Bees & Beekeeping: Past & Present – March 2024 The Dangerous Lives of Foraging Bees: Part 1

Posted March 1, 2024

Bees & Beekeeping: Past & Present – March 2024 The Dangerous Lives of Foraging Bees: Part 1

Away from the protection of the hive, foraging bees suffer a dreadfully high death rate. The various fates of the bees are not often photographed in a collection and shown to the beekeeping public. From photographs saved in various dedicated folders since 1998 (on a succession of hard drives), we will see how bees died …

Posted March 1, 2024

The Classroom – March 2024

Q Bees chewing wood I have had a weird behavior in which I am not sure what the bees are doing. Hopefully you can see from this picture (Figure 1), the bees are chewing the woodenware along the inside edge. I have seen this once or twice before. This particular box is new woodenware and has …

Posted March 1, 2024

Notes from the Lab – March 2024

New bee-friendly restrictions on neonicotinoid insecticides in New York … and a barrier to further progress on this topic in the USA In the two previous Notes from the Lab column, I focused on the scientific evidence that pesticides are currently harming bees, and specific ways in which the current pesticide risk assessment process overseen …

Posted March 1, 2024

Beekeeping Basics – March 2024 Good, Old-fashioned Spring Cleaning — with a Lye Bath

I had a good laugh last month when I looked at the calendar and saw the most horrible winter weather forecasts I’ve seen in a decade. The joke was on me — here, I had been writing about “mild winters” and “Super El Nino,” banking on unseasonably warm weather like it was a sure thing. …

Posted March 1, 2024

The Curious Beekeeper – February 2024 Baking with Honey: A Sweet but Sticky Saga

Cooking with honey is popular. Now more than ever, cooks are sneaking a gobbet of honey into recipes from salads to desserts. Some are searching for richer or fresher flavors, while others prize honey for its nutrients, a step beyond refined sugar. The unintended consequences of cooking with honey During canning season about 15 …

Posted March 1, 2024

Plain Talk Beekeeping March 2024 – Problem Bee Packages – Sometimes things just don’t go right

When package installation goes correctly Last month, I discussed some topics relating to hauling honey bee packages from the producer to the customer. The package bees have already been through an ordeal by the time the beekeeper acquires them. After the point of transfer from producer to customer, a second bevy of problems and challenges …

Posted March 1, 2024

FLORIDA BEEKEEPERS SEEK SUPPORT FOR “SAVE THE BEES” LICENSE PLATE

Floridians have the opportunity to provide funds for honey bee research with the purchase of a new Florida Specialty license plate, “Save the Bees.” The Florida Legislature authorized the Florida State Beekeepers license plate, “Save the Bees,” but the plate will not go into production unless …

Posted March 1, 2024

VERMONT BEEKEEPERS REBUKE AG AGENCY’S ASSESSMENT THAT THE INDUSTRY IS IN GOOD HEALTH

Vermont has not, in fact, saved the bees, according to Jeff Battaglini, president of the Vermont Beekeepers Association. Rather, he said the industry is struggling with significant losses that are becoming harder and harder to recover from. by Emma Cotton January 8, 2024, 6:29 pm On Sunday, the president of the Vermont Beekeepers …

Posted March 1, 2024

Letters to the Editor

Glutamate-stimulating Drugs Not Approved for Apicultural Use I enjoyed reading “Honey Bee Genetics Affect Foraging Behaviors” by Lori Thomas and Rodney Ewing [December 2023]. It is an excellent synopsis of research on scout bees conducted in my laboratory led by former graduate student Z. Sophia Liang, now a research scientist at Harvard University. I was, …

Posted March 1, 2024

Contents- March 2024

International Honey Market Report Ron Phipps 241 Division of Labor in a Colony: Who does What? Part 1: Early life and the teenage days Kayla deJong 261 The Lowdown on Louisville: NAHBE 2024 Tina Sebestyen 265 All the Jazz about Bees: ABF 2024 Karen J. Nielsen Lorence 269 Experimenting with Formic Acid …

Bees & Beekeeping: Past & Present – March 2024 The Dangerous Lives of Foraging Bees: Part 1

Posted March 1, 2024