PENN STATE HONEY AND POLLEN DIAGNOSTIC LAB OFFERS POLLEN IDENTIFICATION SERVICE

Posted February 1, 2024

PENN STATE HONEY AND POLLEN DIAGNOSTIC LAB OFFERS POLLEN IDENTIFICATION SERVICE

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State Honey and Pollen Diagnostic Lab now is accepting honey and pollen samples from researchers and beekeepers who would like to identify the plants at the genus level from which honey bees are collecting nectar and pollen. “Bees and other pollinators, such as flies or butterflies, collect the nectar …

Posted February 1, 2024

Contents-February 2024

AHPA San Diego: A Meeting of Minds and Beehives Mattie Joiner – 141 Welcome to the 4th Agricultural Revolution! Randy Oliver – 143 Darwin Among the Hives Peter L Borst – 159 Observation Hives Add Fun to Beekeeping Dewey M. Caron – 165 Self-organization and collective behavior in honey bee colonies, Part 1 Frédéric Eggers …

Posted February 1, 2024

ABJ FEBRUARY 2024 Cover

Pretty in peach: Early spring peach blossoms provide a feast for honey bees and other pollinators. Terry Holm took this photo in March 2020 of her beehives in a Stayton, Oregon peach orchard.

Posted January 1, 2024

The Classroom – January 2024

Q Preventing Varroa virus transmission Has there been any research on practical methods to prevent the viruses that are transmitted through Varroa? We all want Varroa to go away but it seems like it will be here for a while. Could we treat or prevent the viruses from getting into the bee colony, fight the …

Posted January 1, 2024

Honey Extractors of the 1870s: Part 1

The January 1870 American Bee Journal contained an article by J.L. Peabody, who presented a description and a picture of a honey extractor invented by his brother H.O. Peabody (see Figure 1). During this early time of developing a suitable honey extractor, numerous creative designs arose. Some of these designs would be surprising to the …

Posted January 1, 2024

Notes from the Lab – January 2024

Honey bees are experiencing unsustainable colony loss rates, and many species of wild pollinators are experiencing range contractions and population declines. Pesticides are not the only reason for these problems, but hundreds of scientific studies show very clearly they’re contributing. For this and other reasons, some people think we should get rid of pesticides. But …

Posted January 1, 2024

How to Be Inhospitable to Unwanted Hive Guests: Small Hive Beetle Management for Any Time of Year

Why should we talk about small hive beetles in January? Wouldn’t it be more fun to talk about this Super El Niño and parse out the many fun beekeeping tasks we can accomplish on a mild, sunny day? Well, sure, you can keep pretending SHB isn’t a major concern. But your bees can’t — because SHB …

Posted January 1, 2024

Extracted Honey Cratered the Comb Honey Market: Can we Get It Back?

The kitchen of my youth smelled of lye soap, smoked bacon, and peck baskets of walnuts. A throwback to the 40s, the kitchen had a linoleum floor and a table topped with red-and-white checked oilcloth. (Oh, how I miss the lead in my diet!) In the center sat the perennial must-haves of the day: salt, …

Posted January 1, 2024

Fiddle Bump Beekeeping

Staying busy during the cold months of the year Some Plain Talk about beekeeping during cold seasons ABJ readers, here’s some Plain Talk Beekeeping for you — January is a slow month for actively managing bees. Except for those who are in warmer parts of this country, January is a cold, blustery month with few …

Posted January 1, 2024

Letters to the Editor – January 2024

Purple “honey” Dear Mr. Makovec, Approximately five years ago, I posted on a honey bee blog that perhaps the purple honey some beekeepers are surprised to find in their supers is due to bees taking grape jelly from oriole bird feeders (I’ll provide a picture of my jelly feeder covered in honey bees). Expectedly, I …

PENN STATE HONEY AND POLLEN DIAGNOSTIC LAB OFFERS POLLEN IDENTIFICATION SERVICE

Posted February 1, 2024