Your energy for beekeeping In January, I attended a large bee meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. For me, it was a significant event. Your individual beekeeping energy at that gathering was palpable. I was honored to have beekeepers come by our podcast booth and share their time and experiences with us. I enjoyed every one of …
Read MoreMarvels in the Trees Admittedly, I had to look up its definition, but in doing so discovered how appropriately “perspicacious” describes the insight shared by the deer hunter in last month’s “From the Editor” piece [“The apartment,” February 2026]. What a treat! Sincere thanks, Eugene, for taking us into the respite of that tree stand, …
Read MoreARS researchers are looking to help U.S. beekeepers better detect and treat their honey bee populations. Honey bees are important pollinators in agriculture. With an estimated 50-80% of crops pollinated by honey bees, they generate approximately $20 billion annually in market value in the United States alone. However, pathogens and the Varroa destructor parasitic mite …
Read MoreTHE CLASSROOM Jamie Ellis – 251 BEEKEEPING BASICS Swarm Season Can Help Your Raise Great Queens Tina Sebestyen – 257 Producing Swarm Queens for Fun, Profit, and Really Big Queens Part 1: What we don’t know about swarms Shelley Stuart – 263 The Indiana Queen Breeders Association, Part 1 Jeff Becker – 267 Mysterious Queen …
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Water, please … on the rocks. This month’s cover comes to us from Gavonna Fore of West Plains, Missouri. As the weather warms, our bees will be looking for dependable, safe water sources. Gavonna fills a large rimmed cookie sheet with water, adding smooth rocks for landing spots to keep bees from drowning.
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Colony assessment and assistance I am finishing up my third year as a beekeeper and at age 84 I do not feel like I can count on another 20 or so years to acquire practical experience to become a veteran beekeeper. With that in mind, I have sought to gain “experience” through searching the internet …
Read MoreIn 1873, Moses Quinby, a beekeeper from New York, invented a practical bee smoker, the design we use today. The new design stood upright with the bellows to the side of the fire box (the smoker barrel), and was easy to use with one hand (see Figure 1). Not surprisingly, creative beekeepers offered their modifications …
Read MoreOn a late summer day — October, it was — a bitter breeze nipped my face and slithered beneath my jacket. I shivered. Overhead, an arrogant Steller’s jay threatened, scolding me in a harsh, get-the-heck-outta-here voice. And nearby, in a thicket of western red cedar, a Townsend’s chipmunk caterwauled in a rapid chip, chip, chip …
Read MoreHelping weak colonies — too much review? Maybe I write about this subject too much. After all, we seem to agree that honey bees are not as vibrant as they were a few decades ago, but in life, we seem to forget the bad and remember the good. Am I, and others like me, just …
Read MoreDrones are the underappreciated, but (in)dispensible gift in your hives. They are indispensible in that they are the key to keeping good genetic traits in your colonies and surrounding apiaries. They also seem dispensable, since we humans think that there are always more than we need, and culling the larvae is such a valuable tool …
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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