Once you fall in love with honey bees, it is easy to characterize them as intelligent, practical, even prescient. But in fact, honey bees do the things they do in response to pheromones. A pheromone is a chemical or mixture of chemicals that is released by an individual and affects the behavior or physiology of […] Read more
To make queen liqueur or tincture of queen, beekeepers soak recently dead or pinched queens in a small vial of rubbing alcohol. The alcohol preserves the queen and, supposedly, her pheromones as well. Come swarm season, a beekeeper can wet a cotton ball with the juice, place the cotton in a baggie with a few […] Read more
Open-brood pheromone is just like it sounds, a pheromone given off by uncapped brood. Actually, at least two types of pheromone are released by open brood and together they allow the brood to regulate and control the actions of the nurse bees. Sounds backwards, but it’s true: the brood controls the workers. For example, brood […] Read more
The short answer is that I, too, would turn nasty if you were trying to kill me. The longer answer is that when you do something that threatens your bees, alarm pheromone is emitted into the air by the endangered bees as they attempt to sting you. The pheromone, which is a mixture of highly […] Read more
This is my favorite kind of yellowjacket trap. The plastic part can be saved and reused year-to-year, and the lure inside can be purchased anew at the beginning of wasp season. They are safe for the environment because the lure is not a poison or insecticide–it is just a compound that mimics a pheromone that […] Read more
I have been using two of the commercially available flower-pot shaped swarm traps for years. Each year I hang them up at the recommended height (8-12 feet) and facing the recommended direction (south or southeast). Each year I purchase fresh pheromone lures (the three-component USDA-endorsed type) and each year I check the traps every day […] Read more
Footprint pheromones, also known as trail pheromones, are common in social insects. Researchers found that surfaces where honey bees have walked become attractive to other honey bees. This observation led to the discovery that honey bees secrete a chemical signal (pheromone) from their feet as they go about their daily business. At present not much […] Read more