Using Naturally Built Queen Cells Part 2: Transporting and Attaching Them to Combs & Patching Holes in Damaged Cells

Posted November 1, 2019

Using Naturally Built Queen Cells Part 2: Transporting and Attaching Them to Combs & Patching Holes in Damaged Cells

In the previous article, we learned some basic queen cell biology, which gives an indication of the developing queen bee’s environment, and her potential to support a colony with enough eggs. We learned how to judge good queen cells from poorly attended ones. From the former, we should obtain better queen bees. With the goal …

Posted November 1, 2019

U.S. Honey Crops and Markets – November 2019

Drought here, excessive rainfall there — it’s always amazing to see the differences between states, and even within states. Most of our weather news is disaster-related (go figure), and this year most of our disasters were floods. Yet some areas would have loved to have a little of that rain. Read on: Northeast New Hampshire …

Posted November 1, 2019

Honey bees can remember the good times and the bad times

This is the twenty-fourth “Notes from the Lab,” which means readers have either been enjoying or suffering through this column for two years. Perhaps a bit of both. Can you remember the columns you really liked and the ones you really didn’t? If you can, that’s due to valence encoding of your brain’s neurons, which …

Posted November 1, 2019

Fun with Figworts, the Sticky Scrophularia

I awaken on summer mornings to the sound of bumble bees. Bizz. Stop. Bizz. Stop. Bizzzzzz. Stop. The morning cuppa they seek is found in the figwort blossoms below my open window. The figworts, genus Scrophularia, belong to the family Scrophulariaceae. I love that name. I love it because it sounds like a whole sentence …

Posted November 1, 2019

The Classroom – November 2019

Q Using Discolored Honey After draining my cappings they are warmed/heated to approximately 160 degrees F. The wax is poured from the top and there is always a good bit of honey in the bottom of the container. Realizing there is always a chance of disease causing agents in the honey would it otherwise be …

Posted November 1, 2019

Patience, Propolis, and Golden Opportunity

Winter is a good time for beekeepers to learn patience. At first, we feel relieved that the bees are finally settled in and don’t need any of our time. Soon, though, we start wishing for a bee fix, and start worrying about our girls. We wonder if they might be struggling with the cold, and …

Posted November 1, 2019

Letting Honey Bees Be Honey Bees

Is Darwinian beekeeping compatible with industry? “Honey bees are the best beekeepers,” Dr. Tom Seeley softly declared to a captivated audience. The room was packed, shoulder-to-shoulder, and everyone was attentive. It was the final day of the Apimondia conference in Montreal, Canada, and Seeley held the last keynote address. “Everything they do has been shaped …

Posted November 1, 2019

Contents November 2019

Holiday Reads Carol Hrusovszky, Kris Fricke – 1209 World Beekeeping Awards: The Winners — and the Revelation Kristen Georgi – 1233 The Nosema Problem — Treatment – Part 6 of a Series Randy Oliver – 1243 Richard Taylor: The Metaphysical Beekeeper Ron Miksha – 1249 Remembering Liz Vaenoski Karen Nielsen Lorence – 1261 Traditional Beekeeping …

Posted November 1, 2019

November 2019 ABJ Cover

Max Sheffield has been a keeper of bees for most of his adult life. And at 90, he is still perfecting his craft in the suburbs of Cincinnati. Jim Still-Pepper, of Still Light Images in Zanesville, Ohio, had the privilege of capturing his work as he inspected one of his hives.

Posted October 1, 2019

The Classroom – October 2019

Q Wrong Use of Antibiotics Jerry, I read that you thought that treating for AFB with antibiotics a couple of times a year was not a good idea. I thought you would promote treatment for AFB before it becomes a problem, not after? So you have to have a vet charge about $40.00 to write …

Using Naturally Built Queen Cells Part 2: Transporting and Attaching Them to Combs & Patching Holes in Damaged Cells

Posted November 1, 2019