The Sustainable Beekeepers Guild of Michigan (SBGMI) is committed to supporting hobbyist and sideline beekeepers through education, mentorship, and research-driven best practices. Our 2023-2024 Beekeeping Management Survey gathered responses from […]
Sustainable Beekeeping Must Consider Disease and Carrying Capacity.
Carrying capacity refers to the maximum number of organisms an environment can support without depleting resources or causing harm to local ecosystems. In beekeeping, this means ensuring that honey bee […]
Feelings aren’t facts. Uncapping and Recapping myths.
Typical with beekeeping myth, lore, and “teaching” much of what is said about the how’s, what’s, and who’s of beekeeping is seldom rooted in fact. What we get when we […]
Honey bee stock origin impacts viral load resistance
A recent publication from Lizzette Cambron-Kopco, Robyn M. Underwood, J Krispn Given, and Brock A. Harpur dives into the viral loads of several honey bee stock types to determine how […]
Can I reuse old pollen frames for new colonies?
There is no reason to toss out those old pollen frames or remove stored pollen for new colonies. It has been said many times to throw the frames out “they […]
SBGMI Michigan Hobbyist and Sideline Beekeeper Management Survey 2023
At the beginning of this summer, we sent out a survey asking about your history, experience, and methods of beekeeping – and you sure did answer! Over 130 of you […]
Buying Sugar with my Honey, by Adrian Quiney
I can’t get out of Costco without someone remarking on the amount of sugar I’ve bought, even my wife. “Is that enough?” she said (with a little sarcasm) the last […]
Northern Spring and Varroa
By Matthew Kobe, SBGMI Science & Research Chair While we are all getting excited about spring and the start of the bee season, it is important not to forget about […]
Michigan Honey bee Package Bee Info and Recommendations
1. Packages are often shipped from out of state with honey bees and queens that are not from our region or climate, may be harboring pathogens, and have poor genetic […]
Northern Beekeeping Winterizing Recommendations – Langstroth Hives
1. Insulated tops made of foam board (1” fine and 2” better. Be sure to use something to separate bees from foam because they will chew it – reflectix or […]