Bee Culture

Honey bee populations may collapse due to ineffective defenses. by Zhang Nannan, Chinese Academy of Sciences Credit: Pixabay/CC0 Public Domain Researchers from the Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden (XTBG) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of California San Diego have predicted that the presence of Asian honey bee hornets would harm Apis mellifera colonies more than Apis cerana colonies…

“No bumblebees in our greenhouse” As more and more growers turn to environmentally friendly methods, bee pollination has become a popular choice. However, at seed breeding companies such as Westland Seeds, bumblebees are not very welcome in the greenhouse. “In pepper seed production, we divide plants into male and female in order to cross them with each other,” the grower…

Last chance to complete the 2022 Census of Agriculture One week left to return the questionnaire The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) will end data collection for the 2022 Census of Agriculture on May 31. Producers who have not yet returned their completed questionnaires have just one week left to respond. Federal law requires everyone…

The Exotic Bee ID Website: Delivering Spectacular Portraits and Details of Some of the World’s Bees ARS scientists need your help in monitoring and protecting our important pollinators. The Exotic Bee ID website, designed and developed as a screening aid to support identification of non-native bees, offers spectacular views of some of our most important and not so important pollinators…

Links: Brendon.Mott@usda.gov

Lucile Morehouse, age 12, is an active 4-H member in Choctaw County, Oklahoma. She is the current president for her local 4-H club, shows animals, and participates nationally in martial arts. She just received the Oklahoma 4-H Youth Development 2023 Enhancement Grant for her application called “Bee Box”. Lucile will be assembling and distributing 600 seed packets for free. She…

Eden Valley Honey for 50 Years To find Jim Hodder, owner of Eden Valley Honey, drive east on Haystack Butte Road about a mile and a half, then turn right at the big cottonwood stump. Beyond the stump, about a dozen white-faced ewes — lambs in tow — are loose among a maze of corrals and outbuildings. Hodder, 78, sits…

Can Bees Feel Emotions? New Study Suggests They Are Sentient By Madeleine Muzdakis Photo: SHAIITH79/Depositphotos Bees are critical to American agriculture. They pollinate over $15 billion worth of crops across our country each year. But lately, habitat destruction and colony collapse disorder have wreaked havoc on these incredible creatures. As useful as they are to humans, bees do not receive the same care…

Honey Bee Virus Found in Mosquitoes ENTOMOLOGY TODAY While analyzing genetic signatures of microbes found in mosquitoes, researchers in Canada were surprised to find black queen cell virus, a common scourge of honey bees. The Aedes vexans mosquitoes in which the virus was identified likely acquired it while foraging for nectar at the same plants as bees, but it’s unclear if mosquitoes…

Bees bring hope to Leon County jail inmates with new reentry program Alicia Devine Bees were buzzing as they were getting acquainted with their new bee boxes in the apiary built by Leon County Jail inmates. Dustin Nixson, an inmate, was eager to learn how to care for the thousands of bees in the four bee boxes as part of…