Q: Peppermint for small hive beetles I just started using peppermint candy in my hives to combat small hive beetles (SHBs). It is too early to give my honest opinion. I see lots of beekeepers doing this. Some say it is also effective on mites. Can you give any thought on this? Wesley Bryant Alabama, …
Read MoreYesterday’s “Future” is today’s “Past” Readers, I hope you will be patient with me in this piece. I know that more practical topics are being discussed by accomplished writers elsewhere in this issue, but I am — as it were — wandering into the fog of abstract bees and theoretical beekeeping concepts. In this piece, …
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Everyone knows honey bees do all of the pollination for our pollination-dependent crops … right? Wrong. I’m guessing most people who read this column probably know there are also other insects that pollinate our crops. Perhaps some people know there are ~20,000 species of bees in the world, and ~4,000 species in North America, many …
Read MoreMost every swarm season delivers at least one surprise; this past swarm season (the spring of 2024) had its share, and one was revealed in a hive at 2:00 a.m., not a typical time. The location is the main apiary at my bee house, where smaller groups of hives scattered nearby begin to launch swarms. …
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I was never a hoarder. As a child, my address shifted whenever a new sibling arrived or my dad’s employment changed. Later, as a camp counselor, my quarters moved along with each influx of new campers. In college, dorm rooms rotated for inexplicable reasons. And then, after graduation, I transplanted to find work and independence. …
Read MoreQueen introduction method As usual, Tina Sebestyen’s article about discovering a better way to introduce queens to a colony (August issue) makes interesting reading and tempts me to suggest that some public-spirited beekeeper with nothing to do (ha-ha) should collect all the “how to do it” books on beekeeping and tear out the pages which …
Read MoreJanuary 29, 1945 — June 27, 2024 by Debbie Seib, Vice President, American Beekeeping Federation Troy Fore was the Executive Director for the American Beekeeping Federation for over 20 years, but he was so much more than that. He was a brother, a husband, a father, and a grandfather. In 2013, Troy was a Foundation …
Read MoreAutumn Reads Rusty Burlew, Eugene Makovec, Tine Sebestyen – 1041 Legislative Update Charles Linder – 1059 Organic Colony Management … Preparing Honey Bee Colonies for Winter – What you Should Know Selina Bruckner, Robyn M. Underwood, Margarita M. López-Uribe – 1061 What’s Blooming in Your Neck of the Woods? October Ed Szymanski – 1065 A …
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Softly … Joan Fox sent in our cover photo of a honey bee on desert milkweed (Asclepias subulata), which blooms in her Tucson, Arizona yard through much of the summer and fall.
Read More Q Checkerboarding Frames My bee mentor (vast warehouse of knowledge) says to checkerboard frames of brood and honey, meaning to move full frames of honey to the outside of the nest and empty ones to center of the nest. I have been doing this for two years. It seems to be working. Do you have any …
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
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