Not even a week has passed since this year’s Colony Loss and Management survey went LIVE! As of this morning (4/5/2019), more than 1,200 beekeepers have already entered their information. WOW! Thank you for your time and continued support! So far your response rate is tracking previous years, but of course, we want to beat […]
Good morning America! It’s beautiful outside! The birds are chirping and the bees are flying! You may even notice a few flowers outside too! Here in the South, our many azaleas are in full bloom! This means Spring is upon us! And of course, Spring means one thing: it’s time to take the Bee Informed […]
Having worked on both the Northern California Tech Transfer Team and Pacific Norwest Team has given me a unique opportunity to compare and contrast management styles across regions. One thing that I immediately noticed when I first came to the Oregon team was the use of rain covers or shelters over the fall and winter […]
There are plenty of quick stats you come across working around bees: At peak population, a strong colony can have over 60,000 individual bees. A queen is capable of laying more eggs in a day (up to 2,000) than there are minutes in a day (1,440). A single bee can produce 1/12 tsp honey in […]
I live close to the town of Snook, TX – where the local roadhouse is renowned for its chicken fried bacon. This dish inspired a thought; why not fry something shocking myself? I was using drone brood removal as a method of mite control in a couple colonies, and they were producing a lot of […]
What are your bees doing right now? If you’re in a northern location like me in Michigan the answer for most of the period between November and February may be not much. . . but they aren’t doing nothing. They are dormant but they aren’t hibernating. During the period of winter dormancy the bees will […]
Among the most exciting aspects of BIP’s work is the wealth of data collected for years on honey bee health. This impressive, growing database is keeping a pulse on the health of American bees. With an abundance of information, and growing team to analyze it, we’ve begun to explore new methods to monitor and detect […]
Tech-Transfer Teams provide third-party documentation of emergency events, such as acute pesticide poisoning, for beekeepers who request this service. The Northwest team responds to at least two emergency calls every year. BIP Tech Teams provide a complete colony health assessment during these calls to help find the underlying issue or at least rule out other […]
Over the past seven years working with BIP, I have witnessed, first hand, improvements on the quality of the hygienic behavior in honey bee stock coming out of the Northern California Queen Breeders. Of all the variety of samples we perform as BIP Tech Teams, hygienic testing is my favorite because it means I get […]
With the withdrawal of Fumagillin from the market, there has been renewed interest among queen producers and honey producers alike in finding ways to control Nosema infection in their bees. The Texas BIP team recently helped a beekeeper look at whether essential oil patties or a sprayed-on probiotic would help reduce the Nosema load of spring splits. 30 colonies […]
