Sometimes I get bee fever from overexposure to bees. Symptoms include back aches, honey bees scurrying across the comb hidden behind my eyelids (only detectable when closed at night and sleep is attempted) and an ever-present buzzing where the sound of silence once resided. As BIP’s North Central Tech Transfer Team Field Specialist, I spend what seems like eons behind the wheel of my Chevy truck, commuting from one bee yard to the next. Three times a year I venture out on a three-week pilgrimage from my home base in the Bee Lab at the University of Minnesota, Saint Paul MN, to North Dakota to…
Ticked Off
What is the most hated parasite in beekeeping? Well, if you answered Varroa, you would surely not be alone. Varroa is the bane of the beekeeper’s existence all year round, and deserve the number one spot on the most-hated greatest hits list. But there is another parasite that comes in at a close second - ticks. And this year especially, they seem to be everywhere. Experts at the University of Minnesota hoped that last year’s drought and this year’s cold, wet, late spring would reduce this year's tick population. Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be the case. BIP's Tech Team Field Specialists on the ground…
Join The 2022 Mite-A-Thon!
Varroa destructor (Varroa), and the viruses it vectors is a significant driver of honey bee colony mortality. Yet, indicators suggest that many beekeepers are not monitoring honey bee colony Varroa infestations and therefore aren’t able to connect infestation to colony loss. Varroa are ectoparasites that breed in the cells of developing honey bees, feeding on bees and transmitting several harmful viruses as they do so. Though it is encouraging to see awareness of these formidable foes growing on all sides of the beekeeping community, it is worrying that recent research results show signs of increasing acaricide resistance in Varroa, and rising virulence of Varroa-vectored viruses.…
One More Week To Complete The Survey!
If you have already taken the 2022 Loss and Management Survey, THANK YOU! Please consider sharing this with all the beekeepers in your life! If you haven't, please take a few moments to take the survey now! TAKE THE SURVEY You’ve heard a lot from us in the last couple of weeks. Thank you for your … patience? In this final week, we thought we would take a step back and let some other folks do the talking. We’re very thankful for the help and support we’re receiving from the whole community. Thank you all, and we’ll be in touch around June to share the…
Sentinel Signup Now Ending May 1st – Register Now!
That's right! It is your last chance to register for Bee Informed Partnership's Sentinel Apiary Program and be a part of the exciting 2022 season! CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! The Sentinel Apiary Program is a citizen-science program designed to help beekeepers become better at inspecting colonies, keeping better records, and making timely, data-driven management decisions. Sentinel participants receive educational resources and materials needed to inspect and sample their colonies. They also gain access to a number of online tools, instructional videos, a live webinar series, and more! We’ve also made a number of exciting changes to the program this year, which includes pesticide testing…
Add Your Data Point To The Map: Take The BIP Survey!
Written By Dan Aurell, Selina Bruckner, Geoff Williams, and Nathalie Steinhauer You may have heard the statement “all beekeeping is local”. This means that, depending on where you keep bees, your beekeeping actions for a particular month could be drastically different than what is appropriate for beekeepers located elsewhere! During April, some beekeepers might be busy with tasks like installing packages and raising queens, while others might be using the mild days to crack lids on their colonies even while there’s snow on the ground. Regardless of what other tasks you are trying to accomplish this April, we hope you will find time to fill…
Join us for a new season of Survey!
The 2021-2022 Annual Loss and Management Survey is live on April 1st. New season, new survey! Our team is so excited to share with you our brand new survey. The survey is open from April 1 to April 30, 2022. Take the Survey Here! The Loss and Management Survey is a national effort that tracks long-term trends of U.S. honey bee colony health. The survey’s main objective is to monitor colony loss rates that beekeepers experience each year, the management actions that beekeepers take, and to compare these losses and practices among all types of beekeeping operations − from backyard hobbyists managing fewer than 50…
Working Honey Bees in Hawai’i
Working bees in November in Hawai’i? YES, PLEASE! BIP Tech Team Field Specialist Ben Sallmann and I pounced on the opportunity to leave Minnesota and Michigan's dreary November weather. We tackled all of the logistical challenges and hopped on a plane to Hawai'i to conduct fieldwork for the state's contribution to the National Honey Bee Disease Survey (NHBS) . National Honey Bee Disease Survey The National Honey Bee Disease Survey (NHBS) is a federally-funded, nationwide, annual honey bee survey. This survey has been conducted since 2010 and is a joint effort between the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) and…
Bee Lawns – Conserve Pollinators And Natural Resources In Your Own Home Lawn
Guest Blog Written By James Wolfin The turfgrass lawn has become a staple of American culture. To many, the desired lawn is a lush, green carpet that is cut low and weed free; maintained to draw the admiration of neighbors. We often go to great lengths to curate this aesthetic. Weekly mowing. Weekly watering. Herbicide applications to keep out undesirable weeds. Spreading fertilizer a few times per year to ensure the pristine green color that has become an expectation in some communities. But have we stopped to consider the ecological and environmental consequences of how we manage our lawns, and what alternatives there may be?…
Moving Bees Into Almonds
Every year, beekeepers from across the continental United States move millions of honey bee colonies to California’s Central Valley, arriving just in time to tend the billions of bursting almond blossoms that require their pollination services. But have you ever really thought about what it takes to accomplish this massive migration? Colonies from every corner of the country - many hunkered down in the dead of winter, or stacked in indoor, cold storage sheds - are prepped and loaded onto semis, hauled hundreds of miles, inspected at border stations, unloaded into temporary holding yards, and then relocated once more - strategically placed amongst the almonds…