Health & Pests
Nosema Disease in Honey Bees
Nosema is a serious disease of honey bees caused by a microsporidian. A microsporidian is a type of single-celled fungus that reproduces by spores. The nosema organisms live and reproduce in the honey bee midgut where they steal nutrients and prevent digestion.
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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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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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Can I Eliminate Hive Beetles by Moving to a Sunnier Location?
How well hive beetles do once they move in has a lot to do with the soil type. At a certain point, the larvae leave the hive and drop to the soil beneath the hive. Here, they burrow into the soil and pupate before becoming adults.
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Can I Check Honey Supers While Treating with Formic Pro Mite Treatment?
I’m treating my hives with Formic Pro at this time. I know you shouldn’t manipulate the hive during treatment, but what about checking honey supers and adding or taking them away?
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What’s Bothering My Mason Bees?
The parasitic wasp genus Monodontomerus shows up just as the mason bee season is coming to a close. The wasps are very tiny, perhaps fruit fly size, and fly with a nervous, side-to-side pattern that makes them look guilty.
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Should I be Worried About my Walkaway Split?
There are a couple of versions of a split (or divide) that simulate this. One is by using swarm cells in the split(s). The other, which it sounds like is what you did, we call a “walkaway split.” I just did one yesterday so I’ll explain how I did it.
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The (Not) Invasion of the Asian Giant Hornet
Asian Giant Hornets are large, scary-looking, and pack a pretty bad sting. However, the odds of you coming in contact with the infamous “murder hornet,” more properly termed Vespa mandarinia, are incredibly low.
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Do My Honey Bees Have Nosema?
I was inspecting my hive today for the first time this season and noticed the bees were not very interested in sugar syrup. It made me wonder if they had Nosema. A friend who knows more bee science than I do mentioned it, but I’ve never had it before and don’t really know what to look for.
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Can Honey Bees Rehab Comb Damaged by Wax Moths?
Oh man, there are few things more frustrating than a wax moth infestation. They are so destructive to the comb! The brief answer is yes, in most cases the bees can rehab comb damaged by wax moths.
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