Parasitic Cape Honey Bees Out-Reproduce Other Bees Using a Few Unusual Gene Regions

Posted August 1, 2016

Parasitic Cape Honey Bees Out-Reproduce Other Bees Using a Few Unusual Gene Regions

Genes related to hormone signaling and sex cell division let worker bees reproduce asexually PLOS Parasitic Cape honey bees exploit and overrun other honey bee colonies by triggering changes that let worker bees reproduce. This social parasitism is enabled by differences in several gene regions, including some related to hormone signaling and chromosomal segregation, report …

Posted August 1, 2016

Honey Bees Pick Up ‘Astonishing’ Number of Pesticides Via Non-crop Plants

Purdue University WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – A Purdue University study shows that honey bees collect the vast majority of their pollen from plants other than crops, even in areas dominated by corn and soybeans, and that pollen is consistently contaminated with a host of agricultural and urban pesticides throughout the growing season. Christian Krupke, professor …

Horizontal two-queen hive configuration. The top super was half full so I added two more supers.

Posted August 1, 2016

Comparing Two-queen Colony Management Methods

There have been a few inquiries regarding two-queen systems since my last article. There are several methods of making a two-queen colony. Some others may be more productive than the horizontal method to which I am committed. Most two-queen systems have extracted honey production as a goal. Double-queen systems date back many years. Farrar reported …

Posted August 1, 2016

Other Stressors of Honey Bee Colonies

As a follow-up to my last article, I will continue to discuss the major stressors of honey bee colonies. I covered the main biotic stressors (pest, pathogen, predator, parasite) of honey bee colonies in my July article. Now, I will discuss the other major stressors of honey bee colonies: managed-related stressors, nutrition, queen-related stressors, and …

Posted August 1, 2016

Picking Apart the Waggle Dance

It’s hard to write a biology of the honey bee and not pause to linger over the waggle dance – one of the most celebrated examples of animal communication and a window into all sorts of questions about the honey bee’s evolution and modern functioning as a superorganism. Indeed, the waggle dance figures prominently in …

An unmarked queen hiding in a comb depression.

Posted August 1, 2016

How to Mark Queen Bees with No Runs, Drips, or Errors

Marking a queen with a dot of paint on her thorax is important in several ways. Queen marking makes the queen easier to find in a colony, particularly in a large populous colony, and sometimes when a queen hides (see Figure 1). The color code indicates the birth year of the queen (see below). When …

Posted August 1, 2016

California Buckwheat

California buckwheat, Eastern Mojave buckwheat, Wild buckwheat, Flat-top, Flat-top wild buckwheat Scientific name: Eriogonum fasciculatum. (Family Polygonaceae) To this writer, trained as an entomologist, the genus Eriogonum appears to be a large and complex genus. In the Flora of North America[9] (1991), J.L. Reveal lists 224 American species, many having several varieties. The 2012 Jepson …

Posted August 1, 2016

August 2016

International Honey Market Ron Phipps………………………………………………………………………………………871 A Study of the Causes of Falling Honey Prices in the International Market Norberto L. Garcia…………………………………………………………………………….877 How to Keep Honey from Granulating before Extracting Ron Miksha…………………………………………………………………………………….899 Why Did My Honey Bees Die Last Winter? Meghan Milbrath……………………………………………………………………………….907 Understanding Colony Buildup and Decline—Part 13b—The Winter Continued Randy Oliver…………………………………………………………………………………..911 Jim Cherry’s Life Has …

Posted August 1, 2016

Why Did My Honey Bees Die Last Winter?

Getting Ready for Winter 2016-2017 Introduction Beekeepers in northern climates lost a lot of colonies last winter (2015-2016). Some trends are starting to emerge. One of these trends is a specific type of colony death. In Michigan, I’ve received so many calls describing the scenario below, that I can describe the dead-out before opening the …

Posted August 1, 2016

August 2016 Cover

C.F. Wengenroth of Fairfield, CT sent this wonderful photo of a queen and her court. Read his Letter to Editor beginning on page 849.

Parasitic Cape Honey Bees Out-Reproduce Other Bees Using a Few Unusual Gene Regions

Posted August 1, 2016