The Beekeeper’s Companion Since 1861
Volume 165, No. 9 September 2025 Cover Features a Bee on a pink flower. Callouts: Honey Bee swarms are different - 963, Just what does "Africanized" mean? - 991, The BeeCAUSE Alliance - 1013

We’ve Met the Enemy and She’s No Honey Bee

Bee sitting on a pile of salt.
Posted November 1, 2024

We’ve Met the Enemy and She’s No Honey Bee

Think about human health for a moment. Compared to 1724, or even 1824, Americans live cushy lives. We inhabit modern homes, work sedentary jobs, and get little physical exercise. In addition, we breathe nanoplastic particles, eat ultra-processed foods, drink forever chemicals, and absorb digital signals daily. Yet many so-called health experts insist salt is the …

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Letters to the Editor – November 2024

Posted November 1, 2024

Letters to the Editor – November 2024

Disagrees with AHPA on Xerces overview of bees in National Forests I was surprised at Peter T. Jenkins’ review of the Xerces Society’s “An Overview of the Potential Impacts of Honey Bees to Native Bees, Plant Communities, and Ecosystems in Wild Landscapes: Recommendations for Land Mangers.” [See “Review and Critique of the Xerces Society’s Overview …

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Company Behind First Honey Bee Vaccine Reports Promising New Data with 83% Effectiveness Against Deadly Viral Pathogen

Posted November 1, 2024

Company Behind First Honey Bee Vaccine Reports Promising New Data with 83% Effectiveness Against Deadly Viral Pathogen

ATHENS, Ga., Sept. 10, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — Dalan Animal Health, Inc., the leader in invertebrate health, today announced new experimental findings of their innovative bacterial vaccine’s potential to significantly reduce deformed wing virus variant B (DWV-B) in honey bee populations. Dalan made headlines in 2023 with the world’s first honey bee vaccine, which is conditionally …

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Combining Pest Treatments May Be Key To Helping Honey Bees Survive the Winter

Posted November 1, 2024

Combining Pest Treatments May Be Key To Helping Honey Bees Survive the Winter

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Winters can be tough on managed honey bee colonies, with beekeepers in the United States reporting that one-third of their colonies die each winter. A new study by Penn State researchers has found that using not one but multiple pest treatments may help bees make it to spring. The researchers found …

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American Bird Conservancy Pilot Program Pays Farmers to Use Safer Seeds

Posted November 1, 2024

American Bird Conservancy Pilot Program Pays Farmers to Use Safer Seeds

September 10, 2024 — American Bird Conservancy (ABC) is launching its inaugural Untreated Seed Pilot Program (USPP). The program offers funding on a per-acre basis to American growers and producers interested in sourcing and using corn, soybean, and cereal crop seeds not coated with neonicotinoid insecticides, also known as neonics. By reducing or eliminating the …

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Contents – November 2024

Posted November 1, 2024

Contents – November 2024

A vaccine for Deformed Wing Virus?  New vaccine for AFB may have wider benefits. Tina Sebestyen – 1175 A History of the Discoveries About the Sexuality of the Honey Bee – Part 1 Frédéric Eggers de Villepin – 1179 What’s Blooming in Your Neck of the Woods? November Ed Szymanski – 1199 Boisterous Buzz-runners Thomas …

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ABJ NOVEMBER 2024 COVER

Cover for the November 2024 issue of the American Bee Journal. The cover depicts a painting of a bee hive in the foreground surrounded by lavender, with seveal white building with brown roofs in the background. Call-outs: The honey bee is not the enemy - 1185, DWV: Is there a vaccine for that? - 1175, Unlocking the sexuality of the honey bee - 1179
Posted November 1, 2024

ABJ NOVEMBER 2024 COVER

Elysian field: Our beautiful cover was painted by Alicia Moulton of Spring City, Utah, from a scene at a local lavender farm. “We placed some hives at the farm to teach a beekeeping workshop. Our ‘barn hive’ next to the historic style barn was a favorite for photographers that evening.”

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October Tasks

A hive entrance up close. The hive is a blueish gray color and is worn in a few places. The entrance is rather narrow due to the bees creating their own reduced entrance. There are a few bees present in front of the entrance with one that was flying by, a blur, when the photo was taken.
Posted October 1, 2024

October Tasks

October is best described in a poem written by William Cullen Bryant called “The Death of the Flowers.” He describes days as melancholy and sad, meadows as brown and dead, and he writes an ode to flowers in their grave. The job of keeping honey bees alive is challenging. Feeding bees and treating for mites …

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The Classroom – October 2024

The Classroom - ABJ - Jamie Ellis
Posted October 1, 2024

The Classroom – October 2024

Q: Peppermint for small hive beetles I just started using peppermint candy in my hives to combat small hive beetles (SHBs). It is too early to give my honest opinion. I see lots of beekeepers doing this. Some say it is also effective on mites. Can you give any thought on this? Wesley Bryant Alabama, …

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One Path to Becoming a Lifelong Beekeeper: Getting Into the Zone of Beekeeping

Posted October 1, 2024

One Path to Becoming a Lifelong Beekeeper: Getting Into the Zone of Beekeeping

Yesterday’s “Future” is today’s “Past” Readers, I hope you will be patient with me in this piece. I know that more practical topics are being discussed by accomplished writers elsewhere in this issue, but I am — as it were — wandering into the fog of abstract bees and theoretical beekeeping concepts. In this piece, …

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