What do Picasso paintings, bee dance-offs, and a swarm living on a greasy crane have in common? They’re all part of the wonderfully weird world of honey bees and beekeeping!

In this episode of Bee Love Beekeeping, we head to San Diego to meet Hilary Kearney of Girl Next Door Honey, who has turned 16 years of beekeeping experience into a creative, full-time business.

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We also explore the unique challenges of keeping bees in San Diego, where year-round brood means year-round Varroa and some colonies can have seriously spicy personalities.

Add in bee news from Texas and Virginia, and you’ve got an episode packed with fascinating facts, laughs, business inspiration, and plenty of reasons to appreciate the incredible little creatures at the heart of beekeeping.

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Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

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https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

Eric@BeeLoveBeekeeping.com

Hillary Kearney: https://girlnextdoorhoney.com/

Get ready to meet your match for Africanized bee expertise: third-generation beekeeper Monica King joins Bee Love Beekeeping host, Eric Bennett, to talk about wrangling "killer bees" in the 110-degree heat of southern Arizona.

Monica shares her beekeeping secrets for night-time hive removals under red lanterns (bees hate white light and love drama). She explains why "hangry" honey bees get meaner during droughts, and reveals her go-to trick for spotting varroa mite infestations by popping open drone brood cells.

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$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

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Bonus points for the chicken-and-bee symbiosis system she's engineered on her 14-acre off-grid homestead.

Things get truly wild when Monica breaks out her craziest beekeeping stories — including the time she pulled 18 virgin queens out of a single swarm, and a bizarre cutout where four mated queens were living together in one melted, catacomb-like hive... until the bees ruthlessly picked a winner overnight.

Between water-hauling homestead hacks and gutsy mite-testing tips, this episode is equal parts survival guide and beekeeping soap opera.

VIDEO VERSION

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

Eric@BeeLoveBeekeeping.com

Monica King: https://www.monicamking.com/#/

Forget everything you thought you knew about swarm removal!

This episode is a full-on myth-busting session with SoCal's own Bee Man Dan, a rescuer who's handled over 21,000 colonies and trained in Beekeeping the unconventional way: through his Kung Fu school, under Daoist and Buddhist monks.

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$10 off your next order! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

• Discount Code: MLBEELOVE10

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The internet gospel says "find the queen, box her, and the rest will follow." Dan says nope. After years of hands-on Swarm Removal, he discovered bees actually chase the brood ("the babies"), not the queen — she just wanders in eventually, sometimes last.

No bee vacuums, no frantic queen-hunting, just capped brood, patience, and a little pheromone magic doing the real work.

The conversation rolls into Africanized bee hybrids, sketchy 50-foot ladder rescues, and the messy legal reality of bee ordinances across SoCal cities.

VIDEO VERSION

Special thanks to our presenting sponsor, Mann Lake! https://www.mannlakeltd.com/

Mann Lake discount code: MLBEELOVE10 for $10 off your next order.

Follow Us: https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/follow/

https://www.beelovebeekeeping.com/

Eric@BeeLoveBeekeeping.com

Bee Man Dan: https://wesavebees.com/