The Beekeeper’s Companion Since 1861
American Bee Journal Volume 166 No. 4 April 2026 Cover features children's art work depicting honey bees. Callouts: Reduce Supersedure in Packages - 443, Why the hexagon - 419, Educating the Future - 403

Colony Usurpation (Takeover): The Fourth Method of Queen Replacement – Part 1

Posted December 1, 2021

Colony Usurpation (Takeover): The Fourth Method of Queen Replacement – Part 1

How many beekeeping books can you recall listing the ways honey bees replace their queen bees? Here is the list: swarming, supersedure, and emergency queen loss. This list needs to be updated now, because for probably about 10-15 years, maybe longer, the bees have had a fourth way to replace a queen (here in the …

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Notes from the Lab – December 2021

Posted December 1, 2021

Notes from the Lab – December 2021

How good are honey bees at pollinating compared to other pollinators?  When I speak with most people about pollination, they talk about honey bees as the prime example of a highly effective pollinator. But this contrasts with the opinion of many scientists. Many of the scientists I speak with consider honey bees to be OK …

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The Spectrum of Bee Sociality

Posted December 1, 2021

The Spectrum of Bee Sociality

When we think of bees, we usually think of social creatures. We often see drawings of bees circling a bulbous nest dangling from a tree. The bees look down at us and scowl or smile, depending on the artist’s worldview. In truth, bees have an enormous range of social behaviors. The eusocial (meaning truly social) …

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Some Final Management for 2021

Posted December 1, 2021

Some Final Management for 2021

December is a good month to look back over the past year and see if our beekeeping objectives were met. How did your bees do? Did you try something new? Did you incorporate a new piece of equipment? Did you get any harvestable surplus or were harvest expectations exceeded? Now is a good time to …

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Letters to the Editor – December 2021

Posted December 1, 2021

Letters to the Editor – December 2021

Hymenoptera   Our yards sounded with a buzz. The four winged creatures below And above. From ants to wasps And of course honey bees too.   If you didn’t disturb them they would Not disturb you! With the Vernal Equinox the seasons changed Spring had sprung and the flowers were   Blooming causing insects to …

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RESEARCHERS DEVELOP SELF-POLLINATING ALMOND WITH A GOLD MINE OF TASTY TRAITS

Posted December 1, 2021

RESEARCHERS DEVELOP SELF-POLLINATING ALMOND WITH A GOLD MINE OF TASTY TRAITS

ARS News Service   Parlier, Calif., Oct. 18, 2021 — One day, Yorizane may be synonymous with almonds and California. So what is a Yorizane and what does it have to do with almonds? Yorizane is a new self-pollinating almond variety developed by USDA’s Agricultural Research Service with superb consumer traits such as size, color, …

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BREEDING HONEY BEES ADAPTED FOR REGIONALIZED PLANTS AND ARTIFICIAL DIETS

Posted December 1, 2021

BREEDING HONEY BEES ADAPTED FOR REGIONALIZED PLANTS AND ARTIFICIAL DIETS

ARS News Service   October 1, 2021, Baton Rouge, La. — Honey bees could be intentionally bred to thrive on plants that are already locally present or even solely on artificial diets, according to a recent USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS) study. ARS researchers found individual bees respond differently to the same diet and that …

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ABJ December 2021 Cover

Posted December 1, 2021

ABJ December 2021 Cover

Leslie Madsen took our cover photo in June 2019 in Boulder, and gives the following description of this one-of-a-kind plant: “The Green Gentian/Elk Weed/Monument Plant (yes! three common names!) is an incredible wildflower native to the Rocky Mountains that grows in mountain foothills, open fields, even higher altitudes. The height of these plants is astonishing: …

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December 2021 Contents

Posted December 1, 2021

December 2021 Contents

The Honey Jar: More on that Treasure from the Pyramids Peter L Borst – 1305 COLOSS Virtual Meeting for 2021 Malcom T. Sanford – 1323 A Comparative Trial of the Pollen Subs 2020 — Part 6: Do We Need to Revise de Groot? Randy Oliver – 1331 Integrated Pest Management for Honey Bees Against Varroa …

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The Classroom – November 2021

The Classroom - ABJ - Jamie Ellis
Posted November 1, 2021

The Classroom – November 2021

Q  Odd Brood Nest  For several years, I have noticed that my bees in the middle of summer (July and August) in North Florida split the brood nest, leaving the centermost frames brood-free, placing the brood on the two or three outermost frames on each side of the 10-frame box. Of course, the amount of brood …

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