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Home » feral bees

Tag - feral bees

honey bee behavior

Open-air colonies from coast to coast

January 10, 2016
24 Comments
Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay
bee rescue

Update: the open-air colony in Maupin

February 9, 2015
6 Comments
bee rescue

Wrapping a feral colony for winter

November 21, 2014
34 Comments
This colony of cold bees was found in New York hanging from a tree in winter.
beekeepers

Cold bees brave the New York winter in a tree

November 5, 2013
26 Comments
urban beekeeping

Seattle sleuth

June 16, 2013
9 Comments
Feral colonies fall to varroa mites just as easily as managed colonies.
varroa mites

Feral colonies and the quick spread of varroa mites

April 13, 2012
9 Comments
Drone cells (lower right) are larger than worker cells. Too many drones can be a problem.
honey bee management

Foundationless colonies raise too many drones

November 8, 2010
12 Comments

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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.

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.

Where Are Your Hives?

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A Song of the Bees

In case you missed it: A Song of the Bees

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