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

Honey Bees Do Half of Crop Pollination, While Other Insects Do The Other Half

A photo of honey bees pollinating white apple flowers that have pink on the edges of the petals. (Malus domestica). There are are about eight flowers bunched together that are centered in the photos with a branch sticking out in the top right corner.
Posted October 1, 2024

Honey Bees Do Half of Crop Pollination, While Other Insects Do The Other Half

Everyone knows honey bees do all of the pollination for our pollination-dependent crops … right? Wrong. I’m guessing most people who read this column probably know there are also other insects that pollinate our crops. Perhaps some people know there are ~20,000 species of bees in the world, and ~4,000 species in North America, many …

Read More

The Growth and Premature Demise of a New Swarm: Observed in a Large Observation

Posted October 1, 2024

The Growth and Premature Demise of a New Swarm: Observed in a Large Observation

Most every swarm season delivers at least one surprise; this past swarm season (the spring of 2024) had its share, and one was revealed in a hive at 2:00 a.m., not a typical time. The location is the main apiary at my bee house, where smaller groups of hives scattered nearby begin to launch swarms. …

Read More

Beekeepers and Their Stuff: The Line Between Helpful Accumulation and Hoarding

A pile of repaired honey comb frames.
Posted October 1, 2024

Beekeepers and Their Stuff: The Line Between Helpful Accumulation and Hoarding

I was never a hoarder. As a child, my address shifted whenever a new sibling arrived or my dad’s employment changed. Later, as a camp counselor, my quarters moved along with each influx of new campers. In college, dorm rooms rotated for inexplicable reasons. And then, after graduation, I transplanted to find work and independence. …

Read More

Letters to the Editor – October 2024

Posted October 1, 2024

Letters to the Editor – October 2024

Queen introduction method As usual, Tina Sebestyen’s article about discovering a better way to introduce queens to a colony (August issue) makes interesting reading and tempts me to suggest that some public-spirited beekeeper with nothing to do (ha-ha) should collect all the “how to do it” books on beekeeping and tear out the pages which …

Read More

A TRIBUTE TO TROY FORE

Posted October 1, 2024

A TRIBUTE TO TROY FORE

January 29, 1945 — June 27, 2024 by Debbie Seib, Vice President, American Beekeeping Federation Troy Fore was the Executive Director for the American Beekeeping Federation for over 20 years, but he was so much more than that. He was a brother, a husband, a father, and a grandfather. In 2013, Troy was a Foundation …

Read More

Contents – October 2024

Posted October 1, 2024

Contents – October 2024

Autumn Reads Rusty Burlew, Eugene Makovec, Tine Sebestyen – 1041 Legislative Update Charles Linder – 1059 Organic Colony Management … Preparing Honey Bee Colonies for Winter – What you Should Know Selina Bruckner, Robyn M. Underwood, Margarita M. López-Uribe – 1061 What’s Blooming in Your Neck of the Woods? October Ed Szymanski – 1065 A …

Read More

ABJ OCTOBER 2024 COVER

American Bee Journal October Cover 2024 Call-outs: RNAi Varroa Treatment Getting Closer - 1081, CO2 in the Winter Hive - 1113, A Legislative update - 1059
Posted October 1, 2024

ABJ OCTOBER 2024 COVER

Softly … Joan Fox sent in our cover photo of a honey bee on desert milkweed (Asclepias subulata), which blooms in her Tucson, Arizona yard through much of the summer and fall.

Read More

The Classroom – September 2024

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

The Classroom – September 2024

Q Checkerboarding Frames My bee mentor (vast warehouse of knowledge) says to checkerboard frames of brood and honey, meaning to move full frames of honey to the outside of the nest and empty ones to center of the nest. I have been doing this for two years. It seems to be working. Do you have any …

Read More

The Seasonal Battle for Control of the Hive: Wax Moths vs. Honey Bees

Posted September 1, 2024

The Seasonal Battle for Control of the Hive: Wax Moths vs. Honey Bees

The beekeeper’s trash pile I’m not proud of it but, since misery loves some company, I hope some of you have a bee equipment trash pile too. A pile of trashed bee equipment seems to go hand in hand with a long-time beekeeper. The longer one keeps bees, the larger the pile. You know the …

Read More

How Bees Feed Their Young: Social Sharing to Solo Snacking

A beekeeper, whose face is hidden by a frame of honeycomb and bees inspects the frame. The beekeeper is in a yellow bee suit with white and yellow gloves in and are with trees in the background.
Posted September 1, 2024

How Bees Feed Their Young: Social Sharing to Solo Snacking

Imagine a photo of a beekeeper scanning a frame of brood. The beekeeper wears a multi-layered suit of armor and clutches the frame with thick gloves and a veiled expression. This posture, perhaps the most common image in beekeeping, makes me wonder if beekeepers do anything else. I’m especially perplexed by the TV commercial for …

Read More

VIEW SITE MAP