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Home » Archives for 2016

Archive - 2016

bee biology

Happiness is a mid-winter cleansing flight

4 years ago
42 Comments
6 min read
bee biology

Do honey bees fly in the rain?

4 years ago
19 Comments
4 min read
writing and blogging

Honey Bee Suite turns seven!

4 years ago
40 Comments
4 min read
Hive-4-front
beekeeping equipment • wintering

Thermal imaging for beekeepers

4 years ago
25 Comments
7 min read
Eucera female.
publications

Book review | 100 Plants to Feed the Bees

4 years ago
16 Comments
4 min read
hexagonal cells
honeycomb

How much do honeycomb cells tilt?

4 years ago
12 Comments
4 min read
Bee on book.
publications

Seven good books on honey bee biology

4 years ago
22 Comments
5 min read
The hard part of beekeeping.
beekeepers

The hardest part of beekeeping

4 years ago
15 Comments
7 min read
Leafcutter-on-dahlia-4
leafcutting bees

Planting a garden for leafcutting bees

4 years ago
23 Comments
5 min read
bee biology

Why does this bee suit smell like vomit?

4 years ago
22 Comments
3 min read
writing and blogging

Happy Thanksgiving from Honey Bee Suite

4 years ago
25 Comments
4 min read
beekeeping equipment

Thirty-four gift ideas for beekeepers

4 years ago
42 Comments
8 min read
500px-inverse_square_law-svg
bee feces • honey bee behavior • physics for beekeepers

How the inverse square law governs the distribution of bee poop

4 years ago
59 Comments
5 min read
capped-honey-above-laying-worker-nest
bee biology

What does a laying worker hive look like?

4 years ago
35 Comments
7 min read
Bee hives in winter.
stings

Are winter bee stings worse than others?

4 years ago
81 Comments
3 min read
carol-lew-barn-2
hive placement

Keeping bees in a barn: a lofty idea

4 years ago
17 Comments
4 min read
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  • Rusty on The winter hive: to tap or not to tap
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My Favorite Books & Bee Supplies

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Bee Wise

Go to the bee, thou poet: consider her ways and be wise.

—George Bernard Shaw

Bee-yond Bees

Bees are more than a hobby; they are a life study, in many respects a mirror of our own society.

—William Longgood

Why Honey Bee is Two Words

Regardless of dictionaries, we have in entomology a rule for insect common names that can be followed. It says: If the insect is what the name implies, write the two words separately; otherwise run them together. Thus we have such names as house fly, blow fly, and robber fly contrasted with dragonfly, caddicefly, and butterfly, because the latter are not flies, just as an aphislion is not a lion and a silverfish is not a fish. The honey bee is an insect and is preeminently a bee; “honeybee” is equivalent to “Johnsmith.”

—From Anatomy of the Honey Bee by Robert E. Snodgrass

State Insects

The non-native European Honey Bee is the state insect of:

  • Arkansas
  • Georgia
  • Kansas
  • Louisiana
  • Maine
  • Mississippi
  • Missouri
  • Nebraska
  • New Jersey
  • North Carolina
  • Oklahoma
  • South Dakota
  • Tennessee
  • Utah
  • Vermont
  • West Virginia
  • Wisconsin

Not one native bee is a state insect. The closest relative of a North American native bee to make the list is the Tarantula Hawk Wasp, the state insect of New Mexico.

Update! Minnesota now has a state bee as well as a state insect. Bombus affinis, the Rusty-Patched Bumble Bee, has been so honored. Good work, Minnesota!

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Recent Comments

  • Carol L Sharp on Respiration and Circulation in Honey Bees
  • Karen on Is honey made from bee vomit? Sure, why not?
  • Rusty on The winter hive: to tap or not to tap
  • Rusty on Is honey made from bee vomit? Sure, why not?
  • Rusty on Is honey made from bee vomit? Sure, why not?
  • Granny Roberta in CT on Is honey made from bee vomit? Sure, why not?
  • Granny Roberta in CT on Is honey made from bee vomit? Sure, why not?
  • JimBob on Should you feed pollen supplement in spring?
  • Alan Montgomery on The winter hive: to tap or not to tap
  • Rusty on Is honey made from bee vomit? Sure, why not?

Category List

Creating a Buzz

  • Is honey made from bee vomit? Sure, why not?
  • Should you feed pollen supplement in spring?
  • How to help a bee in distress
  • Why seed bombs don't work
  • Pollen patties: when and why?
  • How to make fondant for bees from table sugar
  • What to do with moldy combs
  • Sugar syrup ratios: which one to use
  • Physics for beekeepers: mold in a beehive
  • Dead bees in winter: what is normal?

A Song of the Bees

In case you missed it: A Song of the Bees

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