So gross! A few days ago, I received a message from a purchaser of honey. She had just acquired her very first sample of honey-in-the-comb from her local farmer’s market. Based on her description, I would say it was “chunk honey,” a piece of comb in a jar surrounded by extracted honey. When she got […] Read more
This morning a reader pointed out inconsistencies in my website. In one post I wrote, “Freeze honey combs before storing. The USDA recommends 24 hours at 0 degrees F.” In another post I write, “To kill the moth [eggs], you must monitor both time and temperature. For example, the Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC) […] Read more
No. Mothballs, whether made out of naphthalene or para-dichlorobenzene, are insecticides and insect repellents that have no place in a hive containing live bees. Several people have asked if putting the crystals in a bee-proof space—such as a net bag or wire cage—would keep the bees safe from contact. Again the answer is no because […] Read more
Honey bees bite. It’s a fact. In a paper published yesterday in the online journal PLOS ONE, scientists reveal that when an enemy is too small to sting, the resourceful honey bee just chomps down on the critter and gives it a good dose of 2-Heptanone. The purpose of the paper, titled “The Bite of […] Read more
The things I learn while writing this blog! In case you didn’t know—and I didn’t—the word “lounge” is a collective noun for a group of lizards. This is akin to a school of fish, a flock of sheep, or a pod of whales. That’s just one of the things I learned after Helen, a reader […] Read more
Contrary to popular hearsay, freezing will kill all life stages of both the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) and the lesser wax moth (Achroia grisella). To kill the moths, you must monitor both time and temperature. For example, the Mid-Altantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC) publishes the following guidelines to kill both species of […] Read more
The purpose of freezing wax combs is to kill the eggs and larvae of wax moths. Wax moths can destroy beeswax combs, especially combs in weak colonies and those in storage. A strong colony of bees does a good job of controlling the moths, but a weak colony can become overrun. Although the moths cannot […] Read more