Does that honey bee look a bit different? If you thought yes, you are right. It is an Apis cerana honey bee (the Asiatic Honey Bee) on a Zinnia on the campus of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University in Fuzhou, China. Expert photographer and bee researcher Dr. Zachary Huang of Michigan State University was kind …
Read MoreHoliday time is honey time. One way to get your Christmas shopping list shortened is to give your friends honey for Christmas. Most folks like honey anyway, but comb honey is special. Our comb honey here in the middle of the country along the lower Mississippi River is some of the best tasting honey in …
Read MoreMore and more beekeepers worry that beekeeping is no longer sustainable, a concern reinforced by a multitude of media reports and survey results showing high colony mortality, reduced bee viability, and some tantalizing data that indicates that beekeeping globally is undergoing tremendous change. Beekeepers report that fewer of their colonies are able to survive the …
Read MoreIt was an unusual season here in Michigan, and I know that this is true elsewhere. Here a few of many observations I made: Spring came early Very early spring weather, following a relatively mild winter, produced some enormously strong colonies in March and April. After a very warm period in March we had a …
Read MoreIn the previous article, we examined the W. T. Falconer Manufacturing Company. In 1890 the factory was in Falconer, New York and shown in their catalog (see Figure 1). The picture of the factory had several features indicating a thriving production of beehives. The buildings had active smoke stacks implying busy production. In the foreground, …
Read MoreSince January in this column I have been telling an evolutionary history of the honey bee we all know and love. In June I explained that daughter bees even in highly-related families can still be predicted to act selfishly, that is, lay their own eggs and abandon work for the colony. But this kind of …
Read MoreWorker honey bees are marvelous creatures. These females could have been queens, had their older sisters simply fed them more food while they were developing as larvae. The amount and quality of diet they were fed while young were the only things separating them from royalty. If they had been a queen, they could have …
Read MoreComment THE COST OF QUEENS I wonder if you have any thoughts on the insanity of current queen prices? This morning I was pricing around and it seems we’re up to 40 – 45 dollars for a single queen. This is madness! Don’t tell me how much a good queen is worth – I’ve had …
Read MoreKeeping colonies alive in winter has become more difficult since the advent of Varroa destructor. I also believe that we now have tropical African genetics in all of our bees. These characteristics are recognizable. Some bees are extremely defensive and more prone to swarm or abscond. One thing about these tropical bees, they do not …
Read MoreLast month we reviewed some of the history of Varroa destructor in the United States, as well as some of the mite-tolerant stocks available within the country. In this article we will review some of the integrated pest management (IPM) concepts in current use in the Americas. IPM is not a new concept, since it …
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- C.P. Dadant, Editor of ABJ 1912-1938
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