When you bought your bees last year, did you notice the queen had a color on her? Unless you have purchased bees more than once, you might not know that the color on the queen bee changes each year. This helps identify the age of the queens we get from different distributors. Here is how the colors are determined. Years ending in: 1 or 6 are White Dots 2 or 7 are Yellow 3 or 8 are Red 4 or 9 are Green 5 or 0 are Blue Now, the next time you get a marked queen, you will know ho

Van Gogh-ing to the Bees Honeybees, it turns out, are expert connoisseurs of the arts. This may seem beyond the scope of reason. To begin with, why would anyone even wonder about such a thing? But, someone did. According to a 2012 paper published in the Journal of Comparative Physiology, scientists Wen Wu, Antonio M. Moreno, Jason M. Tangen and Judith Reinhard discovered that bees can tell the difference between paintingscreated by Monet, and those by Picasso. Figure 1 Waterl

Each honeybee, together with its colony, responds to annual patterns that are influenced by a region's climate and amount of rainfall. Climate is mainly controlled by the positioning of the sun which produces gradual changes in day length and fluctuations in temperature. These climatic changes influence all forms of life including the flowering times of the native species of trees, shrubs, flowers and other plants in the herbaceous layer. A beekeeper's success is measured

Hive Got a Few Ideas About Preservation Mid-January can be a time of hardship for honeybees in Michigan. During this phase, the hives are inactive as beekeepers await the new season. Bees don't hibernate in the technical sense, but they do slow their metabolism and then ball up in the center of their hive and shiver to stay warm. They will maintain an inside temp of 95-98 degrees year 'round in the hive. Winter time is generally when most beekeepers lose their hives due to st

Well first of all, let's start out by saying there is nothing good about this announcement, however, something positive could come from this. This is the first time a pollinator has been put on our endangered species list in the lower 48 states, which then allows more funding, research, universities and government agencies to now switch focus and start working on the issues and what is causing this decline. You may ask, why haven't they been doing anything with the Honey Bee

There are many reasons people all across the world begin to keep bees. Some choose to care for a colony due to a deep appreciation for the impact they have on the natural ecosystem. Others start hives with a connection to culture because honey is part of their heritage in sweetening food and drinks, use as medicine, and simply enjoyed by itself. And, some decide to keep bees due to the strong market demand for the golden nectar and plan to build a business. Of the many rea

Should Auld Acquaintance Bee Forgot? Weight loss is the quintessential definition of a New Year's Resolution. This month, the bloated masses are swarming the gym. They hope to drop a few post-holiday pounds, in penance for the enthusiastic consumption of obligatory sugar cookies and pumpkin pies, sugar plums and peanut butter fudge. And, and… What if you could experience a shrinking of your girth with a natural remedy, simply by ingesting a spoonful of honey before you go to

Herb have been around for ages and have been used for medical, aromatic and culinary characteristics. It has never been easier to grow a herb garden and you can start with these 8, easy to grow, herbs that will grow in nothing but water all year long. Special Note: When you pick a container to put your herb cuttings in, try to choose a dark brown or green bottle (the darker the better), because the plant roots enjoy being in the darkest container possible. Here are the 8 best

Have you asked for help from a beekeeper or club, only to get brushed off or met with a lack of interest in helping you? Don't fret, there are some VERY nice and helpful people out there, however, unfortunately there are people in the bee world that are not interested in anything but their own bee friends and their own projects. You will run into clubs that have no interest in bringing in new people, even though they say they do. You will meet instructors, professors at unive

The hemlock woolly adelgid (HWA) is a serious threat to Michigan’s eastern hemlock, and forest health experts from the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development are asking residents in west Michigan to check their trees for this harmful insect. These tiny insects secrete white wax as they feed on sap. HWA feeding also can kill needles, shoots and branches. Over time, growth slows as trees become less vigorous. Eventu