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Video Answer Library
Join now to watch quick expert videos answering the most popular beekeeping questions beekeepers ask every day.
Splitting to Control Swarming: Learn how colony congestion and queen cell development signal swarm preparation, and how timely splits can reduce swarming pressure and maintain colony balance.
Stinging and the Alarm Pheromone: Discover what really happens when a honey bee stings—and how alarm pheromone triggers the colony’s defensive response. Learn why stepping back a few feet doesn’t always mean you’re safe, how bees communicate through scent, and what to do (and not do) when the hive becomes defensive.
A Natural Beekeeper’s Method for Determining When to Treat or Euthanize: This video presents a biologically grounded decision framework used by natural beekeepers: regular monitoring, applying economic thresholds (cost of treatment vs. value of the colony), and pathogen/population thresholds to identify colonies that are unsalvageable. It explains the ethical and practical rationale for humane euthanasia and steps to prevent disease spread and protect neighboring colonies.
Impacts of Large Colonies: This video examines how managed colonies often grow far larger than natural ones and the biological trade-offs that result. Learn how increased population size enhances honey production but also raises disease pressure, and why understanding natural colony limits can guide healthier management decisions.
How Queens Make Workers and Drones: This video explains how a queen determines the sex of each egg she lays. Learn how fertilization occurs during egg-laying, how stored sperm is released through the spermatheca, and why fertilized eggs develop into female workers while unfertilized eggs become male drones.
Effects of Transporting Colonies: Interstate transport places significant stress on honey bee colonies. This video explains how prolonged movement disrupts brood care, often leading to brood loss or abandonment, and discusses the biological and environmental factors that influence colony stability during transport.
Can We Trust Information About Bees from Nature Shows? Nature documentaries simplify bee biology to appeal to broad audiences, often using imprecise or generalized language. This video discusses how to critically evaluate such information, recognize oversimplifications, and distinguish between entertainment and scientific accuracy in bee-related media.
Let’s Talk About Drones: Drones are vital to the genetic survival of honey bee populations, but not essential to the success of an individual colony. This video explains the biological role of drones in mating, their seasonal production, and how colonies balance resource use with the broader need for population-level reproduction.
Is Comb Honey an Option for You? Producing comb honey requires perfect timing and abundant nectar flow. This video explains the biological and economic challenges of comb honey production, why strong nectar conditions are essential, and how systems like Ross Rounds can simplify the process for efficient, high-quality results.
How Colonies Cool the Hive: Discover how honey bees regulate temperature through coordinated fanning, water collection, and bearding behaviors. This video explains the biology of thermoregulation, how bees use evaporative cooling to protect brood, and why these natural mechanisms usually make human cooling efforts unnecessary.
Goals and Values in Beekeeping: Every management decision begins with your goals and values. This video explores how different beekeeping objectives—honey production, sustainability, or companionship—shape approaches to treatment, intervention, and colony care. Learn to apply bee biology and ecology to guide choices that align with your own priorities.
Caring for Colonies After a Swarm: Examine the biological and ecological challenges facing both the parent colony and the swarm. This video explains post-swarm recovery, resource balance, and queen replacement, helping beekeepers make informed decisions about feeding and support based on their management goals.
Can a Colony Get Too Big? This video examines whether a honey bee colony can outgrow its space and what truly limits population size. Learn how nectar flow, forage availability, and Varroa pressure—not the size of the hive—govern colony expansion, and why bees naturally fill the space they’re given according to seasonal resources and biological need.
The Nectar Flow–Wax Production Link: Wax production is directly tied to nectar availability. This video explains the physiological connection between nectar flow and wax secretion, why bees stop producing wax when resources are scarce, and how understanding this link guides management decisions during dearths or when drawing new comb.
To Feed or Not to Feed? Deciding when to feed depends on biology, ecology, and local conditions. This video explores how colony strength, forage availability, and weather influence feeding decisions—and why strong, well-managed colonies often require little to no supplemental feeding.
What Bees Forage For, When, and Why: Learn how worker bees decide what to collect and when. This video explains how colony needs, brood pheromones, and environmental cues guide foraging behavior—determining whether bees gather nectar, pollen, or water at different times and under varying conditions.
The Three Most Common Mite Monitoring Methods: This video reviews the most widely used mite testing techniques and their limitations. Learn how sampling accuracy depends on method and technique, why results can vary, and how regular monitoring provides the best overall picture of colony mite levels and treatment thresholds.
The Biology of Moving Hives: Learn why distance matters when relocating colonies. This video explains bee orientation and navigation, the biological basis for the “two-mile rule,” and practical strategies for safely moving hives short or long distances without losing foragers.
The Colonies Annual Cycle: Follow the seasonal rhythm of a honey bee colony from buildup to decline. This video explains population dynamics, brood cycles, and resource flow throughout the year—showing how colonies expand during nectar flow and contract to conserve resources through winter.
Queen Rearing in a Walkaway Split: Discover how a colony naturally raises a replacement queen after a walkaway split. This video covers the selection of day-old larvae for queen rearing, how nurse bees initiate and sustain queen cell development, and the biological processes that determine queen quality.
Should I Help the Colony Cool the Hive? Examine how honey bees regulate temperature within the hive. This video discusses natural thermoregulation, colony heat management, and when beekeeper intervention in cooling or ventilation may disrupt the bees’ internal balance.
Queenless Colonies and the Laying Workers:Explore the biology behind laying workers and the challenges of queenless colonies. This video explains how the loss of queen pheromone triggers ovarian development in some workers, why these bees can only produce drones, and how this represents the colony’s final attempt to pass on its genetics before collapse.
Winter Bees: Winter bees are physiologically distinct from summer workers, built to survive the cold months and sustain the colony until spring. This video explains when and how winter bees are produced, their biological adaptations, and why timing, brood presence, and legal treatment considerations all play critical roles in colony survival.
Queen Egg Laying: This video examines how a queen’s egg-laying rate is naturally regulated by brood nest space and colony dynamics. Learn why limited comb availability controls population size, how this benefits colony health, and how understanding natural brood cycles can inform management decisions based on your goals and values.
Does Fumagillin Kill Bees? This video examines the biological effects of Fumagillin on honey bees and their gut microbe. Learn how the treatment suppresses Nosema infections but can also disrupt beneficial gut microbes, and why its use requires careful consideration of colony health, age structure, and disease pressure.
Harvesting Honey: Leave It or Take It? This video examines the biological, seasonal, and regional factors beekeepers should weigh when deciding whether to harvest or leave honey—covering colony stores, overwinter survival, and how climate and local forage change recommended reserve amounts. Learn how to align your harvesting choice with your goals and values (product vs. colony resilience) and practical rules of thumb for different regions.