This month is the second article in a trilogy to help mentors, teachers and beekeeping associations address the tide of incoming hobby beekeepers who want to keep bees. Most novice beekeepers want one hive to keep in the backyard. This is a bad idea. The chance of a single hive failing within 2 years is …
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In 1889, a seismic shift occurred in queen-rearing technology leading to the rise in fame of one beekeeper and the fading of another. First though, appreciate how different beekeeping was back then. In the United States, seven bee journals were devoted to apiculture, either wholly or partly. Two more bee journals were in Canada.1 That’s …
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In recent years, the subject of swarming – and what to do about it – has grown in importance in ways I never could have imagined as a young scientist or even younger beekeeper. Ever since C.L. Farrar’s pioneering work in 1937 showed a positive relationship between colony population size and honey crops1, beekeepers have …
Read MoreU.S. Honey Production Up 3 Percent for Operations with Five or More Colonies in 2016 USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service…………………………………………….485 Efficacy of Different Methods of Oxalic Acid Application Kathleen C. Evans, Nancy Ostiguy, Margarita M. Lopez-Uribe………………………….505 The Varroa Problem—Part 7—Walking the Walk Randy Oliver…………………………………………………………………………………..509 Absconding, the Mysterious Disappearance of Colonies Robert Weast…………………………………………………………………………………..521 Honey Bee Nutrition—Part I Dale …
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Michael LaSpina, who lives in northern California, took this beautiful photo of a honey bee working a wild radish flower. Michael says that Northern California, like much of the rest of the West Coast, has been experiencing above average rainfall. The extra rainfall has brought back abundant growth of many wildflowers.
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Delaware has hired a new State Apiarist, Meghan McConnell, a native of Millville, NJ. She is a 2012 graduate of the University of Maryland (UMD) with a bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science & Technology. Meghan currently is finishing her MS in Entomology at the University of Maryland under Dr. Dennis van Engelsdorp. Her research targets Varroa …
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UNITED STATES The Northeast and Mideast have had relatively mild winters with regular cleansing flights. In some cases this has probably saved a lot of colonies that might have perished due to lack of winter stores or heavy mite loads. We have been receiving widely varying reports on colony losses ranging from light to heavy. …
Read MoreQ PRODUCING COMB HONEY WITHOUT FOUNDATION I have some Jewish customers who would like to have me produce kosher comb honey for them. They don’t want me to use any foundation since they don’t know where that came from, but want me to get the bees to build everything from scratch. What is the best …
Read MoreGrandpa’s Helpers Attached is a photo of my two grandkids, Josh and Rachel. They are getting old enough to have fun with grandpa in the beehives. Andy Hemken Big Bend, WI andy@hemkenhoney.com Silly Science Not So: Senator Flake’s Wastebook and Science-Funding Advice In May 2016, U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) issued a “Wastebook” that …
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In this article, we study finding queen cells in difficult situations. Three circumstances cause bees to rear queens: swarming to replace the mother queen who leaves with the prime swarm, supersedure to replace the mother queen who may be failing, and sudden loss of a mother queen. Beekeepers need to be skilled at finding queen …
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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