Q: Female Varroa Behavior What happens to a foundress Varroa after she emerges from the cell with an adult bee? A The word “foundress” is used to describe an adult female Varroa that invades a cell occupied by a honey bee larva and reproduces on the immature bee once the cell is capped. This mite …
Read MoreUsing locally reared queens selected for local conditions is a smart and proven way for bee businesses to thrive. My concern after studying bees for over 50 years regards a fundamental weakness in raising these queens. The queens are not available early in the spring In Virginia, unlike queens from the South. To have locally …
Read MoreWatching a honey bee mulishly smash into a light bulb is disconcerting, surreal, as if the bee is shouting and pleading with the natural world: Hear me! Help me! I will never forget the bee tinking against the hot glass, desperate to evade the thing savaging her body, chewing her organs, hollowing her to a …
Read MoreJust a short time ago, as did you, I started another new year. What is it about a new year’s beginning? Maybe it’s just me, but I’m always reflective, optimistic — even sappy as the new year begins. Normally, I boldly predict major upcoming changes in my bee life that will — finally — make …
Read MoreHoney bee dance communication is well known and intriguing, but there is a lot of communication going on in the hive that is invisible, and more important for us as beekeepers to be aware of and understand.1 Having a better understanding of the invisible ways that bees communicate with one another can be very helpful …
Read MoreUp Close and Personal with an Absconded Colony Mike and I had the strangest experience on a Saturday afternoon in early October with a hive that absconded. I am not talking about when you look at your hive and it is gone; this was completely different. We stopped at a large bee yard to feed the …
Read MoreSamantha Murray, education and garden coordinator of the UC Davis Bee Haven and a bee specialist, has just received a grant from the El Dorado Beekeepers (EDB) to support her research on how nutritional supplements affect honey bee health and colony performance. Jim Guilliams, president of EDB, and his wife, Debbie Katz, secretary of EDB, …
Read MoreOn October 17, 2025, the yellow-legged hornet, Vespa velutina, was discovered in Auckland, the capital of New Zealand, with five confirmed detections to date. Two small nests were discovered about one mile apart, suggesting that the hornet is established with other nests still to be found. It is believed they have not yet moved outside …
Read MoreDuring routine inspections of traps for Vespa velutina (Asian, or yellow-legged hornet) in northern Spain, Vespa soror, the southern giant hornet, was found in 2022 and 2023. The southern giant hornet inhabits the warmer regions of Asia, including north-eastern India, northern Myanmar, northern Thailand, Laos, northern Vietnam, and southern China. The climate in northern Spain …
Read More— December 2, 2025 Four major North American beekeeping organizations released the first-ever North American Bee Strategy this week, a coordinated, continent-wide plan to protect honey bees, strengthen the viability of professional beekeeping, and safeguard food security across the United States and Canada. The strategy is the result of a cross-border collaboration between the American …
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