Warren Taylor is one tough old bird. When I worked for him in Australia two years ago, he was still loading beehives by hand in his 60s. Often with him was his long-time friend Ralph. Ralph had officially retired, but would begrudgingly help drive (and load) during the hectic spring moving season. Watching them lift …
Read MoreFrom collecting and studying beekeeping literature and antiques since the 1970’s, I mostly see things already encountered. So when I came across a stack of journals titled just Bees, from the late 1940’s to the early 1950’s, I was surprised. Happily surprised. Something new. I had never heard of that journal before. According to Bees, …
Read MoreIn March I talked about the mystery of the self-sacrificing worker bee, pointing out that the worker dies after she delivers a sting. At first this was thought to be a problem for Charles Darwin’s theory of natural selection – that some individuals would give up reproducing in favor of helping another reproduce, even to …
Read MoreHow about trapping pollen for fun and profit? Pollen trapping can be tough on a hive of bees if the pollen trap is too efficient. Many front-of-hive pollen traps are less efficient and easier to use. The first question should be why we want to trap pollen? Let’s explore the aspects of pollen trapping in …
Read MoreI shared how to install packages and nucs in my April 2015 article. Quite frankly, that is the easy part. The work begins once you put the bees in the hive. For all the parents out there, keeping bees is not as difficult as raising children, but it is the same principle. Babies are easy …
Read MoreQ Plastic Foundation A well respected beekeeper recently told me that he did not use plastic foundation because it confused the bees’ in-hive communication in the bee dance. A discussion of vibration and harmonics followed, most of which went over my head. So the question: Is there any solid research to back this up, or …
Read More
Beekeepers are inventors, many of them – surely more than among keepers of much else. To speculate on why this is so, consider that they are people who are content in the company of wild stinging insects that have no inclination toward domestication. To have some say in the situation, beekeepers must anticipate and guide …
Read MoreAnnouncement of Rhode Island College and RI Beekeepers’ Association collaborative research project “Protecting Honey Bees from the Small Hive Beetle in Rhode Island” It is well-known that American honey bees are at risk with 40-70% losses of beehives reported throughout the US annually. American beekeepers have been battling various pests weakening the bees, including the …
Read MoreIndiana University BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — An Indiana University researcher and collaborators have published the first comprehensive analysis of the gut bacteria found in queen bees. Despite the important role of gut microbial communities — also known the “microbiome” — in protecting against disease…
Read More
Blake Shook, a young Texas commercial beekeeper, in a field of blooming canola. Read more about Blake Shook and Sarah Rushfeldt, a Wisconsin commercial beekeeper, in Charles and Karen Lorence’s article in this issue beginning on page 557.
Read More"I want the American Bee Journal to be the finest publication about bees and beekeeping in the world."
- C.P. Dadant, Editor of ABJ 1912-1938
THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL
51 S. 2nd St., Hamilton, IL 62341
Phone: 217.847.3324
Fax: 217.847.3660
info@americanbeejournal.com
©2026 Copyright the American Bee Journal. All Rights Reserved.
website developed by CleverOgre
