The Beekeeper’s Companion Since 1861
Volume 165, No. 9 September 2025 Cover Features a Bee on a pink flower. Callouts: Honey Bee swarms are different - 963, Just what does "Africanized" mean? - 991, The BeeCAUSE Alliance - 1013

USDA ASKS AMERICANS TO LOOK FOR INVASIVE EGG MASSES

Posted May 1, 2024

USDA ASKS AMERICANS TO LOOK FOR INVASIVE EGG MASSES

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2024—Help the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) stomp out invasive pests this spring! Challenge your detection prowess: Look for spotted lanternfly and spongy moth egg masses on vehicles, trees, and other outdoor surfaces during the winter and early spring. If you find them, USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) …

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BEE BOX

Posted May 1, 2024

BEE BOX

Lucile Morehouse, age 13, is an active 4-H member in Choctaw County, Oklahoma. She created a service project that focuses on saving pollinators. Last year Lucile was awarded the Youth Enhancement Grant from the Oklahoma 4-H Foundation. This one-time grant allowed Lucile to distribute 600 seed packets that went to 16 different states. This year, …

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Contents-May 2024

Posted May 1, 2024

Contents-May 2024

A Field Trial of Probiotics, part 2 Randy Oliver – 481 The Dynamics of Honey Bee Flight Bill Hesbach – 496 Let’s Throw a Bee! Peter L Borst – 501 Having It Your Way in a HOA Peter Keilty – 519 Rescuing Plastic Foundation Wes Henry – 521 Revealing Hygienic Behavior with UBeeO Tine Sebestyen …

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ABJ May 2024 COVER

Posted May 1, 2024

ABJ May 2024 COVER

Line ’em up: Oklahoma beekeeper Jody Wallace took our cover photo after a day’s work with Strehlow Bees. “Something about a lineup of smokers plugged with woodsy trinkets always catches my eye. It took many beekeepers with smokers to build these nucs.”  

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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 …

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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. …

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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 …

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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 …

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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 …

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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, …

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