On a recent trip I stumbled onto pits in sandy soil. The first thing that came to mind was Antlions which congregate in dry soil. They sit in the bottom of the pits and wait for unsuspecting prey to fall in. Upon further investigation I found that there were small worm-like larvae in the bottom…
When I think back to when I first started as an apiary technician at the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture the first thing that comes to my mind is how completely clueless I was when it came to beekeeping. I also had a lot to learn about scientific research. The more I learned the more I…
The past month has been very busy for us at the Bee Research Lab in Maryland. There was one week we received shipments of alcohol samples from all 3 BIP teams: California, Minnesota and Hawaii. It was only a few weeks ago when we had boxes stacked high waiting to be processed. I am proud…
Through National Survey sampling and helping with USDA field work and forage studies I have had the opportunity to evaluate many different hives from Maryland to California to North Dakota over the past year. These hives hare both stationary and migratory, having been placed in many locations across the US, and have provided me with…
I am sure you have all heard it, or maybe even been fortunate, or rather should I say unfortunate enough, to witness, attempt to prevent, or have your hive succumb to what this year has experienced especially frequently—swarming. Maryland beekeepers would agree, as I heard in the state meeting this past weekend, that calls for…
On a recent adventure into the Ishi Wilderness…(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ishi_Wilderness) I stumbled onto my second Velvet Ant (Mutillidae) in California. This one was similar to the first species I saw. There are a few images below that show the first one I collected. Mike also found a Velvet Ant that looked to be the same species. Velvet…
Not many Californians would jump at the opportunity to spend their summer in Minnesota and North Dakota, but not many Californians work with bees either. I was glad to be given the opportunity to work with Katie Lee in the Bee Informed Partnership and pack my bags and relocate to St. Paul at the beginning…
Two weeks ago I wrote a blog about a trip taken to the Ishi Wilderness. In that blog I introduced an Engineering student from Ohio State University named Eric Percel. Eric has since returned to Ohio where he has taken an internship with an engineering firm for the summer. I asked Eric if he minded…
Last Saturday Rob and I volunteered to participate in the Patrick Ranch’s annual Country Faire and Threshing Bee. For more information about the event visit: http://site.patrickranchmuseum.org/index.html We got a call from Yvonne Koehnen earlier last week asking if we would be interested in doing a bee beard for the honey bee exhibit at the fair….
A few years back in 2006 as part of collaboration with Betterbee Inc. and Penn State University, the idea of a tower hive set up was piloted in New York as a method of Varroa mite control. A tower hive configuration is simply two hives placed side by side. When the hives are ready to…
