How Adult Small Hive Beetles Can Destroy Honey Bee Colonies by Themselves

Posted July 1, 2015

How Adult Small Hive Beetles Can Destroy Honey Bee Colonies by Themselves

In the previous article, we covered basic small hive beetle biology. This article concentrates more on protecting colonies from small hive beetles and showing how just the adult beetles can destroy small-sized colonies. Keeping colonies strong is the general recommendation for protecting them from small hive beetle invasion of their brood combs. However in the …

Posted July 1, 2015

Nation’s Beekeepers Lost 40 Percent of Their Bees in 2014-15

Summer losses eclipse winter losses for the first time on record UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND Beekeepers across the United States lost more than 40 percent of their honey bee colonies during the year spanning April 2014 to April 2015, according to the latest results of an annual nationwide survey. While winter loss rates improved slightly compared …

Posted July 1, 2015

Honey Bee Health Coalition Ready to Provide Leadership in Implementing National Pollinator Health Strategy

Strategy Highlights Coalition as Platform for Public-Private Coordination to Accelerate, Achieve Task Force Goals [Keystone, Colorado, May 19, 2015] – The Honey Bee Health Coalition applauded the announcement of the National Strategy to Promote the Health of Honey Bees and other Pollinators (https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/05/18/announcing-new-steps-promote-pollinator-health) and the accompanying Pollinator Research Action Plan, released today by President Barack …

Posted July 1, 2015

Some More Members of the Salicaceae

Poplar, Aspen, Cottonwood in general Scientific name: Populus sp. From the beekeeper’s perspective members of this group of plants seems much the same and here are treated as a group. Synonyms: In my view, taxonomically the genus Populus is a bit messy. My interpretation of the USDA Plants website[21] is that it currently lists a mix of 25 …

Posted July 1, 2015

July 2015 Cover

Photographer Michael LaSpina of Lincoln, CA took this excellent photo of a honey bee working his organic lavender. We thank him for sharing it with our readers.

Posted July 1, 2015

July 2015 Table of Contents

Understanding Colony Buildup and Decline—Part 6—Hiccups in Colony Linear Buildup Randy Oliver . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . …

Posted June 1, 2015

Small Hive Beetle Behavior with Movie Clips

With summer approaching, the hotter temperatures bring on the beetles, small hive beetles. Beekeepers need to be aware of small hive beetles, especially if the pests are endemic in their local areas. In my location of Piedmont Virginia, I regard small hive beetles as more of a problem than the greater wax moths. Quite often …

Posted June 1, 2015

The Classroom June 2015

Danielle Downey, Hawaii, Apiary Section Chief Imagine no winter! But then imagine…. a never-ending field season! Hawaii’s conditions make for top-notch queen rearing and honey production year-round. Hawaii’s large queen producers provide about 30% of the queens used in the USA and 75% of those used in Canada. Honey production per hive is 2nd nationally …

Posted June 1, 2015

The Members of a Honey Bee Colony

There is a lot of information one needs to know before keeping bees. Perhaps the most difficult part of getting started is learning all of the terminology associated with beekeeping. Beekeeping is, in fact, full of jargon. We put frames in supers. Bees pull comb and apply propolis to cracks and crevices around the hive. …

Posted June 1, 2015

EPA Announces It Is Unlikely to Approve New Outdoor Neonicotinoid Pesticide Uses

As part of EPA’s ongoing effort to protect pollinators, the Agency has sent letters to registrants of neonicotinoid pesticides with outdoor uses informing them that EPA will likely not be in a position to approve most applications for new uses of these chemicals until new bee data have been submitted and pollinator risk assessments are …

How Adult Small Hive Beetles Can Destroy Honey Bee Colonies by Themselves

Posted July 1, 2015