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Home » how-to

Tag - how-to

A small honey harvest can be disappointing, and many things can go wrong.
honey production

13 reasons for small honey harvests (& how to...

June 4, 2023
13 Comments
A reason for using upright hollow stems for bees: This western blue orchard bee with mites. Photo © Briana Lindh.
mason bees

Upright hollow stems: much better than toxic mason bee...

April 24, 2023
23 Comments
how to

How to keep bees like a scientist

December 17, 2020
42 Comments
beeswax

How to make beeswax food wraps step by step

June 17, 2020
37 Comments
feeding bees

How to feed stacked nucs in winter

October 11, 2019
25 Comments
bee rescue

The Price trap-out: no bee left behind

August 17, 2019
20 Comments
bee biology

How to identify a honey bee using wing veins

September 17, 2018
26 Comments
honey

How to store honey at home

December 20, 2017
43 Comments
miscellaneous musings

How should we train the newbees?

October 28, 2017
45 Comments
carol-lew-barn-2
hive placement

Something you need to know: how to hide your beehive

February 26, 2017
40 Comments
Table burned with smoker.
how to • smoke for bees

How to light a smoker so it stays lit

July 25, 2016
41 Comments
A quick winter hive check can be as simple as just walking by and looking for anything unusual.
how to • wintering

Winter hive check: how to help your bees thrive

December 20, 2015
77 Comments
Nail-pattern into feeder
feeding bees • how to

How to make no-cook candy boards for wintering bees

November 20, 2015
151 Comments
Honey-and-comb
comb honey • how to

How to make value-subtracted honey

October 4, 2015
90 Comments
Aram's-steam-melter-8
beeswax • how to

How to make a steam melter for beeswax

August 3, 2015
15 Comments
Queen-excluder-blocked-with-beeswax
how to

How to clean wireware

May 3, 2015
24 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?

Beekeepers are everywhere. Each time someone visits Honey Bee Suite, his or her location will appear on the map.

A Song of the Bees

In case you missed it: A Song of the Bees

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