Well, I don’t know if the bees are happy, but I certainly am. Whenever I see winter bees dart outside on a cold afternoon and drop a semi-solid parcel, I sigh with relief. I want to say, “See! You can do this! You can make it till spring, one day at a time.” I’ve never […] Read more
We’ve all seen honey bees fly in the rain. A light sprinkle or a short shower seems to have little effect on a foraging bee. On the other hand, a storm with heavy rainfall will keep the bees inside their hive. How do the honey bees decide when it’s safe to fly? Based on a […] Read more
It’s become a tradition for me to celebrate the “birthday” of Honey Bee Suite simply because I’m amazed it’s lasted so long. So on Christmas Day of this year, I will be toasting seven years of this strange undertaking. Who would have thunk it? My original thought was that I could use a blog to […] Read more
Last week, a dusting of snow showed me exactly where the cluster in my top-bar hive had gathered. Dead center on the uninsulated gabled roof were two circles of meltwater, so I knew the cluster was right below it. “Aha!” I said. “When my Flir One thermal imager arrives, I will test it on the […] Read more
100 Plants to Feed the Bees by The Xerces Society for Invertebrate Conservation. Storey Publishing, Massachusetts. Copyright © 2016 by The Xerces Society. This review refers to the softcover edition. Do you need some guidance on what to plant to attract bees? 100 Plants to Feed the Bees is a reference handbook that will help […] Read more
After reviewing the list of biology books in my last post, Mike Riter of New York had a good question about the angle of honeycomb cells. Do any of those books tell us how much of a tilt, in degrees, the honey bees build their cells so honey won’t leak out as they cap them? […] Read more
After my last post, I received inquiries about good honey bee biology books. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet found what I consider the perfect book on bee biology, although some are quite helpful. Below is a list of seven books I often refer to when I have a biology question. Bees, Biology & Management Bees, Biology […] Read more