How to seduce a swarm, maybe
A friend who lives near Mount Shasta recently told me about a “swarm seducer” he uses to attract swarms that issue from his own hives. While bait hives and swarm traps are often used to woo swarms that...
View ArticleThe lifestyles of wild and healthy honey bees
Thomas Seeley’s article on Darwinian beekeeping has unleashed a fury of discussion among beekeepers. Of particular interest are the ways in which feral colonies handle parasites and pathogens. Feral...
View ArticleA swarm capture from the dark side
Editor’s note: Sometimes having a website seems like having hundreds of pen friends. The pen friends are the ones who keep writing, year after year, even though many months may pass between...
View ArticleWhy extra space may not prevent swarming
“How can I prevent swarming?” is a common question. An equally common answer is, “Give the bees more space so they are not crowded.” From this we get, “Crowding causes swarming.” Let’s look at that a...
View ArticleThe Price trap-out: no bee left behind
I once described trapping out as a not-so-satisfactory way of removing a colony of bees from an enclosed structure or tree. Trapping requires much beekeeper input during a multi-step process. Even when...
View ArticleIs swarming a curse or a blessing?
What happens to an organism that fails to reproduce? Let’s think about that. If all rabbits stopped, um, amorous behavior, we would have no more rabbits, not even in Australia. If all cows failed to...
View ArticleHoney bees have their own agenda
After a few years of beekeeping, it’s natural to assess a colony and predict what will happen next. But this year, as so often happens, I totally misread a colony that lives in my backyard. Twice. Or...
View ArticleAn open-air colony in a pear tree
I have an open-air colony in my backyard, something I never expected to see. Ever. But why a swarm of bees on the wet coast of Washington would elect to build a home in a tree is inconceivable. It’s...
View Article7 common methods of varroa mite transmission
How did they get here? you wonder. Unfortunately, varroa mites have many reliable ways of infecting new colonies. As soon as you treat a hive of bees, new varroa will move in. It's a never-ending...
View ArticleWill tanging bring your bees to ground?
The ancient practice of tanging has plenty of modern followers. But does it work? The post Will tanging bring your bees to ground? appeared first on Honey Bee Suite.
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