Every few weeks a photo of a fly lands in my inbox, always accompanied by the same question: “What kind of bee is this?” The answer is simple. If your insect has short, stubby, barely visible antennae, it is not a bee. On the contrary, a bee antenna is long, graceful, mobile, and insanely cute. …
Read MoreApis. 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 …
Read MoreHygienic worker bees have a demanding job. They are key players in the hive’s social immune system, detecting and removing sick and dying brood before the pathogens and parasites they harbor can spread. Evolutionarily, this makes sense; hygienic behavior probably evolved because in the face of brood diseases, the hygienic colonies were more likely to …
Read MoreProps for Beekeepers Howard Scott – 163 Modeling the Effect of Mite Treatments Randy Oliver – 169 How to Avoid the Crowds Caroline Abbott – 177 The Ancient Honey Bees Rome Fausto Ridolfi and Susan Cobey – 187 The Whole Food Diet of Bees Stephanie Pain – 193 Treatise of Practical Bee Management Susan Holliday – 213 An Engineer Takes on Varroa Charles Linder – 215
Read More
This incredible headshot of a bee was taken by photographer Jonathan Willner. He found this little bee resting in the morning on a wooden post in a community garden in town. To capture this incredible detail, he used a very custom ‘’home made ‘’ set up using painters tape and gorilla tape. It involved 3 …
Read MoreOne of the most significant tools in apiculture today is instrumental insemination. Each year in early August bee breeders and researchers from around the country and abroad make their way to Purdue University’s honey bee laboratory, where they have the opportunity to learn how to instrumentally inseminate honey bee queens. Krispn Given, an apiculture specialist …
Read MoreA genomic study of Puerto Rico’s Africanized honey bees – which are more docile than other so-called “killer bees” – reveals that they retain most of the genetic traits of their African honey bee ancestors, but that a few regions of their DNA have become more like those of European honey bees. According to the …
Read More
Year-round water for my bees I leave feeders in my hive entrances most of the year. Occasionally I’m feeding syrup and the rest of the time the jars contain plain water. The standing water will eventually erode the metal of the lids as well as stain the jars with rust. Using the tiniest size of drill …
Read MoreQ Precarious Haranguing Hello Mr. Hayes, I’m a beekeeper here in Central Massachusetts and unlike many hobby beekeepers, I’m not writing to harangue you! Over the 6 years I’ve been involved in beekeeping, I’ve noticed a marked increase of Varroa destructor and a marked increase in their resistance to available treatments. This fall alone between …
Read MoreAs I’m sure everyone is aware, there’s a lot of buzz about global pollinator declines lately. But are declines restricted to pollinators, or are we actually experiencing global insect declines in general? This is the topic of our second “Notes from the Lab”, where we highlight “More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in …
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
THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL
51 S. 2nd St., Hamilton, IL 62341
Phone: 217.847.3324
Fax: 217.847.3660
info@americanbeejournal.com
©2026 Copyright the American Bee Journal. All Rights Reserved.
website developed by CleverOgre
