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

BEE CAVE, TEXAS CELEBRATES BOOKS AND BEES FESTIVAL

City of Bee Cave's Festival
Posted July 1, 2022

BEE CAVE, TEXAS CELEBRATES BOOKS AND BEES FESTIVAL

The City of Bee Cave’s inaugural Books and Bees Festival took place on April 30th, and was an instant success with children and adults alike. Pollinator education was the order of the day, with a live honey bee demonstration, beekeeping-themed games and wildflower giveaways providing fun and pollinator awareness in equal measure. The city would …

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Contents – July 2022

Posted July 1, 2022

Contents – July 2022

Book Reviews: Summer Reads Carol Hrusovszky, Alison McAfee, Tina Sebestyen and M.E.A. McNeil – 729 Walking the Walk — Selective Breeding for Mite Resistance; 2022 Update, Part 2: Mite Resistance and Genetic Expression Randy Oliver – 755 Colony Confidential … What Really Goes on Inside the Hive Chapter 6: Family Tree Peter Keilty, with illustrations …

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ABJ – July Cover

ABJ July 2022 Cover
Posted July 1, 2022

ABJ – July Cover

Our cover this month comes courtesy of Trent Wheeler, of Buckley, Washington.   “I planted an area of about 40×10 with a pollinator, wildflower mix in 2018. They are mostly bachelor buttons. The bachelor buttons came back the strongest” in 2019, but since that time “the California poppies have especially thrived. … The only thing …

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The Classroom – June 2022

The Classroom - ABJ - Jamie Ellis
Posted June 1, 2022

The Classroom – June 2022

Q  Ideal hive entrance size   [Using a standard entrance reducer], I keep [my hive entrances] at the smallest entrance throughout the season to help in defense and to replicate natural bee tree openings (Figure 1). My teaching partner opens his hives to the maximum [size] to make it easier for foragers and to help …

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Mrs. Lizzie E. Cotton: Beehive Designer from Maine in the 1880s

Posted June 1, 2022

Mrs. Lizzie E. Cotton: Beehive Designer from Maine in the 1880s

One of my main endeavors in reconstructing American apicultural history has been to find from long ago a beekeeper’s original equipment (a beehive, smoker, honey extractor, comb foundation mill, etc.) Concurrent with the equipment search, I am constantly hunting for old apicultural literature, particularly any explanatory literature published by the beekeepers who made any equipment …

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The Wonderful World of Bumble Bees, and Why They Need Our Attention

Posted June 1, 2022

The Wonderful World of Bumble Bees, and Why They Need Our Attention

Honey bees and bumble bees are very different creatures, and we need more research on bumble bee biology to support threatened populations   When two live bumble bee colonies showed up on my lab bench this spring, I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting myself into. Having never worked with bumble bees before, aside …

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Prospecting for plant toxins that will keep bees healthy

Posted June 1, 2022

Prospecting for plant toxins that will keep bees healthy

COVID has made me hypervigilant about the slightest tickle in my throat. But even in pre-COVID times, I and pretty much everyone I know had something they would take when they felt that tickle. Green tea, echinacea, garlic, cloves, perhaps a tincture of propolis? Each of these herbal remedies has something in common: They contain …

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The Ecoterrorist and the Beekeeper

Posted June 1, 2022

The Ecoterrorist and the Beekeeper

The landscape of beekeeping is in flux. Ten years ago, beekeepers were folk heroes, the saviors of our food supply. But since the so-called insect apocalypse began shifting attention to other bees, beekeeping has come under attack. Some keepers are now feeling like pariahs, finding themselves being cross-questioned like criminals. The problem? Native bees. Recently, …

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Bees and Lawns

Posted June 1, 2022

Bees and Lawns

Homeowners positively impact bees and pollinating insects. We are well aware that our urban bees need more and better food. But most homeowner lawns are largely deserts as they cultivate the “ideal” lush, green carpet meant to draw the admiration of neighbors. The ideal lawn is NOT the bee ideal. An informative Xerces Society 2018 …

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Letters to the Editor – June 2022

Posted June 1, 2022

Letters to the Editor – June 2022

Why Not Manage Drone Cells? This letter is about drawing ideal worker combs. Have you ever wondered why bees draw drone cells in our 10-frame equipment where they chose? Some of it is phenology, but most may be how we manage the hives. Are communication gaps found in natural colonies? Or are they the product …

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