Social Bees Have Kept Their Gut Microbes for 80 Million Years

Posted June 1, 2017

Social Bees Have Kept Their Gut Microbes for 80 Million Years

About 80 million years ago, a group of bees began exhibiting social behavior, which includes raising young together, sharing food resources and defending their colony. Today, their descendants–honey bees, stingless bees and bumble bees–carry stowaways from their ancient ancestors: five species of gut bacteria that have evolved along with the host bees. These bacteria, living …

Posted June 1, 2017

Pollination Mystery Unlocked by Stirling Bee Researchers

Bees latch on to similarly-sized nectarless flowers to unpick pollen – like keys fitting into locks, University of Stirling scientists have discovered. Research, published in Ecology and Evolution, shows the right size of bee is needed to properly pollinate a flower. The insect fits tightly with the flower’s anthers, to vibrate and unlock pollen sealed …

Posted June 1, 2017

National Honey Board Creates New Educational Brochure

Firestone, Colorado – In a continued effort to provide honey industry members with beautiful and inspirational educational materials, the National Honey Board (NHB) has created a new brochure that shares honey’s unique journey from blossom, to bee, to hive and to bottle. Honey’s Sweet Journey: From Bee to Bottle is the newest addition to the …

Posted June 1, 2017

The Classroom – June 2017

Q What Works Anymore for Varroa Control? I just read your reply to Allen, re: CCD, in March ABJ and you saying there is only “1” Varroa miticide that still works. As a 35+ year beekeeper, I try to stay up to date as possible. As have yourself…I’ve seen a lot of changes over the …

Posted June 1, 2017

Letters to the Editor – June 2017

Pollen Atlas With the honey flow about to begin, I am again looking at the pollen my bees are gathering, to see which flowers they are visiting. Here is the biggest problem in pollen identification: I have a pollen pellet smeared onto a microscope slide. I can go to atlases on the internet, but then …

Posted June 1, 2017

U.S. Honey Crops and Markets – June 2017

UNITED STATES June is a transition month for U.S. beekeeping, as the honey flow season gradually moves from the southern states to the northern states. Many southern beekeepers are preparing to remove supers or have already done so. They are also starting to extract their new crop honey with hopes of an eager buyer’s market. …

Posted June 1, 2017

International Honey Market Update – June 2017

Introduction The International Honey Market has reached a Point of Inflection as predicted in the January 2017 Report. The only question immediately before the industry is how steep will the curve of rising prices be from their abyss of the past two years. In the January, 2017 ABJ beekeepers in the Southeast region of the …

Posted June 1, 2017

Teaching and Mentoring Beekeepers

Welcome to our third and final segment on teaching and mentoring beekeepers. Seasonal apiary management has a general sequence that is a good addition to any course regarding bees. There is a way to make each task fit the region where bees are kept. In order to adapt, it pays to become familiar with A. …

Posted June 1, 2017

Mechanisms of Swarming in the Honey Bee Superorganism: Releaser Conditions and What Happens Next

We are continuing a short series focusing on that most pivotal of events in the annual cycle of the honey bee colony – the swarm, the superorganism’s moment of reproductive fission. Beekeepers have long been trained to view swarming as the greatest threat to making a large honey crop, and rightly so. Managed colonies that …

Posted June 1, 2017

A Little Known Fact about Swarms But One That’s Quite Fabulous

Every Spring I put out my bait hives to catch swarms. Swarm-catching has become the big start of my bee season. I watch for scout bees coming to my bait hives. The scout bees come from swarms searching for new nest sites. Having numerous bait hives and spending time with them provide more opportunities to …

Social Bees Have Kept Their Gut Microbes for 80 Million Years

Posted June 1, 2017