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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

Honey bee drinking from a hose bibb. Rusty Burlew

water for bees

Bees and water: the ladies drink for free

July 16, 2022

14 Comments

feeding bees

An ancient marine tea service for thirsty bees

July 16, 2017

8 Comments

feeding bees

A non-threatening water source for bees

June 17, 2017

37 Comments

bee biology

The Bee-Thirsty: a mini wet-vac for bees

October 14, 2015

3 Comments

bee forage

A marble bar for bees

June 19, 2015

32 Comments

Bees and their queen on a honeycomb. Pixabay

honey bee behavior

Favorite watering holes

July 30, 2014

11 Comments

honey bee nutrition

Bee Creek

March 31, 2014

2 Comments

honey bee management • predators

Nectar dearth and summer stress

July 23, 2013

31 Comments

how to • water for bees

See an innovative and stunning water feature for...

May 23, 2013

11 Comments

bee feces

Honey bee dysentery and water

October 2, 2012

60 Comments

honey production

Drought and the water content of nectar

July 16, 2012

2 Comments

honey bee management • ventilation

Beekeeping in the dog days of summer

July 9, 2012

14 Comments

honey bee behavior • photographs

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.