Health & Pests
Communication with Pheromones
Honey bees are eusocial, meaning they live in highly complex social colonies, with multiple casts and tens of thousands of individuals of overlapping generations.
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How to Treat Varroa Mites — A New Perspective
Add to Favorites My wife and I took a beginning beekeeping class before becoming backyard beekeepers. We learned about wax moth treatment and how to manage ants in beehives. We …
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Catch and Release Powdered Sugar Roll Varroa Mite Test
Knowing what a hive’s mite load is can mean the difference between a hive surviving the winter in a healthy state ready to tackle the next honey season and an almost guaranteed untimely death from the viruses and diseases contributed to high varroa loads.
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Conduct an Alcohol Wash for Varroa Mite Monitoring
Monitoring Varroa destructor’s infestation levels is arguably one of the most important tasks on a beehive inspection checklist — yet mite checks are also the most commonly forgotten task. This doesn’t have to be with so many fast and simple methods available.
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Movements of the Winter Bee Cluster
Add to Favorites The honey bee cluster moves up in winter and down in summer. The downward movement is easiest to see in a feral colony built into a tree …
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What Bugs Your Bees in Winter? Know the Lineup of Beekeeping Pests.
Add to Favorites Even before we open our first beehive, we are warned about pests that may live within. Small hive beetles, wax moths, and varroa mites are things we dread, so early in our training …
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Preparing Honeybees for Winter
it’s important to understand what winterizing beehives look like for a backyard beekeeper.
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How do Bees Mate?
Add to Favorites An interesting and deadly dance takes place all across the world; in fact, it’s necessary for human survival and yet goes unnoticed by humans year after year. …
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How do I Keep Bears Away from My Beehives?
Once a bear learns the location of a beehive, it will keep coming back for more. So the best defense against bear predation is avoiding them in the first place.
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Why Are There Bald-Faced Hornets in my Top Feeder?
I found a ton of dead, large black and white, what I think might be bald-faced hornets dead inside of a feeder. I killed a bunch outside my hives too. Entrance reducer was on also. Should I worry? I’m thrilled The Hive was strong enough to kill all the intruders at least.
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