You might inadvertently be bringing home pesticides from those flowers you bought at the hardware store. Sargent says it’s common practice for nurseries around the country to treat the seeds of the plants, or the plants themselves, with pesticides called neonicotinoids, that are highly toxic…
A key innovation was the commercial licensing of neonicotinoid insecticides for the crop in the UK in 2002. Seeds are coated with the chemical and every part of the plant becomes toxic to pests. Manufacturers hailed the development as a major advance, reducing the need…
Check out this webinar from The Ohio State University about Pesticides and Poisons in the Hive from May, 2016 by Reed M. Johnson. The webinar is about 56 minutes long. Read more here: Pesticides and Poisons in the Hive: an Overview of Bee Toxicology Share…
What an amazing study. Fascinating stuff. “One bee developed a straight route to a forage patch within four flights and followed this route exclusively for six days before abandoning it entirely for a closer location; this second location had not been visited since her first…
According to Chiarantona “[Westrich] said that one out of two things could have happened, the queen would have rested and gained energy and the swarm would’ve left in the morning, or they would have decided that the jet engine would be a great place to…
Still, there are only about 150 meaderies in the U.S. — whereas there are about 4,000 craft breweries. To gain a foothold with beer enthusiasts, Geffken is blurring the line between the two beverages. Right now, mead consumption is still limited primarily to wine enthusiasts,…
While experts welcome the rising national interest in beekeeping as a hobby, they warn that novices may be inadvertently putting their hives — and other hives for miles around — in danger by not keeping the bee mite population in check. Many hobbyists avoid mite…
There are so many factors involved in the decline of our hives, it’s important to keep a skeptical mindset but open to new innovations in honeybee care. Slava and Vera Strogolov think they’ve cracked the case: bees are digesting too many antibiotics. “We saw that…
