For 38 years, Extension apiculturist Eric Mussen did everything he could to help the honey bees. “I am basically all pro-bee; whatever I can do for bees, I do it,” Mussen told the American Bee Journal in a two-part interview published in 2011. “It doesn’t matter whether there is one hive in the backyard or …
Read MoreWhen given the choice, honey bee foragers prefer to collect sugar syrup laced with the fungicide chlorothalonil over sugar syrup alone, researchers report in the journal Scientific Reports. The puzzling finding comes on the heels of other studies linking fungicides to declines in honey bee and wild bee populations. One recent study, for example, found …
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As spring appears, here are three events to observe, ranging from the rarely seen to perhaps the under reported. In a melting March snow, the air too cold for bee flight, I was out patrolling my rural apiaries and came upon some birds fluttering around the hive stands. With the tracks in the snow cover, …
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If you crave tea or coffee in the morning, you’ve experienced how plant chemicals (e.g. caffeine) influence the choices you make. And this can be good! There are plenty of studies showing that a cup or two of coffee per day can be good for your health. But there are also synthetic chemicals that can …
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Apis. The genus to which our honey bee, Apis mellifera, belongs is so distinctive in the human imagination that its name is recycled up and down the chain of bee taxonomy. Moving first down the taxon, the genus Apis is divided into the small open-nesting species comprising sub-genus Micrapis, the large open-nesting species Megapis, and …
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GMOs. Few acronyms induce as much debate at the dinner table, forming rifts between relatives about the very food on our plates. Tinkering with an organism’s genes is almost as divisive as politics. So why aren’t we talking about agriculture’s potential pollinator of the future: the genetically engineered honey bee? Genetically engineered honey bees were …
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Does a screened bottom board have any value? My vote is a resounding “Yes!” even though they are basically useless as a way to control varroa mites. A screened bottom board, especially when used with a sliding varroa drawer beneath it, can be a valuable diagnostic tool for the beekeeper. And for the beginner, it …
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This amazing cover shot of a camouflaged spider catching a forager was taken by Jeff Zylstra. He is a hobby beekeeper from Pelham, Ontario, where he raises his four boys with his wife Denise.
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On a sunny spring day in April of 2005, I set up my first beehives in the lovely little part of the world I call my home in southwest Michigan. They found themselves living in a bee paradise with lots of forage, abundant water, wild areas, hay fields and a lawn filled with white clover. …
Read MoreThe honey bee gut is colonized by specialized bacteria that help digest components of the floral pollen diet and produce molecules that likely promote bee health. In a recent study published in PLOS Biology, a group of researchers from Switzerland uncovered which bacterial species perform which specific digestive functions in the bee gut. The authors …
Read More"I want the American Bee Journal to be the finest publication about bees and beekeeping in the world."
- C.P. Dadant, Editor of ABJ 1912-1938
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