Health & Pests
The Varroa Mite: Know Your Enemy
Add to Favorites By Josh Vaisman – Honey bees currently face three difficult challenges to their survival — a lack of quality nutrition, ubiquitous pesticides in the environment, and the …
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What Bugs Your Bees in Winter? Know the Lineup of Beekeeping Pests.
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 we learn how to deal with them.
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How Bees Communicate 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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Hygienic Bees Smell Disease and Do Something About It
One form of social immunity is called hygienic behavior, wherein many young workers resist the spread of pathogens and Varroa mites by detecting, uncapping, and removing unhealthy brood.
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What is Honey Bee Dysentery?
Beekeeping is rife with confusing terminology that can baffle even experienced beekeepers. Honey bee dysentery is a perfect example.
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Can I Feed Bees Honey From Another Hive?
The real problem with feeding honey from another hive is whether the honey is contaminated with spores of American foulbrood (AFB). If any of the colonies that produced it had AFB, the honey can easily become contaminated. And when you have a large bucket, the honey is likely from multiple colonies, which increases the chances of contamination.
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I Found a Dead Queen on My Landing Board. Now What?
I live just outside of Seattle. Yesterday I found a queen dead on the landing board of my top bar hive. She was with two worker bees that were alive. I am not sure what they were doing. Pushing her off of the ledge?
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Is Fondant Actually Detrimental to Bees?
When you cook sugar or add an acid such as vinegar or cream of tartar, you break the molecular bonds that hold sucrose together and end up with the two simple sugars. It’s the fructose portion that causes the problem. When fructose is heated it produces hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF), which is toxic to bees.
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Can I Save My Plastic Frames with Wax Moth Damage?
Freezing is the very best way to kill wax moths on frames, whether it’s made of wood or plastic. Freezing is effective because it kills all life stages of the moth: eggs, larvae, pupae, and adults.
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How to Make Pollen Patties
To get started making your own patties, you’ll need a recipe. Many are readily available online with many folks adding various supplements such as essential oils, amino acids, or probiotics. However, it’s often best to begin by keeping it simple.
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