Queen Introduction: Part 2, The Effect of Attendant Bees

Posted July 1, 2020

Queen Introduction: Part 2, The Effect of Attendant Bees

The attendant bees accompany the queen during shipping. In this article we begin a detailed investigation of their effects during queen introduction. From a behavioral perspective, queen introduction involves confronting queenless bees with a foreign queen. In the presence of a foreign queen, workers typically display aggressive behaviors toward her. This aggression usually culminates in …

Posted July 1, 2020

Pre-bloom pesticide sprays in apple orchards — safe for bees?

As I write this, it’s peak apple bloom here in New York. All the big orchards in our Big Apple state are filled with pallets of hives and the bees are busily doing their thing. Since apples are worth ~$320 million/year in New York, and apple is also ~90% reliant on insect pollination to produce …

Posted July 1, 2020

CRISPR for the Curious: A Primer

CRISPR headlines make the news every day, served with a side order of alphabet soup that can make your head spin. To say the acronyms and initialisms are off-putting is an understatement. However, CRISPR technology is here to stay and it will change our lives forever, so a basic understanding is worth the effort. At …

Posted July 1, 2020

Getting Good Help

Beekeeping is best learned through hands-on experience under the guidance of a knowledgeable mentor. In an ideal world, an aspiring beekeeper would purchase only one piece of equipment their first year: a veil. They would then spend a season working with an experienced, local beekeeper, learning a system of management in real time — adding …

Posted July 1, 2020

The Surprisingly Sophisticated Ways that Honey Bees Fight Disease

Honey bees can’t socially distance. Here’s what they do instead The air is warm with bodies and heavy with humidity. Nestmates huddle and rapidly antennate one another, as if they’re chatting, sharing pheromones, information, and food. Living in a beehive is like living in a house with 40,000 siblings who have no concept of personal …

Posted July 1, 2020

The Classroom – July 2020

Q Varroa and robbing screens Do robbing/drifting screens help (or not) prevent Varroa transmission if you have them on every hive in your apiary and if so how much? I know you can prevent your bees from robbing out unprotected hives but is this a viable strategy to reduce the transmission rate of Varroa? Cliff …

Posted July 1, 2020

“RIDICULOUS” TO CALL ASIAN GIANT HORNET “THE MURDER HORNET”

— University of California Davis, — May 5, 2020 It’s “ridiculous” to call the Asian giant hornet recently found in British Columbia and Washington state “the murder hornet,” says noted UC Davis wasp expert and researcher Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and …

Posted July 1, 2020

Letters to the Editor – July 2020

Howdy folks! I am a beginning beekeeper from Georgetown, Kentucky and got this magazine from Dadant and Sons in Frankfort. A big shout out to Natasha to giving me a tour of the warehouse and giving great advice and a couple of freebies! The pastor of my church was instrumental in getting me started. Here’s …

Posted July 1, 2020

U.S. Honey Crops and Markets – July 2020

Our beekeeping lives continue to be affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. State and regional conferences have been mostly cancelled since about mid-March, and most local club meetings are either going online or not happening. Otherwise, we’ve been busier than ever. Honey sales at the local level are higher than ever in many places. In the …

Posted July 1, 2020

Contents – July 2020

Beekeeping in the United States: The Coming Revolution Peter L. Borst – 757 Fool’s Gold? Mother Lode? Members of the California Master Beekeepers Program Meet Up with Scutellata’s Great-Grandchildren M.E.A. McNeil – 769 Refining the Mite Wash Part 1: Treatment threshold and solutions to use Randy Oliver – 781 Conserving Black Bees (Apis mellifera mellifera) in …

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