Tag - drones

Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay

honey bee management

Drowning in drones

12 years ago

27 Comments

bee biology • swarming

Drones signal the onset of swarm season

12 years ago

33 Comments

honey bee management • how to • making increase • queen bees • swarming

How to make a walkaway split

12 years ago

94 Comments

English for beekeepers

Wednesday word file: drone congregation area (DCA)

12 years ago

3 Comments

bee biology

All the better to see you, my dear!

12 years ago

3 Comments

Drone eviction: These drones on the landing board are no longer allowed inside. They will soon die of exposure.

honey bee behavior

Drone eviction: it’s not a good time to be male

12 years ago

5 Comments

One way to reduce hive moisture in spring is to trap and remove some of the drones. I feed these to my chickens.

beekeeping equipment • honey bee management

The best way to reduce hive moisture in early spring

13 years ago

48 Comments

honey bee management • varroa mites

Reduce varroa mites by culling honey bee drones

13 years ago

45 Comments

bee biology • photographs

Drones signal the beginning of swarm season

13 years ago

18 Comments

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

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.

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!

Connecticut’s state insect is the European “praying” mantis. Although they are beneficial insects, they are not native to North America.