HONEY BEE HEALTH COALITION & USDA ARS SEEK 100 BEEKEEPERS FOR AMITRAZ RESISTANCE TESTING

Posted September 1, 2022

HONEY BEE HEALTH COALITION & USDA ARS SEEK 100 BEEKEEPERS FOR AMITRAZ RESISTANCE TESTING

The Honey Bee Health Coalition, working in partnership with Dr. Frank Rinkevich at the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) Honey Bee Breeding, Genetics, and Physiology Lab in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is entering into the fourth year of a project to determine the extent of amitraz resistance in varroa mites (Varroa destructor) in managed honey bee …

Posted September 1, 2022

Letters to the Editor – September 2022

When the almond tree blooms, and more on drone cells Ecclesiastes 12:5 “… and the almond tree shall flourish …” As do most people I think, I look at the first blossoms of spring as the beginning of the cycle of nature. But this is not necessarily so or is not necessarily accurate. Phenology …

Posted September 1, 2022

Contents – September 2022

Which Type of Hive is Right for You? Jim Berndt – 971 The Beekeepers of Ukraine, Their Bees and War M.E.A. McNeil – 978 Colony Confidential … What Really Goes on Inside the Hive Chapter 8: Cornucopia Peter Keilty, with illustrations by Bridget White – 986 Formic Pro and Queens in Hot Weather Randy Oliver …

Posted September 1, 2022

ABJ Cover September 2022

Mountain mint, genus Pycnanthemum, includes several species native to the eastern United States, ranging into the Midwest and lower Canada. Its genus name means “densely flowered,” and while it blooms in July and August it attracts a wide variety of pollinators. This photo is courtesy of Scott Langlais, EAS Master Beekeeper and former President …

Posted August 1, 2022

The Classroom – August 2022

Q Does shaking a frame harm brood? When handling queen cells, we are often warned to be extremely careful with the capped cells in order to avoid causing damage to the developing queen, especially the wing buds. However, we often vigorously shake frames of bees when doing various hive maintenance tasks. Are we harming any …

Posted August 1, 2022

Can an Emerging Queen Ever be Put Back in Her Cell? By Only the Worker Bees? Oh Yes! But How!?

It’s the time of year when the bees can swarm their colony to destruction, becoming so weak that small hive beetles and wax moths will consume the combs in the heat of summer. It’s the time of year when a colony can launch multiple swarms, the bees somehow ensuring each swarm has at least one …

Posted August 1, 2022

How climate, weather, and land use shape colony productivity in the Northcentral U.S.

What makes a honey bee colony grow and produce lots of honey? Ask this question to two beekeepers and you’re likely to receive more than two answers. Perhaps dozens. Intuitively, we all know climate, weather, and land use are important. Multi-year droughts (climate) and month-to-month variability in rainfall (weather) each very clearly influence the availability …

Posted August 1, 2022

Are Microplastics Plaguing Our Honey Bees?

You eat them. Fish eat them. Even birds and frogs eat them. In fact, we all scarf them down like condiments. And when we’re not busy swallowing colorful bits of plastic, we inhale them, sending beads and fragments into the deepest recesses of the human lung.1 From there, some of the smaller particles ride the …

Posted August 1, 2022

Harvesting Honey One way or the other

Processing honey is NOT keeping bees Processing honey is not in the same arena as keeping bees. While it is very true that to get a surplus honey crop, you had to do things like control swarming, restrict mite populations, and help colonies get through the winter, in the bright light of reality, once you …

Posted August 1, 2022

Indoor Storage is for More than Just the Winter

More beekeepers are using cold storage to induce brood breaks or ease the summer dearth Beekeepers have been keeping colonies indoors to pass through the depths of winter for over a century. For example, discussions of “cellaring” colonies in the coldest months date back to 1902, when G.M. Doolittle, a beekeeper in New York, wrote …

HONEY BEE HEALTH COALITION & USDA ARS SEEK 100 BEEKEEPERS FOR AMITRAZ RESISTANCE TESTING

Posted September 1, 2022