Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild

Well, actually they didn’t quite prove that. Here’s how they put it in the article:

Urban bees fare better due to varied diet, research reveals
Honeybees in towns and cities enjoy a more diverse diet than their rural counterparts because of the wider range of flowers…

They’re soo polite over there in the old country.

The National Pollen and Aerobiology research unit at the University of Worcester England (not Worcester Farms – sorry Jim) has done the research and proven it, at least for England. But what’s true over there is probably true here too, don’t you think?

Anyway, you can read about at the

…Continue reading Scientifically Proven at last – Urban Bees Kick Rural Bee Butt!

Joe Hansen is a commercial beekeeper for the family-owned Foothills Honey Company in Colton, Oregon has an article on the Culinate Web Site listing 8 important reasons to eat local raw honey of the type that we here at the guild are making. It’s worth the read.

From Bailey Hale -

Hey Joel,

Here are a few pics of my swarm capture attempt. Many thousands have gone into my makeshift hive, but the queen must still be on the tree. I put some drawn out wax and open honey frames in the supers (I put a second one one after I took the pics) to lure them in. I hope it works! I have a new hive arriving next week. Just a little late…

Luckily the people at the swanky new apartment building have been great about letting me come in and try to capture them.

I hope by sundown they’ve

…Continue reading New home for a swarm

One of the recommendations that several of our experience beekeepers have made in various meetings is that it’s a good idea to replace the queen in a hive every year. A queen can survive for much longer than that but nature prefers young queens, so it’s a good idea to provide your hives with a young queen in the fall so she can be ready to build up quickly in the spring.

Right now there is at least one guild member who is starting to raise his own queens, but no source (as far as I know) of queens for sale

…Continue reading What About Queens?

It’s not the same old show on WHYY today as they ran a fantastic report (featuring several Guild members) on urban beekeeping by Peter Crimmins. Stop on by their site and listen up!

http://whyy.org/cms/news/arts-entertainment-sports/2010/05/04/urban-beekeeping-all-the-buzz-in-philadelphia/37218

Mike Zebe reviews The Quest for the Perfect Hive: A History of Innovation in Bee Culture by Gene Kritsky. Worth a look, especially for the pictures. I especially like the beekeeping outfits from the early 1900′s complete with top hats, bowlers and boaters.

This class explores the curious life and gifts of the honey bee. Students will learn about cooking with honey which can be an excellent flavor in vegetable and meat dishes, rice dishes, as well as an alternative sweetener for desserts and candies. This class is in collaboration with the Philadelphia Beekeepers Guild and a precursor to the 2010 Philadelphia Honey Festival planned for September.

The instructor, Aisha Miller, is the founder and co-owner of Harmony Kitchen, a whole-foods small event catering, teaching and consulting organization based in Philadelpia and NYC. She specializes in cooking for healing and has

…Continue reading Cooking With Honey, Sweet Nectar of Bees

Well, you should have picked up the paper because they don’t make it easy on their web site, but here’s the article by Jennifer Reed on the Guild’s Build a Hive event.

The Buzz on Bees: Beekeeping revival in the city

You need to scroll down to find it. Thanks Jennifer for a nice article!