) Beekeeper Class – Davie Beekeepers Do you need some beekeeping education and review to take the Journeyman test at the North Carolina State Beekeepers Association (NCSBA) Summer Meeting in July in Winston-Salem, NC?

The Bee-mobile Subaru & the Bee-Mom Jeep have been joined by my 2025 Ford Maverick Hybrid Pickup which was just wrapped as a gift to me by my wife Debbie and stepson Brian Turnipseed. Photos follow...

There is an Annual U.S. Beekeeping Survey that used to be performed by the Bee Informed Partnership (BIP) that is now administered by Auburn Univerity.

It is live and was to end on April 30, 206 but has been extended to May 3, 2026.

You can take the suvey at: https://aub.ie/us-beekeeping-survey

Please consider participatiing as the more data collected the better the results. This data helps determine year-to-year colony losses and can assist in determining the current state of beekeeping here in the U.S.

Apiary Inspectors of America - US Beekeeping Survey The Apiary Inspectors of America first contributed to a national survey of honey bee colony losses in 2007, during a time of uncertainty due to Colony Collapse Disorder. Since then, a version of the Survey has been organized by the Bee Informed Partnership, in collaboration with the University of Ma...

Avg. Joe Beekeeper Hint 26-05 [084]: Hive Platforms and Stands

In Avg. Joe Beekeeper Hint 26-02 [081], I discussed Hive Stands, but what surface is the “best” to place those stands on?

As beekeepers joke, “Ask 3 beekeepers a question and get 5 answers”, this topic or subject comes with numerous answers.

I personally like to place my hive stands on a pallet (or a series of pallets) that have been covered with plywood (or wooden slats) - see the included photo. In the past, I painted the plywood with at least two coats of outdoor latex paint, usually found at one of the “big box” home stores that were miscolored and returned thus available very inexpensively. After several years of service, I found that the plywood can still break down and deteriorate so I’ve added tarpaper, excess shingle material or industrial grade plastic runner material (that my wife seems to find on various online “giveaway” sites). This additional protection provides years of service for my platforms. The platforms allow me to level them and I can attach tie-downs or ratchet straps to ensure my stands and hives aren’t moving, even in extremely windy conditions.

Previously, I placed my hive stands directly on the ground in my apiary. This worked but unless I had some type of w**d “barrier”, grass and w**ds could quickly overtake the hive requiring mowing and w**d “whacking” around the hives.

Some folks complain that bees can become defensive when gas powered mowers and w**d “eaters” are used around the hives for landscaping maintenance. In my experience, I didn’t experience adverse effects with internal combustion engines, but I ended up using battery powered mowers and w**d eaters to lessen the chance of riling up the bees prior to using platforms. Even with the platforms, I still try to use battery powered tools to reduce possibly agitating my bees.

Others may use paver blocks or bricks under their stands. At various times (before platforms) I’ve used leftover tile from home improvement projects and sometime used concrete pavers obtained inexpensively or free. All worked fine.

I’ve been asked about pouring concrete slabs under hives or placing rocks or gravel underneath my hive stands. Depending on your climate conditions, hot summer days may heat up both concrete and gravel increasing the air temperature around the hives. I’m not endorsing or discouraging either of these methods but would suggest examining the pros and cons of those materials before you make your decision.

No matter what surface you choose, be sure to examine all your options, prepare your site for your chosen method and be open to changing your mind if you fine you want to fine tune or change your chosen surface.

For those of you in Richmond County, NC (and the surrounding Counties), the Average Joe Beekeeper will be presenting "Bee-Engaged: An Average Joe Beekeeper's Guide to What I Wish I Knew" for the Richmond County Beekeepers Association at the County Extension Office, 123 Caroline Street, Rockingham, NC on Tuesday, April 28, 2026.

Additionally, for those in Randolph County, NC (and the surrounding Counties), the Average Joe Beekeeper will be presenting "Bee-Engaged: An Average Joe Beekeeper's Guide to Summer Management - Nectar Flow & Pest Control" for the Beez Needz Monthly Educational Day, at Beez Needz, 3662 Edgar Rd, Sophia, NC 27350 on Saturday, May 9, 2026 at 1030am. Arrive a little early to shop or ask questions during the pre-meeting Q&A Session and stay around for FREE lunch and bee discussions after the presentation.

Hope to see plenty of folks at each presentation!

Avg. Joe Beekeeper Hint 26-04 [083]: AmBEEsadors -- Swarm Rescue versus Capture

When it comes to swarming, which is the reproductive urge of the honeybee (Apis mellifera), many beekeepers refer to capturing swarms that have been found in the environment. I prefer to think of these activities as rescues or recoveries rather than captures.

Capture creates a negative implication, as if the bees are doing something wrong whereas swarming is natural reproduction at the colony level. Rescue implies that we're preserving bees and the public can become involved in "Saving the Bees" by contacting a beekeeper when a swarm is encountered. The message behind Swarm Rescue can be both uplifting and positive.

Likewise, we shouldn’t be claiming swarms, rather we should recover or retrieve them.

By recovering swarms, beekeepers are being considerate or perhaps even altruistic when it comes to this instinctive bee behavior. Swarm recovery makes us caretakers and stewards rather than owners or masters.

This wording may seem trivial in comparison to many larger challenges and problems in the world in which we live but as "AmBEEsdors", it is incumbent upon us to educate on the need for bees. These subtle words signal the importance of bees and how we need the public to help assist the bees through the rescue, recovery and retrieval of swarms.