Alan Wade Hives with two queens In Part I we explored the ‘The one colony – One queen principle’, the universal condition of the honey bee colony. That two or more queens might be introduced […]
Honey Bee Pests and Diseases Alan Wade Common Name Species names Status Fungi Chalkbrood1 Ascosphaera apis ✔ Stone Brood Aspergillus fumigatus, A. flavus, A. niger ✔ (rare) Microsporidia Nosema Disease, Nosemosis Nosema apis2 ✔ Nosema […]
Alan Wade All together altogether We often take for granted that bees work cooperatively and then it would seem of their own volition? We would be quite surprised were we hive a swarm only to […]
Alan Wade Polistes chinesis 47 cell nest (above and below) from Jerrabomberra Wetlands Polistes humilis from Fogg Dam NT August 2018 In Part I, we briefly examined the origins of advanced eusocial behaviour amongst ants, […]
Alan Wade Last month we discussed why bees swarm and the difference between swarming (simple queen replacement) and supersedure (colony fission to establish a new colony). We then went on to explore simple swarm control […]
Alan Wade The one colony – One queen principle One of the fundamental operating tenets of any honey bee colony is that it will support only one queen, an innate characteristic of the eleven or so […]
Welcome to Two Queen Land Two-Queen hives are enigmatic to say the least. Here is one historical setup we’ve finally sorted and learnt from. Source: Moeller’s 1978 United States Department of Agriculture Report 161 If […]
Alan Wade In the two previous blogs we’ve visited autumn closedown. Trouble is this year, any boxes of stickies that have been put back on hives for clean up were promptly refilled. Take the illustrated […]
Alan Wade Robert Banker an apiarist to emulate In the mid 1970’s, Robert Banker, a major collaborator in the revision of the standard text The Hive and the Honey Bee, vice-president of Apimondia and the […]
Bee Buzz Box A Simple Swarm Control Guide August-September 2018 Part I Alan Wade Never let old beekeepers get together! Like seasoned fishermen, they’ll spin you some tall yarn about the bumper honey crops they […]