The Beekeeper’s Companion Since 1861
Volume 165 No. 12 December 2025 Cover American Bee Journal. Cover features a queen bee surrounded by worker bees. Cover Callouts: Managing pests and pathogens organically - 1321 Stem cells, weeds, and bees - 1337 Lower-energy beekeeping-1343

Queen Introduction: Part 2, The Eft Bees

balling bees graphic
Posted August 1, 2020

Queen Introduction: Part 2, The Eft Bees

Honey bee management instructs beekeepers to leave the hive undisturbed after installing a new queen in a standard three-hole Benton shipping queen cage, provided with the familiar candy-release mechanism. The beekeepers usually wait for three days, maybe four. During that time, the hive becomes a black box, holding its secrets about how the colony typically …

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Should everyone feed their bees spirulina?

spirulina graphic
Posted August 1, 2020

Should everyone feed their bees spirulina?

Do you eat spirulina as a nutritional supplement? If not, there’s a good chance you’ve eaten fish, eggs, chicken or beef that was fed spirulina. Why? Because spirulina (i.e., the microalga Arthrospira platensis) is packed with nutrients and relatively easy and cheap to produce. So, if spirulina is so great, why isn’t it used as …

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Lovage for Bees and Their Keepers

honey bee on flower
Posted August 1, 2020

Lovage for Bees and Their Keepers

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HELP! I NEED A QUEEN! (Actually, You Probably Don’t)

queen cells bee hive
Posted August 1, 2020

HELP! I NEED A QUEEN! (Actually, You Probably Don’t)

June is a lovely time in Michigan. The nectar flow is coming on strong, the threat of frost is over, and we have survived another split and swarm season. After a long winter and demanding spring, the bees have settled in to make honey, and all is finally well in the bee world. Until … …

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Hole-punching Bumble Bees Urge Plants to Flower Faster

bumble bee hole-punching
Posted August 1, 2020

Hole-punching Bumble Bees Urge Plants to Flower Faster

And this could buffer against the effects of climate change Bumble bees are smart. They can master complex tasks like learning to roll a ball onto a target to get a sugar reward — a task similar, in principle, to using tools.1 They can even recognize objects in the dark, which they have previously only …

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Letters to the Editor – August 2020

Posted August 1, 2020

Letters to the Editor – August 2020

Over-regulated in Indiana You can add Indiana to the group-think health department bureaucracy (From the Editor: “Local Honey and Public Safety,” June 2020). One of the consequences of these draconian rules is that they ruined the sale of honey at the State Fair. We used to have a beautiful and wonderful selection of honey from …

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THE GIANT COMPANY COMPLETES POLLINATOR FIELD AT CARLISLE, PA HEADQUARTERS

Posted August 1, 2020

THE GIANT COMPANY COMPLETES POLLINATOR FIELD AT CARLISLE, PA HEADQUARTERS

In celebration of National Pollinator Week in June, The GIANT Company announced it has completed a seven-acre pollinator-friendly solar field at its corporate headquarters at 1149 Harrisburg Pike in Carlisle, Pa. This initiative is the first of its kind for a grocery retailer and creates a synergistic environment which contributes both to clean energy and …

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Contents – August 2020

Posted August 1, 2020

Contents – August 2020

The Beekeeping Revolution: Langstroth and his hive Peter L. Borst – 859 How the fierce A.m. scutellata became gentle in Puerto Rico M.E.A. McNeil – 873 Refining the Mite Wash, Part 2: Mite release Randy Oliver – 885 Fascinating Wax Moths: Not your average cleanup crew Hans-Ulrich Thomas – 895 Hand crank extractor power conversion …

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August 2020 ABJ Cover

August 2020 ABJ Cover
Posted August 1, 2020

August 2020 ABJ Cover

Many a suburban homeowner expends time and money trying to eradicate clover from an otherwise perfectly-manicured lawn. But not the beekeeper, who knows that, while a variety of nectar sources contribute to a colony’s spring buildup, few crops fill the honey supers like clover. This photo was taken by John Witherspoon in Port Haywood, Virginia.

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Queen Introduction: Part 2, The Effect of Attendant Bees

queen bee introduced
Posted July 1, 2020

Queen Introduction: Part 2, The Effect of Attendant Bees

The attendant bees accompany the queen during shipping. In this article we begin a detailed investigation of their effects during queen introduction. From a behavioral perspective, queen introduction involves confronting queenless bees with a foreign queen. In the presence of a foreign queen, workers typically display aggressive behaviors toward her. This aggression usually culminates in …

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