American Bee Journal

Many of us delight in the crisp scent of a freshly mown lawn. The emerald fragrance of a spring breeze overlain with the citrus-and-cucumber aroma of cut grass signals a rebirth. As winter recedes, the dewy scent of wet soil and slinky earthworms overwhelms us with joy, hope, and a belief in the future. As a youngster in Pennsylvania, I…

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, most people invested time and effort into staying healthy. I’m guessing nearly everyone reading this article bought and used hand sanitizer and face masks. Plexiglass screens were erected at the check-in areas of businesses, and work surfaces were disinfected frequently. We did these things because we’re a social species that interacts extensively with…

When historical bee journals can readily be found dating back to the late 1800s, finding one from the late 1940s to the early 1950s does not seem all that old. Production and dissemination of the journal are also important factors to consider; a fairly recent journal without a wide distribution can become quite rare. “Bees” was one such journal. I…

We said it could never work! We fell out of our chairs when Stuart and Cedar Anderson touted a more “hands-off” method of harvesting honey and turned the Flow Hive tap to show it. And now, almost 10 years later, there are more Flow Hive users than ever. Some of them have great success and some of them do not.…

In Part 1 of this series, we ended with bees becoming ensnared in spider webs. We continue with watching bees forage. I spend a considerable amount of time studying bees, especially in the summer. Watching bees forage, chasing them from flower to flower, camera in hand, filming and feeling for when the camera begins to overheat, one learns a constellation…

  Q  Keeping sugar water fresh I have +/- 200 single hives. I pail feed and am running into black mold in the pails. I have heard of putting a teaspoon of bleach in each pail with the sugar water. I do not want to do that as I feel it may harm the bees. I was using 2-gallon (7.6…

Many of us keep some type of beekeeping log. A log contains data — facts and figures that describe what we found, what we did, and what comes next. It may also contain colony maintenance reminders, to-do lists, and inspection notes. Some of us record these reminders in a notebook or digital device, while others scratch code inside a telescoping…

Around this time of year, I have the most glorious recurring dreams about swarms. Usually, the dream starts out like any run-of-the-mill dream about working for hire on Taylor Swift’s rainforest unicorn farm. I’m usually crawling around on the soft fragrant ground, trimming iridescent fringed aphids from a coral reef tree, when my knees begin to glow with agony. I’m…

Varroa and Tropilaelaps feed primarily on honey bee hemolymph when they reproduce Until 2019, everyone knew varroa was a vampire that fed on honey bee hemolymph. But then Sammy Ramsey published his paradigm-altering study (Ramsey et al., 2019; highlighted in the April 2019 Notes from the Lab: 159(4):443-445), showing varroa was actually more like a werewolf since it fed primarily…