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 …

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 …

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.

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 …

Posted July 1, 2020

Pre-bloom pesticide sprays in apple orchards — safe for bees?

As I write this, it’s peak apple bloom here in New York. All the big orchards in our Big Apple state are filled with pallets of hives and the bees are busily doing their thing. Since apples are worth ~$320 million/year in New York, and apple is also ~90% reliant on insect pollination to produce …

Posted July 1, 2020

CRISPR for the Curious: A Primer

CRISPR headlines make the news every day, served with a side order of alphabet soup that can make your head spin. To say the acronyms and initialisms are off-putting is an understatement. However, CRISPR technology is here to stay and it will change our lives forever, so a basic understanding is worth the effort. At …

Posted July 1, 2020

Getting Good Help

Beekeeping is best learned through hands-on experience under the guidance of a knowledgeable mentor. In an ideal world, an aspiring beekeeper would purchase only one piece of equipment their first year: a veil. They would then spend a season working with an experienced, local beekeeper, learning a system of management in real time — adding …

Posted July 1, 2020

The Surprisingly Sophisticated Ways that Honey Bees Fight Disease

Honey bees can’t socially distance. Here’s what they do instead The air is warm with bodies and heavy with humidity. Nestmates huddle and rapidly antennate one another, as if they’re chatting, sharing pheromones, information, and food. Living in a beehive is like living in a house with 40,000 siblings who have no concept of personal …

Posted July 1, 2020

The Classroom – July 2020

Q Varroa and robbing screens Do robbing/drifting screens help (or not) prevent Varroa transmission if you have them on every hive in your apiary and if so how much? I know you can prevent your bees from robbing out unprotected hives but is this a viable strategy to reduce the transmission rate of Varroa? Cliff …

Posted July 1, 2020

“RIDICULOUS” TO CALL ASIAN GIANT HORNET “THE MURDER HORNET”

— University of California Davis, — May 5, 2020 It’s “ridiculous” to call the Asian giant hornet recently found in British Columbia and Washington state “the murder hornet,” says noted UC Davis wasp expert and researcher Lynn Kimsey, director of the Bohart Museum of Entomology and professor of entomology, UC Davis Department of Entomology and …

THE GIANT COMPANY COMPLETES POLLINATOR FIELD AT CARLISLE, PA HEADQUARTERS

Posted August 1, 2020