I was a newbee when my mentor took one look at my overcrowded, bearding colony and said, “I think you need a slatted rack.” And then he left. Huh? What the heck was he talking about? And later, when I asked around, people who never used one told me they were worthless. After all, they […] Read more
Who says bees don’t like castles and cabins, chalets and caves, or even cabanas and condominiums? As the saying goes, “Build them and they will come.” And they do. Pat Barberi of Barre, Vermont has made of hobby of creating unique but functional solitary bee houses from miscellaneous vessels she finds at the secondhand shop. […] Read more
Get ready! A new quarterly magazine about bees and other pollinators is about to emerge from mailboxes across the country, fully formed and ready to fly. 2 Million Blossoms: protecting our pollinators is the newest creation from bee scientist and advocate Dr. Kirsten Traynor, former editor of American Bee Journal and IBRA’s Bee World. Instead […] Read more
While humans were busy squabbling over the border between the United States and Mexico, a tiny black immigrant bee was discreetly homesteading in California. A new sighting of a Central American native bee, a member of the genus Plebeia, was recently reported in a genteel area of Palo Alto, some 500 miles to the north […] Read more
Vince Poulin, a beekeeper in Vancouver, British Columbia, sent me an idea he had for feeding nucs that were stacked one atop another during the winter. This is a problem I’ve wondered about but never actually solved. It’s nice to be able to stack nucs or small colonies with a double-screen board (Snelgrove board) so […] Read more
Lots of myth and misinformation surrounds high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) and whether it is bad for bees. I decided to do some research to find out what the experts are saying about this American food staple. I came up with a short Q&A. Q: What is the difference between regular corn syrup and high-fructose corn […] Read more