Ever since French beekeepers saw their bees dying as they collected pollen from treated sunflowers back in 1996, beekeepers have been concerned that their bees are being harmed the highly toxic neonicotinoid insecticides, with imidacloprid most widely used. The use of this class of insecticide has grown steadily ever since. Bee losses have become chronic [...]
Category: Beekeeping
Banning Bee-Killing Pesticides
Last week three major home store chains in the UK took insecticides with troublesome neonicotinoid systemics off their shelves. The chains, Wicks, B&Q, and HomeBase no longer have insecticides containing clothianidin, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, the three neonicotinoids deemed most toxic and problematic to honeybees in a recent announcement from the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA). The EFSA recommends, among other things, [...]
Colony Collapse Comes Home
It's been a busy summer and fall, with much travel, and less time for my usual gardening, beekeeping and blogging. Finally getting caught up on garden chores, I went to check the bees this weekend since we had a bit of nice weather. Unfortunately, the new was not good. Here is this year's bee story, [...]
Bees, Beans, and Buckwheat
Summer has come on too quickly. The main honey flow is over; in the garden the weeds are establishing their turf, and this blog has taken the back seat to summer fun and chores. The garden bed on the street in front of the fence is putting on its summer face, presenting itself as the [...]
The Nosema Enigma
How can half the bees in my hive already be heavily infected by nosema cerenae, yet the colony is strong, putting stores in the honey supers in April and at risk of a swarm? Nevertheless, this is how it is. This is the same colony that presented me with Chilly Bees last year but recovered [...]
A Swarm in May
A swarm in May is worth a load of hay goes the old proverb, so when my dentist called me to say that there was a swarm of bees outside his office on a bright spring day, I had to go after it. You never know exactly what you will find on a swarm call. [...]
Decisions
The glorious spring weather propels the season forward and we struggle to keep up with nature's beck and call. This last week the bees have been sitting out on their porch like it was August. I can tell they are getting restless and want to expand their numbers. If you are a beekeeper you are supposed to do something [...]
Hive Tops and Bottoms
If your hive swarms today do you have the equipment you need to set up a new colony? More than once I've had to scramble to hammer together equipment for an unexpected new arrival. There's always an old box, but never good tops and bottoms or enough frames. Last weekend I readied myself with a [...]
Keeping our Bees Alive
UPDATE 1/30/12: Yet another study implicating Neonicotinoid insecticides. This time the study looks at sub lethal levels of imidacloprid fed in spiked pollen substitute patties on the susceptibility of newly emerged bees to nosema infection. There is clear evidence that although the bees themselves have an undetectable level of insecticide present, the ones fed contaminated pollen had higher levels of nosema spore [...]
Honey Harvest
Over the years I've developed a fairly well-oiled backyard-beekeeper honey processing operation. That hasn't come without a few disasters along the way. There are lots of places for things to get messy, starting with removing the honey from the bees, and ending with putting the label on the last jar. In between, there is potential [...]
Squash Practice 