After my last two quizzes, I got requests for something easier. So I put together this quiz which emphasizes basic honey bee biology and beginning beekeeping. It’s not drop-dead easy, but it’s not nearly as technical as the last two. As with the other quizzes, you need to answer all the questions before the results […] Read more
We know that honey bee workers live an average of four to six weeks in the spring and summer, but the same is true for most adult bees that go foraging for nectar and pollen. The wings, it seems, are one of the first things to go. Not only do the wings move incredibly fast, […] Read more
All bees have an antenna cleaner on each of their two forelegs. The antenna cleaners are made of two parts: a notch in the basitarsus, which is fitted with stiff hairs, and a corresponding spur on the tibia. According to Mattingly (2013) “To use the antenna cleaner, the [bee] raises her foreleg over her antenna […] Read more
I try to operate under the assumption that there is no such thing as a dumb question, so I usually think hard about what a person is trying to ask. I almost wrote this one off until it occurred to me that talk of a honey bee colony being a “superorganism” might be the problem. […] Read more
A beekeeper living on Vancouver Island is worried about the great number of honey bee wings and legs she is seeing on the Varroa drawer. She just finished treating her hive with formic acid pads and wondered if the accumulation of bee parts was a result of the mites or the mite treatment. I too […] Read more
It seems we become more aware of dead bees in the fall. I think this is partially due to the environment—the grass is not so lush so they are clearly visible and fewer scavengers are around to pick up the dead bodies. We are also more concerned about the health of our bees because the […] Read more
After I complained about bees doing a quick turn-around just as I tried to shoot a portrait, Debbe in Delaware sent me her best bee butt photo which is nothing short of fantastic. It is certainly one of the best photos I have ever seen of wax glands in action. She writes: I took this […] Read more