American Bee Journal

What can be learned during varroa’s establishment in Australia? I just moved to Australia for a year-long sabbatical. (Yes, it’s a major perk of being an academic researcher!) Given my current location, it probably isn’t surprising that my email in-box is filled with people asking what I’ve learned so far about “the varroa situation.” If you don’t already know, until…

Q  Two quick questions  1)  In this extreme heat we are having, what is the best way to ventilate my beehive? 2)  What plants can I plant to have a continuous nectar flow? Is this even possible? James Walker Alabama, August A For your first question, I would worry less about ventilation and more about hive placement in full sun…

Suzanne and I arrived home on a hot afternoon finishing a long drive this past summer. After carrying in the heavy loads from the car to the house, I walked the hive rows of my main research apiary by the bee house. We had only been away for one night. For me though with bees, that absence can be close…

I begin this tirade with a disclaimer: I am not a doctor, nor do I have allergies. However, that has never stopped me from having an opinion. Much like a hornet casing a beehive, I like to scrutinize senseless bits of conventional wisdom. And like the hornet, I keep searching for a back door, a crack, a way to bring…

It might look like fall to you, with tree lines flashing flamboyant hues and pumpkin spice in the air. But if you take your cues from the stores where you shop, it could very well be Christmastime. I never mind being pushed several weeks into the future by jingle bells in the shopping aisles, or dazzling Christmas commercials on the…

In the previous article, we observed robber bees hunting en masse for colonies that cannot protect their honey. The emphasis was on the hive being robbed, which is easily identified given the rush of bees into the hive, along with fighting between the hive and robber bees. This article shows a detailed series of technical photographs revealing robber colonies, the…

Q  Filtering cartridges I have a question about the filtering cartridges used with masks during the application of formic acid and the vaporization treatment with oxalic acid. When should they be changed? At what point does their effectiveness no longer provide the necessary protection? Marie-Hélène Majeau Québec, August A These are very important questions. All products administered to honey bee…

I’m not a sociologist. So when a new sociology paper on the topic of competition between managed honey bees and native wild bees was recently published, I wanted to see what I could learn. As readers of this column have probably been noticing, lately I’ve been covering several new papers on the topic of competition between managed honey bees and…

Have you ever had European foulbrood? EFB, or Melissococcus plutonius, is commonly considered the lesser evil of the dreaded foulbroods we either manage for or hope never to catch. But in my day-to-day life as an apiary inspector, I declare EFB to be Public Bee-Enemy Number One. I frequently find it in apiaries far and wide. EFB is easy to…

Global trade has spoiled us. We can buy anything from anywhere, and before we can say Acarapis woodi, the orders plop onto our front porches. And if we don’t like what arrives, we can send it back. International shopping is so effortless, we seldom think about it. Unfortunately, the part about sending it back doesn’t work well for invasive species…