ONLINE TOOL IDENTIFIES BEST AND SAFEST PLACES TO KEEP BEES

Posted June 1, 2019

ONLINE TOOL IDENTIFIES BEST AND SAFEST PLACES TO KEEP BEES

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – Honeybees play essential roles in pollinating plants that humans and animals rely on for food. Declines in bee populations – including 20 percent of honeybee colonies per year in Indiana – threaten our food supply. Insecticide exposure, loss of flowering plants, and fewer nesting habitats, disease and parasites are all factors. …

Posted June 1, 2019

Letters to the Editor – June 2019

New Bees I am very new at beekeeping, having received my nucs less than a week ago. I enjoy nature photography and have been observing the girls. I love this photo of them collecting pollen and resin — they are settling in nicely at their home in Robertsville. Thanks for the great information your magazine …

Posted June 1, 2019

June 2019

Book Reviews Carol Hrusovszky, MEA McNeil, Leo Sharashkin – 643 Selective Breeding for Mite-Resistance: Two-Year Progress Report Randy Oliver – 653 Successful Organic Farmers: The Key to a Good Future For Beekeeping Kirk Webster – 687 The Amazing Honey Bee: Dr. Tom Seeley on Bees’ Emotions, Stunning Abilities, and His New Book Leo Sharashkin – …

Posted June 1, 2019

June 2019 ABJ Cover

I took this picture of my beehives in April. It was a sunny spring day, and I’d just finished inspecting the hives in my backyard. The Azaleas were blooming pink and white, matching the colors of the beehives. Taylor Guilford, Woodbridge, Virginia

Posted May 1, 2019

The Classroom – May 2019

Q A Sauna for the Bees Hi Jerry! Thanks for all your help and humorous advice through the years, I always enjoy your column and read it first! I have been talking with a fellow apiary inspector about the various gizmos that heat a frame or hive to “kill mites.” The one below says that …

Posted May 1, 2019

Letters to the Editor – May 2019

Overachiever I keep a hive in my backyard as a hobby. I discovered this little lady last spring about 3 feet from the hive … she was so loaded down she couldn’t make it back in! I let her rest then gave her a lift back into the box. Overachiever! Michelle Mettert Fort Wayne, Indiana …

Posted May 1, 2019

Usurpation: A Colony Taken Over by a Foreign Swarm

After the spring nectar flow and swarming have passed, the weather conditions become hotter and drier as summer arrives. During this time, I watch for usurpation swarms. A usurpation swarm is typically a small summer swarm that invades even a numerically strong queen-right colony. The mother queen of the colony is eliminated and replaced by …

Posted May 1, 2019

A Pesticide Success for Bees Pollinating Almond

Approximately 1.5 million honey bee colonies are currently used to pollinate ~950,000 acres of nut-producing almond trees in California. Since the estimated number of colonies in the United States is ~2.6 million according to the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service, that means nearly 60% of the country’s managed honey bees are flying around in California …

Posted May 1, 2019

The Price Trap-Out: No Bee Left Behind

I once described trapping out as a not-so-satisfactory way of removing a colony of bees from an enclosed structure or tree. Trapping requires much beekeeper input during a multi-step process. Even when things go well, a trap-out can leave a dead queen and her brood to decay, and may allow untended honey stores to ferment …

Posted May 1, 2019

BAYER’S FEED A BEE PROGRAM REACHES 50-STATE MILESTONE

ST. LOUIS – Feed a Bee, the national pollinator forage initiative by Bayer, has reached its goal of awarding grants supporting diverse forage for honey bees and other pollinators in all 50 states. The 50th recipient awarded recently was Gateway to the Arctic Camp in Talkeetna, Alaska. Dedicated to service and agriculture, the nonprofit camp …

ONLINE TOOL IDENTIFIES BEST AND SAFEST PLACES TO KEEP BEES

Posted June 1, 2019