One December I was having coffee with someone I was mentoring when he asked a question that stopped me mid-conversation. He asked what I was planning to do with my bees in the next beekeeping season. There was an awkward pause while I frantically searched my mind for an answer that sounded halfway intelligent. The …
Read MoreDon’t Blame Hobbyists for Tropilaelaps Charles Linder in his column (ABJ August) wrote about biosecurity in the bee yard and the risk for Tropilaelaps arriving at ports. He commented on an East Coast port allowing local “hobbyist” beekeepers to remove “imported” swarms from the port. I don’t know which East Coast port Mr. Linder is …
Read MoreThe mysterious population decline of the imperiled Franklin’s bumble bee, which once flourished in a small area of northern California and southern Oregon, is not due to pathogens, but most likely to population bottlenecks and environmental issues, such as fire and drought stressors, according to newly published museum genomic research in the Proceedings of the …
Read MoreSeptember 2025 update Since its detection near Newcastle, New South Wales in 2022, Varroa destructor has extended its geographic range in spite of strong quarantine and movement restrictions on hives. At the beginning of September 2025, the mite was detected in an almond plantation in the Riverland area of South Australia. The infested hive was …
Read More“Bee Club,” a novel by bee journalist Mea McNeil, has been awarded a gold medal at the 2025 Apimondia World Beekeeping Awards. The presentation ceremony was a highlight of the Apimondia International Apicultural Congress in Copenhagen. Entries came from countries around the globe, celebrating “innovators, artisans, and visionaries shaping the world of beekeeping.” Among 20 …
Read MoreTHE CLASSROOM Jamie Ellis – 1303 BEEKEEPING BASICS Just Keeping Your Bees Alive? Tina Sebestyen – 1309 Apimondia 2025 Kris Fricke – 1315 Organic Colony Management … Managing Non-varroa Pests and Pathogens in Your Organic Apiary Laura C. McHenry, Margarita M. López-Uribe, Robyn M. Underwood – 1321 Oxalic Acid Titration Randy Oliver – 1327 THE …
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On the 12th day of the Christmas: A royal retinue! Jennifer Rasico of Rhinelander, Wisconsin, just took “a quick photo” for her bee-curious neighbors, and accidentally captured this classic queen retinue. They’re not always this cooperative, but it sure makes Her Majesty easy to find!
Read MoreQ: Spotted Lanternflies Recently spotted lanternflies have started to make a frequent appearance where I live in Southwestern Virginia. I have read that they have been spreading in the U.S. for the past decade, but I am just now hearing about them. A lot of people I know are worried about what their impact could …
Read MoreThe cost of a screened bottom board is not that different from that of an assembled and painted solid one, though the Ultimate Screened Bottom Board1 (well worth the money) is a bit more, so the real question is, which one is better for my bees, and will it help keep mite numbers low? We …
Read MoreBack in 2023, a paper appeared in the Journal of Economic Entomology about how honey bee colonies exposed to sunflower pollen had fewer varroa mites than colonies not exposed to sunflowers.1 The story got a truckload of press, and beekeepers all over North America were told that scattering a few sunflower seeds around their apiaries …
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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