Smoker fuels are as varied as beekeepers
If you’ve read my previous post about smokers, you know I’m not a fan. Nevertheless, I use one from time to time and have tried a variety of fuels. Although no one knows for sure, bee researchers...
View ArticlePreventing a swarm is not easy
It is totally presumptuous to say we know what’s going through a colony’s mind, but it seems that bees swarm for two reasons: the colony is crowded or the colony wants to reproduce. If the colony wants...
View ArticleHoney bees ignore swarm traps
Several years ago I bought two swarm traps, hoping to catch runaway honey bees. They look like giant paper-mache flower pots with lids. Now swarm trap hanging, baiting, and storing are rituals I repeat...
View ArticleWednesday word file: footprint pheromone
Footprint pheromones, also known as trail pheromones, are common in social insects. Researchers found that surfaces where honey bees have walked become attractive to other honey bees. This observation...
View ArticleMy design for a bait hive
I have been using two of the commercially available flower-pot shaped swarm traps for years. Each year I hang them up at the recommended height (8-12 feet) and facing the recommended direction (south...
View ArticleYellowjacket traps
This is my favorite kind of yellowjacket trap. The plastic part can be saved and reused year-to-year, and the lure inside can be purchased anew at the beginning of wasp season. They are safe for the...
View ArticleWhy do my bees turn nasty when I kill them?
The short answer is that I, too, would turn nasty if you were trying to kill me. The longer answer is that when you do something that threatens your bees, alarm pheromone is emitted into the air by the...
View ArticleWhat is open-brood pheromone?
Open-brood pheromone is just like it sounds, a pheromone given off by uncapped brood. Actually, at least two types of pheromone are released by open brood and together they allow the brood to regulate...
View ArticleTincture of queen: a homemade swarm lure
To make queen liqueur or tincture of queen, beekeepers soak recently dead or pinched queens in a small vial of rubbing alcohol. The alcohol preserves the queen and, supposedly, her pheromones as well....
View ArticleHoney bee pheromones: common scents
Once you fall in love with honey bees, it is easy to characterize them as intelligent, practical, even prescient. But in fact, honey bees do the things they do in response to pheromones. A pheromone is...
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