In the past few weeks, the Cincinnati, Ohio Zoo, with help from a company called Morgan’s Canoe, rescued a honey bee colony consisting of at least 50,000 bees from a garage. However, what makes this common event so remarkable is the fact that this beehive is suspected of being at least 25 years old. The…
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You know we love bees, but this is the time of the year when they are most active and bee safety is of major concern. That means it is also the time of the year when people are most likely to be stung. The time bees have to “take care of business” is very limited…
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It seems as though every day we are finding out something new that is threatening the honey bee population. Finally, we get some good news for a measure being taken to actually protect the bee. The European Union is reportedly banning the use of neonicotinoids on crops by farmers. The list of endangered species of…
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Within the war-torn country of Afghanistan, honey is treated as a renown cure-all. However, for some inside those borders, the profitable commodity also creates incredible opportunities for working and owning private businesses, even for young women. One example is 19-year-old Frozan, who three years prior received a loan, purchased two bee hives, and was educated…
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With many scientists on the hunt for anything that could help save ailing pollinators, such as honeybees and similar bee species, researchers with Washington State University may have come up with another viable solution, specifically a material that might help curtail the effects of extensive pesticide exposure by removing such toxins from bees’ systems. According…
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Though honeybees are our go-to source for honey and pollination, there are other bees out there that pollinate plants and the crops we use for food. Interestingly, unlike honeybees, most of the over 4,000 species of bees on the North American continent don’t live in colonies. Actually, most native bee species are solitary—nesting in cavities,…
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To treat her muscle pains, a 55-year-old woman from Spain sought live honeybee sting acupuncture, which is a therapy that involves strategically-placed stings from bees. After attending sessions every month of a two-year period, the woman’s last visit resulted in her going into anaphylactic shock. As per a case study that was published recently, the…
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Along the various ports around Tasmania, Australia’s island state, which lies about 150 miles south of the mainland, there are sentinels watching the shores and providing an early warning system for possible invaders. These sentinels are European honeybees, and the potential invaders are pest bees and bee pests, specifically the deadly varroa mite (also called…
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Since the wider public became aware of colony collapse disorder (CCD) in 2006, various endeavors have taken place to not only discover the source of CCD and other bee-related issues, but to further educate others regarding how honeybee populations can be preserved and protected. This is crucial given the bees’ vital role in pollinating three…
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As many have learned already, honeybees all over the world and here in the United States have had a rough go of it in terms of pollination and population losses, which is believed to have been caused in large part by pesticides, pathogens, varroa mites, colony collapse disorder (CCD), habitat loss, and an assortment of…
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Out amid the rainforests of Malaysia, “honey hunters” are currently braving the significantly high heights of tualang trees and using smoking torches to draw out thousands of honeybees from their treetop hives, allowing the hunters the chance to gather very rare honey. These hunters, who come from nearby villages, head into the jungle’s most remote…
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Up until very recently, when Manhattan Beach in California had a bee problem, they called Susan Rudnicki. She is an urban beekeeper who NEVER sees a reason to hurt the honeybees. Even during massive infestations. She always found a way to get the bees out safely. That is all about to change, as the city…
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As you have heard us say more than a few times in recent months, honeybees are in the fight of their lives right now. They will take any help they can get, especially when it comes to pesticides that are harming the honeybee population. Quebec is the latest to jump in to help the pollinator,…
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Spring is in the air, and so are honeybees, as nature starts to come back to life with trees starting to turn green and flowers beginning to bloom. It is only a matter of time until the honeybee starts to get to work making that liquid gold we all love so much. With so many…
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The honeybee population is under attack around the country and we are finally starting to see the emergence of advocacy groups coming to their defense. The latest is the U.S. Public Interest Research Group that is jumping into action to have pesticides banned. A new report on KTAR News stated the group is now lobbying…
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The beekeeping industry has been keeping an eye on the bee colony collapse dilemma, but that has mostly been associated with pesticides until very recently. Now, we are starting to see higher temperatures than normal starting to take a toll. Beekeepers in Turkey are the latest to report higher temperatures creating some rather challenging conditions…
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Something that came to light during yesterday’s post about the introduction of alien bees into an environment in Arab states got me to wondering if this is a problem other areas of the world are experiencing. It did not take long to find out it is actually becoming a problem throughout the world. A study…
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If you think the threat to honeybees is something that is only happening in the United States, you would be sadly mistaken. Bees all around the world are finding themselves in danger, but people are coming together in an effort to help them. While many professionals in the industry are trying to figure out what…
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Why are honeybees aggressive? What makes them more likely to sting than other bees? According to a team of researchers from Australia and France (their research paper is titled “Proceedings of the Royal Society B”), honeybees are more inclined to attack due to a neurological mechanism. In other words, there are chemicals firing in the…
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Bee colonies are extremely organized, with the various types of bees all serving a roll. It is that structure that leads to those glorious jars of liquid gold in your pantry. With so many species of bees living on our planet, it is no wonder there are also a wide variety of beehives they make.…
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For several years now, we have heard how much in danger bee populations are. The danger bell was first rung regarding colony collapse disorder and it has not stopped since. There are numerous reasons bee populations are falling by the way side, such as pesticides and the depletion of many of their natural habitats. That…
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While honeybees get most of our attention, there is another bee that is about to go to work before you will ever see a honeybee… the mason bee. Mason bees hibernate in their cocoons for some nine months before they awake and get back to business. They are the first bees most will see during…
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The behavior of every living creature is regulated by circadian clocks, even small insects like honeybees, and scientists with Germany’s University of Würzburg are looking closely at the molecular processes and anatomical structures of the honeybee’s circadian clock. The questions they have regarding these insects are boundless—how do honeybees know the right times to visit…
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Given that bees pollinate roughly 70 percent of crops around the world, per Cornell University, it would be a serious problem if the day ever came where we needed to pollinate crops without them. Throughout most of a given year, U.S. farming operations keep honeybees in high demand, and it’s this country’s beekeepers that make…
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It’s always a sad story when Mother Nature takes a swing at small businesses, but a story coming out of Prunedale, California just might be sadder because of one extra, crucial factor—there was intention behind the destruction, and it was completely unnecessary and cruel. In the small community of Prunedale, one or more vandals toppled…
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On January 10, a unique study was published in the journal of Proceedings of the Royal Society B, and its integrated worldwide data showed how honeybees are this world’s most essential single pollinating species in natural ecosystems as well as a main contributor toward the functions of natural ecosystems. This is the first analysis of…
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Based on several recent experiments, there is a strong possibility that honeybees are drawn to the same chemicals that could mean their downfall, with the experiments themselves featuring bees that preferred water mixed with the chemicals and not just sugar. These findings, which were published recently in Scientific Reports, indicate that popular fungicides and herbicides…
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For relatively new beekeepers, there is likely nothing more frustrating than coming up to check your hives, only to find that half of them have vacated the hive entirely. Fortunately, this is not a case of colony collapse disorder, which results in all of a hive’s worker bees suddenly disappearing. More than likely, the missing…
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The decline of honey bees has gotten most of the world’s attention, thanks in large part to the staggering scare that is colony collapse disorder (CCD), which is the enigma that sees entire colonies, specially the thousands of worker bees within a hive, disappear, leaving only the queen, male drones, and immature baby bees and…
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Broncos fans out there can now add another entry to their list of reasons why they love this team—they’re currently acting as hosts to several beehives and thousands of honeybees in the process. As to how this came to be, the team recently doubled its headquarters’ landscape, and grounds director Brooks Dodson noticed flowers weren’t…
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In Baku, the capital city of Azerbaijan, which is a small country bordering Armenia, Iran, and the Caspian Sea, the country’s Agriculture Ministry, along with the help of the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), hosted a seminar for a new project they’re implementing: “Improving living standards of rural population through increasing productivity in beekeeping.”…
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It’s not uncommon to hear about vandalism in big cities and small towns, but most people expect to hear about graffiti, broken windows, or something similar when they think of vandalism. For Sioux City, Iowa, the form of vandalism that hit their town had far-reaching consequences beyond washing walls or repairing busted car windows. It…
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In many parts of the world, honeybees and other bee species face quickly diminishing numbers that could very easily turn into extinction, with one of the most prominent causes being varroa mites. With this threat being as potent as it is, the beekeeping industries in many countries, such as the one in Australia, are taking…
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For much of the United States, the weather following New Year’s Day is what you would expect of January winter weather—30 degrees for many parts of the central U.S. and low 20s in places on the East Coast. However, some spots on the map are seeing much more favorable temperatures, with places like Las Vegas…
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For those who live outside of California, the wildfires taking place within the state’s borders and their record-shattering devastation may not have had everyone’s attention. However, it surely had the attention of Ventura, California residents Steve and Kelly Nimmer. After being woken up in the middle of the night by a phone call from their…
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Honeybees are fortunately more than just a pollinating species with declining population numbers throughout the world. They are also some of the more fascinating insects—nay, animals in general—that can be found in nature today, with their eusocial behavior and their ability as fully-realized colonies to create legitimate superorganisms in the form of hives being among…
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Roughly two miles from the Pacific Ocean lies an abbey, specifically the Prince of Peace Abbey, which sits on a hill within the town Oceanside, California. Since 1958, the monks of this abbey have been leading their lives through work and prayer, with Blaise Heuke in particular joining right after finishing high school. According to…
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After assembling the first-ever bee census in the state, it was determined that Michigan is the home of around 465 species of bees, and with this information, scientists will hopefully gain helpful data for preserving the essential pollinating insects. Such a high number may be surprising to most since people usually don’t even know the…
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It’s easy to assume that when honey bee hives grow larger, they grow noisier in turn, given that more bees are moving around in there. However, a study that was published recently in Behavioral Ecology and Sociobiology is showing that larger honeybee colonies actually lead to quieter combs compared to smaller hives. “The surprising result…
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According to Cecil Wilson, who works as a beekeeper in Liberia, the alleged “killer” honeybees he works with make their honey just as good as other bees. These African bees, while certainly not one to trifle with, are providing substantial livings for many Liberians, who still struggle within a postwar economy. With Liberia ranked among…
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