Study Finds Larger Colonies of Social Insects Have Weaker Immune Response, Highlights Role of Hygiene

Posted May 1, 2016

Study Finds Larger Colonies of Social Insects Have Weaker Immune Response, Highlights Role of Hygiene

North Carolina State University Research from North Carolina State University finds that among eusocial insects – like ants, bees and termites – the more individuals there are in a typical species colony, the weaker the species’ immune response. The finding strongly suggests that hygiene behaviors, and not just immune systems, play a key role in …

Posted May 1, 2016

National Honey Board Launches New Online Catalog

Firestone, Colorado – The National Honey Board (NHB) announces that it has launched an online catalog for members of the honey industry. In a continued effort to provide materials to help promote honey, the NHB has made available to all industry members various materials that can be utilized to educate the general public about the …

Posted May 1, 2016

The Classroom – May 2016

Question 1: WHEN TO TREAT? When’s the best time to put Apistan strips in hives? Right now? Missouri Beekeeper Answer 1: Well it should have been last August/September. If your bees are still alive, you could treat now. Do a survey of how many mites per 100 bees first. If it is 5 or over …

Posted May 1, 2016

Letters to the Editor – May 2016

Honey Bee Comic Strip I am a middle school Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) teacher in Lakewood, Ohio, and on the side, I create educational comics. I began creating my comics as an effort to reach my struggling readers, but I have recently felt it necessary to use my skills to reach a much …

Posted May 1, 2016

U.S. Honey Crops and Markets – May 2016

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service published their U.S. and state honey crop production estimates for 2015 in late March. They estimated that U.S. honey production fell 12 percent in 2015. It is notable that honey production fell in almost every large honey production state which includes North Dakota, South Dakota, California, Florida, Montana and …

Posted May 1, 2016

How to Protect Bees from Pesticides

The University of Georgia, College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences states: “For fruit or nut bearing crops, pollination can be a grower’s last chance to increase yield. All post pollination inputs, whether growth regulators, herbicides, fungicides, or insecticides, are generally designed not to increase yield but to conserve losses.” AgriCultures Network writes in “Managing for …

Posted May 1, 2016

May 2016 Cover

Michael LaSpina took this wonderful photo of a honey bee in his yard in Northern California. The flower is a Crepe-Myrtle variety known as Prairie Malus. Michael said that the bees love it!

Posted May 1, 2016

May 2016

U.S. Honey Production Down 12 Percent in 2015 National Agricultural Statistics Service, USDA……………………………………………..513 Big and Small Things to Learn from an Observation Hive, or Something to Build This Season Tina Sebestyen…………………………………………………………………………………533 Fungal Alliances Against Varroa and the Viruses They Vector M.E.A. McNeil…………………………………………………………………………………541 How to Become a Beekeeper (The Not-so-Straightforward Way): Part II—Conclusion William Blomstedt…………………………………………………………………………….553 A …

Posted May 1, 2016

How to Make Covers for My Two-Queen Horizontal Hive

It has been busy this spring, thinking about how to cover my Two-queen Horizontal bee hive. First, the inner covers are to be considered. When the two-queen horizontal hive is in use, the queens must be separated by a queen excluder. The queen excluder separates the two queens while allowing the workers from both colonies …

Posted May 1, 2016

Mitigating the Potential threat Your Bees and Beekeeping Activities Pose to Other People

I started keeping bees when I was 12, roughly 26 years ago. When I first started keeping bees, I was very proud of my colonies and wanted to show them off to everyone. People from my church or my grandparents’ neighbors (I kept my bees on my grandparents’ farm) would stop by while I worked …

Study Finds Larger Colonies of Social Insects Have Weaker Immune Response, Highlights Role of Hygiene

Posted May 1, 2016