The county where I live just erected these signs not far from my house. I’ve always known bears were in the area, but somehow the signs make them seem more immediate, more of a threat. So far, no bears have attacked my apiary, but you never know. There is a first time for everything.
Since the advent of gene mapping, the classification of bee species has changed. Just a few years ago there were eleven families of bees, then nine, now seven. Even so, there are more species of bees—about 20,000—than species of mammals and birds combined, so that’s a lot of bees. Dividing all those species into families […] Read more
Do bumble bees fly south? Hibernate? Keep themselves warm like honey bees? Why don’t we see them flying around on a warm winter day? Even though honey bees and bumble bees are closely related (both in the family Apidae) and even though they are both considered social bees, their life cycles are very different. A […] Read more
This week I want to share some more variations of the moisture quilt that were sent in by readers. Each of them has been customized for local conditions or unique problems. Today’s rendition was sent to me by Herb Lester in Tennessee. Herb starts by making a candy board with a hole in the center. […] Read more
After I posted “How to get stung 22 times in one place,” many beekeepers and gardeners wrote in with suggestions for dressing bee stings. I decided to put all these remedies in one place, so people can find them. This is a work in progress, so be sure to leave your favorite remedy in the […] Read more
Before I get down to the details of each type of comb honey super, I want to discuss Varroa mites. In Honey in the Comb, Eugene Killion does not write a single word about these irksome creatures. This was not an oversight. In fact, the book was published in 1981, six years before Varroa appeared […] Read more