The Beekeeper’s Companion Since 1861
American Bee Journal Volume 165 No. 5 May 2025

Bees & Beekeeping: Past & Present – April 2024 The Dangerous Lives of Foraging Bees: Part 2

Figure 1: A bee on a goldenrod flower being attacked by a crab spider that is perfectly camouflaged with the yellow flowers.
Posted April 1, 2024

Bees & Beekeeping: Past & Present – April 2024 The Dangerous Lives of Foraging Bees: Part 2

In Part 1 of this series, we ended with bees becoming ensnared in spider webs. We continue with watching bees forage. I spend a considerable amount of time studying bees, especially in the summer. Watching bees forage, chasing them from flower to flower, camera in hand, filming and feeling for when the camera begins to …

Read More

The Classroom – April 2024

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

The Classroom – April 2024

  Q  Keeping sugar water fresh I have +/- 200 single hives. I pail feed and am running into black mold in the pails. I have heard of putting a teaspoon of bleach in each pail with the sugar water. I do not want to do that as I feel it may harm the bees. …

Read More

Notes from the Lab – April 2024:

A set of photos and a diagram side by side demonstrating varroa destructor and their preferences, when feeding on honey bee pupae. The strongest preference being the second abdominal segment.
Posted April 1, 2024

Notes from the Lab – April 2024:

Varroa and Tropilaelaps feed primarily on honey bee hemolymph when they reproduce Until 2019, everyone knew varroa was a vampire that fed on honey bee hemolymph. But then Sammy Ramsey published his paradigm-altering study (Ramsey et al., 2019; highlighted in the April 2019 Notes from the Lab: 159(4):443-445), showing varroa was actually more like a …

Read More

Beekeeping Basics – April 2024: Fail-safe Splits

Side by side photos of splits. Both splits show queen cups, which are a clear signal of the swarm impulse. As soon as you see these protrusions, dropw what you are doing and make splits, weather permitting.
Posted April 1, 2024

Beekeeping Basics – April 2024: Fail-safe Splits

Around this time of year, I have the most glorious recurring dreams about swarms. Usually, the dream starts out like any run-of-the-mill dream about working for hire on Taylor Swift’s rainforest unicorn farm. I’m usually crawling around on the soft fragrant ground, trimming iridescent fringed aphids from a coral reef tree, when my knees begin …

Read More

The Curious Beekeeper – April 2024: A Peek Inside a Beekeeper’s Journal

Lined paper with writing on it reading: Sultry afternoon. Windless. Melty. my hens bury themselves in silken soil beneath hop vines. On toasted concrete. Minikin stretches to twice her feline length. My hives smell like ground beef and honey suckle. Proteinaceous and sweet
Posted April 1, 2024

The Curious Beekeeper – April 2024: A Peek Inside a Beekeeper’s Journal

Many of us keep some type of beekeeping log. A log contains data — facts and figures that describe what we found, what we did, and what comes next. It may also contain colony maintenance reminders, to-do lists, and inspection notes. Some of us record these reminders in a notebook or digital device, while others …

Read More

Apiaries Come and Apiaries Go – Keys to finding a good location

Multiple hive boxes in a backyard setting against a fence. Good neighbor relationships are necessary to keep everyone happy.
Posted April 1, 2024

Apiaries Come and Apiaries Go – Keys to finding a good location

A bee yard is for the moment While I have no way of counting for sure, I estimate that during all my bee years, I have dealt with 70 to 90 apiary locations. At this very moment, I have one — just one — apiary location, here at my home (and it needs help). Clearly, …

Read More

Letters to the Editor – April 2024

Posted April 1, 2024

Letters to the Editor – April 2024

Plastic Beehives Plastic beehives, particularly polystyrene beehives, are, and should be, anathema. Polystyrene, especially expanded polystyrene, is subject to fragmentation into breakdown products that include microparticles and nanoparticles that, in turn, absorb microorganisms and toxins thus increasing their impact when ingested. Scientific Reports (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-64464-9), “Potential toxicity of polystyrene microplastic particles”: “Direct contact with microplastic particles …

Read More

WISCONSIN HONEY QUEEN

Wisconsin 2024 Honey Queen: Queen Sadie Goettl
Posted April 1, 2024

WISCONSIN HONEY QUEEN

The Wisconsin Honey Producers Association is proud to announce that of Berlin, Wisconsin was selected as the 2024 Wisconsin Honey Queen. Sadie is the daughter of Tammy and Tony Goettl. A graduate of Berlin High School, Sadie is a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying Agricultural Business Management and Communications Arts, with certificates in …

Read More

BEES FOR DEVELOPMENT HELPS BEEKEEPERS NURTURE TREES

Posted April 1, 2024

BEES FOR DEVELOPMENT HELPS BEEKEEPERS NURTURE TREES

The Bees for Development Green Match campaign emerges as a beacon of hope in the face of the devastating consequences of deforestation that lead to soil erosion, land degradation, and severe hardships for local communities in Zimbabwe. Bees for Development proposes the powerful solution of beekeeping. Inextricably linked, bees and trees create a relationship that …

Read More

EUROPEAN BEEKEEPING ASSOCIATION ESTABLISHED, TO BE HEADQUARTERED IN SLOVENIA

Posted April 1, 2024

EUROPEAN BEEKEEPING ASSOCIATION ESTABLISHED, TO BE HEADQUARTERED IN SLOVENIA

Submitted by Mihaly Hevesi The European Beekeeping Association was established on February 10 in Belgrade during the XV State Beekeeping Fair. Twenty-six European beekeeping associations joined the association, with 18 of them represented at the founding assembly. Additionally, two observers attended from Germany and Ukraine. Biljana Tomić, the Technical Secretary of EBA, led the founding …

Read More

VIEW SITE MAP