One Members Harvard Study Results...

The following information was provided by HCBA club member, Roxie Pin.  If you were involved in the study and would like to share your experience with Roxie and/or the group, please email us or comment below.  roxiepin@gmail.com

I am very eager to know if others from the club had participated in the study with Dr. Lu last summer.  I am alarmed about the Dinotefuran in the honey and wanted to know if anyone else received these kinds of results!?!?

I live in a very rural area, but there are homes around where people treat their lawns. It's also very likely that there are agricultural plots where people may not be practicing organic or chemical free pest control.

I am devastated.  I also am 98% sure that hive is... dead.

Did anyone talk about this study? Do you know if anyone else participated? I am going to follow up with Dr. Lu, but in the meantime, I'd love to gather more ammunition to fight for the case to eliminate this crap.

Thanks, and hope all is well with you.  I do miss the camaraderie of the meetings.

Roxie

Dear Roxanne,

We appreciate your participation in the MassBee Study since 2013 and your patience for the results to be available to you. 

Here are the pesticide concentrations in the pollen and honey samples that you sent to us. Those pesticides are neonicotinoid insecticides, which have been implicated for the cause of colony collapse disorder, or CCD.

In addition, we would like to ask you several short questions, in specific to the hive that you collected samples for us. Your answers will be a huge compliment to the overall results. You can just write the answer below each question, and then send this email back to us.

We are preparing to publish the data without the identify of your hive. Upon the acceptance of the manuscript for peer-review publishing, we will send you a copy for your reference. We thank you again for your enthusiastic help in this project. Please do not hesitate to contact us for any questions you may have.

HERE ARE YOUR RESULTS. 

The concentration unit is ppb (parts per billion). BLOQ stands for below the limit of quantification, or close to non-detectable.

Month	Dinotefuran	Acetamiprid	Flonicamid	Clothianidin		Thiacloprid	Imidacloprid	Nitenpyram	Thiamethoxam
April	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ
May	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	0.1	BLOQ	BLOQ
June	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	0.6	BLOQ	BLOQ
July	0.6	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	3.9	BLOQ	BLOQ
August-pollen	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ
August-honey	14.5	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	BLOQ	0.5	BLOQ	BLOQ

Chensheng (Alex) Lu, PhD
Associate Professor of Environmental Exposure Biology
Dept. of Environmental Health
Harvard School of Public Health

Office - Landmark Center West 404G

401 Park Drive, Boston MA 02215

Lab - Bldg 1, Rm G-5, 10, & 12

665 Huntington Ave, Boston MA 02115
Tel: (617)998-8811
Fax: (617)384-8728

Dear Dr. Lu,

Thank you so much for allowing me to participate in this study.  In all honesty, I am shocked and devastated by the Dinotefuran level in my honey.  I've sold this honey to my neighbors ~ one of whom is a 45-year-old pregnant woman who is trying to do everything possible to bring health to her unborn child due in 4 weeks. This is only my second year with a harvest and because I had honey to spare, when I put it up for sale, this woman bought a lot. The other woman who I am concerned about is a cancer patient. She bought it believing in all the healthy benefits....

I don't know what this number means, but I feel like I have not only destroyed their good intentions, but made them worse. Furthermore, my family has eaten a LOT of this honey. I started raising bees for the health benefit ~ not to increase my risk factors!!

Maybe my responses to your questions will help you understand my concerns. 

HERE ARE THE QUESTIONS:

1. Have your hive died in 2013/2014?

Yes, I collected all pollen and honey from just this hive and I am 98% sure it is dead.  If we ever get a warm enough day in the near future, I will confirm.  I do not chemically treat for mites. This hive also had a queen replacement.  It was originally an Italian queen and I only had a carniolian queen available.  By the end of the summer, the worker bees observed going in and out were mostly all carniolian.  Another difference between this hive and my other hive is that these bees in this hive were very reluctant to take any supplemental food in the fall. 

1a. If your hive is dead, do you see a load of dead bees at the bottom board of the hive, or your dead hive is relatively empty?

Will respond to this question later once an inspection has been made.

1b. If your hive is dead, do you know when approximately?

There was activity three weeks ago (like Feb 8-9), but it was not strong and the temperature was too cold to do a thorough inspection. The last two times I went out after that when clearing around the hives from the storms, I have not been able to hear buzzing when I knock on that hive, but the neighboring hive does respond. I'm fairly certain it is dead or close to dead and have ordered a package of bees to replace this hive.

1c. If your hive is alive, is it normal, weaker than normal, or very weak?

If it is still alive, it is VERY weak. I would have called it very weak when I went in that second weekend in February.

2. How do you describe the location of where you set up this hive, urban, sub-urban, or rural?

I live in Huntington, MA.  It is very rural, 2,500-3,000 population, mountainous with the Westfield River running by the property.  We are starting a Christmas Tree Farm on the property.

3.  Are there any agricultural field nearby your hive location (within 2-3 miles)?

There are no known big agricultural fields near me.  I do have smaller plot farmers that I know are using organic controls with pests. There are homes around me where people treat their lawns, including a guy on the hill immediately across the street who works for a lawn company catering to the suburbs. He is obsessed with his lawn and other neighbors have long been concerned about him and the chemicals that come tumbling down the hill in rain storms toward us.  It's also very likely that there are interspersed agricultural plots where people may not be practicing organic or chemical free pest control within the radius. 

 I honestly thought that my rural living should have come up with much clearer results. I am sick about these results and the chemical impact on us.  Should I throw out any remaining honey? I need to understand these numbers.

Thank you,

Roxie

Dear Roxie,

I can understand your remorse after seeing the results. I don't think you are responsible for this. Neither do your bees. We have analyzed organic honey samples in a separate study, and found high levels of neonicotinoids too. Only one honey sample has no neonicotinoids. Yes, only one!!!  Since neonicotinoids are so ubiquitous and systemic in plants, they are everywhere once applied. And they will be persistent in the environment too.  I conduct this study aiming to raise the awareness of the danger of neonicotinoids. Our government needs to answer this question of "why your bees could take home with so much of imidacloprid and dinotefuran? In your case, not only those pesticides are harming your bees, but also you and whoever consume your honey.  

I do not know what those numbers mean either. But those are very bad pesticides (neurotoxins).   I don't know how you should inform your friends who bought your honey for the purpose of being organic consumers either. It is a shame to throw the honey away, but knowing that your honey contains two neonicotinoids, I would not continue to eat those.

However, I do hope that you could find out where dinotefuran comes from. The landscaping neighbor on the hill might be a good starting point. As you probably know that bees only forage 2-3 miles from their hives so it has to be a specific use of dinotefuran around your hives. Do you know where your bees go out to get nectar (what plants, trees, or flowers)?

I apologize for making you very uncomfortable about the results. I hope to make the best use of those results so we make some changes. 

Best wishes.

Chensheng (Alex) Lu, PhD
Associate Professor of Environmental Exposure Biology
Dept. of Environmental Health
Harvard School of Public Health

Office - Landmark Center West 404G

401 Park Drive, Boston MA 02215

Lab - Bldg 1, Rm G-5, 10, & 12

665 Huntington Ave, Boston MA 02115
Tel: (617)998-8811
Fax: (617)384-8728

Urban Beehive...

PHILIPS URBAN BEEHIVE

Most of the time you think of beekeepers as living out on large farms, tending to their hives with crazy hazmat-style suits on. With the Philips Urban Beehive, you can become your own beekeeper — with the bees living inside your own house. This stylish concept consists of two parts: an entry passage and flower pot that sits outdoors, and a glass shell inside. The tinted glass shell filters light to let through the orange wavelength the bees use for sight, and holds an array of honeycomb frames inside. When it's time to harvest some honey, just pull on the smoke actuator chain and grab some out while the bees are happily sedated.



The urban beehive is a concept for keeping bees at home. The beehive is designed to allow us a glimpse into the fascinating world of these industrious creatures and to harvest the honey that they produce.
                                      

The design of the beehive is unconventional, appealing, and respects the natural behavior of the bees. It consists of two parts: entry passage and flower pot outside, and glass vessel containing an array of honeycomb frames, inside. The glass shell filters light to let through the orange wavelength which bees use for sight. The frames are provided with a honeycomb texture for bees to build their wax cells on. Smoke can be released into the hive to calm the bees before it is opened, in keeping with established practice.

This is a sustainable, environmentally friendly product concept that has direct educational effects. The city benefits from the pollination, and humans benefit from the honey and the therapeutic value of observing these fascinating creatures in action. As global bee colonies are in decline, this design contributes to the preservation of the species and encourages the return of the urban bee.

To make their hives, bees produce wax and propolis, a resinous mixture that varies with the bees’ environment and diet. Propolis has a structural function but is also believed to inhibit harmful pathogens in the hive and is sold as an alternative medicine. Once the health benefits of honey and propolis are better understood, the urban beehive could also have a role in the home apothecary.

                                                           

Far-future design conceptsThe urban beehive is part of the Microbial Home Probe, a far-future design concept. It is not intended as a production prototype nor will it be sold as a Philips product. Like past Probe Design Concepts that have stimulated discussion around a range of issues, this concept is testing a possible future – not prescribing one. 19 October 2011

ORIGINAL SOURCE: UNCRATE

Bee School Session 5...

Hampden County Beekeepers Bee School 2014

 Thursday, March 13th

Willimanset Heights Improvement League (WHIL)

118 Mount Vernon Rd.

Chicopee, MA 01013

All Bee School sessions start at 7pm

Topics: Spring & Summer Management

Bears & Other Invaders

Speaker: Jeff Rys

All members are welcome to attend.  We will have our usual break between the first and second hour of each bee school meeting and anyone who would like to bring food/snacks to share with the group is encouraged to do so.  See you at bee school!  

USDA Spending $3M to Feed Bees...

USDA Spending $3M To Feed Struggling Bees In Midwest

MILWAUKEE (AP) — The U.S. Department of Agriculture will spend millions of dollars to help farmers and ranchers improve pastures in five Midwestern states to provide food for the nation's struggling honeybees under a program to be announced Tuesday.

Commercial honeybees pollinate an estimated $15 billion worth of produce each year. Many beekeepers bring hives to the Upper Midwest in the summer for bees to gather nectar and pollen for food, then truck them in the spring to California and other states to pollinate everything from almonds to apples to avacadoes.

But agricultural production has been threatened by a more than decade-long decline in commercial honeybees and their wild cousins due to habitat loss and pesticide use. Colony collapse disorder, in which honey bees suddenly disappear or die, has made the problem worse, boosting losses over the winter to as much as 30 percent per year.

The USDA hopes to stem those losses by providing more areas for bees to build up food stores and strength for winter. The new program, details of which were provided to The Associated Press ahead of the announcement, will be "a real shot in the arm" for improving bees' habitat and food supply, said Jason Weller, chief of USDA's National Resources Conservation Service.

Dairy farmers and ranchers in Michigan, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas can qualify for about $3 million to reseed pastures with alfalfa, clover and other plants appealing to both bees and livestock. Farmers also can get help building fences, installing water tanks and making other changes that better enable them to move their animals from pasture to pasture so the vegetation doesn't become worn down. The goal is to provide higher quality food for insects and animals.
"It's a win for the livestock guys, and it's a win for the managed honey bee population," Weller said. "And it's a win then for orchardists and other specialty crop producers across the nation because then you're going to have a healthier, more robust bee population that then goes out and helps pollinate important crops."

The USDA is focusing on those five states because 65 percent of the nation's estimated 30,000 commercial beekeepers bring hives there for at least part of the year. With limited funds, Weller said, the goal is to get the biggest payoff for the investment.
Corn, soybean and other farmers can qualify for money to plant cover crops, which typically go in after the regular harvest and help improve soil health, or to grow bee-friendly forage in borders and on the edges of fields.

The program is just the latest in a series of USDA efforts to reduce honeybee deaths. The agency has partnered with universities to study bee diseases, nutrition and other factors threatening colonies. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack also recently created a working group on bees to coordinate efforts across the department.

The work is already paying off with changes to once-common beekeeping practices, such as supplementing bees' diet with high-fructose corn syrup, said David Epstein, a senior entomologist with the USDA. He noted that the quality of bees' food is as important as the quantity.
"You can think of it in terms of yourself," Epstein said. "If you are studying for exams in college, and you're not eating properly and you're existing on coffee, then you make yourself more susceptible to disease and you get sick."

Tim Tucker, who has between 400 and 500 hives at sites in Kansas and Texas, said he may take some of his bees to South Dakota this year because the fields around his farm near Niotaze, Kan., no longer provide much food for them.

"There used to be a lot of small farms in our area that had clover and a variety of crops, whereas in the last 20 years it's really been corn, soybean and cotton and a little bit of canola," Tucker said. "But those crops don't provide a lot of good nectar and pollen for bees."

Tucker, who is president of the American Beekeeping Federation, said the last "really good" year he had was 1999, when he got more than 100 pounds of honey per hive. Last year, he averaged about 42 pounds per hive.

He hopes dairy farmers, beef cattle ranchers and others will sign up for the new USDA program by the March 21 deadline.

It's not a "cure all," Tucker said, but "anything we do to help provide habitat for honeybees and for native bees and pollinators is a step."

ORIGINAL SOURCE: TPM

Ted Talks- "Why Bees Are Disappearing"

Speakers: Marla Spivak: Bees Scholar

Marla Spivak researches bees’ behavior and biology in an effort to preserve this threatened, but ecologically essential, insect.insect.

Whh

Why you should listen to her:

Bees pollinate a third of our food supply -- they don’t just make honey! -- but colonies have been disappearing at alarming rates in many parts of the world due to the accumulated effects of parasitic mites, viral and bacterial diseases, and exposure to pesticides and herbicides. Marla Spivak, University of Minnesota professor of entomology and 2010 MacArthur Fellow, tries as much as possible to think like bees in her work to protect them. They’re “highly social and complex” creatures, she says, which fuels her interest and her research.

Spivak has developed a strain of bees, the Minnesota Hygienic line, that can detect when pupae are infected and kick them out of the nest, saving the rest of the hive. Now, Spivak is studying how bees collect propolis, or tree resins, in their hives to keep out dirt and microbes. She is also analyzing how flowers’ decline due to herbicides, pesticides and crop monoculture affect bees’ numbers and diversity. Spivak has been stung by thousands of bees in the course of her work.

"Bees have a champion in Marla Spivak."

The Promised Land

ORIGINAL SOURCE:  TED Ideas Worth Spreading

Bee School Session 4...

Hampden County Beekeepers Bee School 2014

 Thursday, February 27th

Willimanset Heights Improvement League (WHIL)

118 Mount Vernon Rd.

Chicopee, MA 01013

All Bee School sessions start at 7pm

Topic: Dynamics of the Hive 

Queens & Swarms

Speaker: Eric Nitsch

All members are welcome to attend.  We will have our usual break between the first and second hour of each bee school meeting and anyone who would like to bring food/snacks to share with the group is encouraged to do so.  See you at bee school!  

BEE SCHOOL CANCELLED...

Due to the impending snow and ice storm, our bee school class scheduled for Thursday, February 13th has been cancelled.  We will cover bee sources and installation at a later date.  Stay warm and safe! 

Bees with Backpacks...

Scientists Strap Tiny 'Backpacks' To 5,000 Bees To Learn More About Colony Collapse Disorder

From Mother Nature Network's Laura Moss:

There's been a lot of buzz about colony collapse disorder, a phenomenon causing bees to die off around the world, and Australian scientists are trying a new approach to studying the phenomenon: They're attaching tiny sensors to bees.

More than 5,000 honeybees are being equipped with 2.5mm x 2.5mm sensors that relay data to recorders placed around hives and known food sources.

"Bees are social insects that return to the same point and operate on a very predictable schedule," project leader Dr. Paulo de Souza, a scientist at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization, said in a statement.

"Any change in their behavior indicates a change in their environment. If we can model their movements, we'll be able to recognize very quickly when their activity shows variation and identify the cause. This will help us understand how to maximize their productivity as well as monitor for any biosecurity risks."

But how do you attach a sensor to a tiny honeybee?
Good question. It turns out that it's not that complicated.

1. Refrigerate the bee.
"We take the bee into a cold place, usually to a fridge about 5 degrees Celsius (41 degrees F), for five minutes and that is enough to have the bees sleeping," de Souza told the Australian Broadcasting Company.

2. Shave the bee. (Yes, really.)
"Very young bees, they're very hairy. At times we need to do something to help us," he said.

3. Use tweezers to glue the sensor to the bee's back.
"It doesn't disturb the way the bee will see or the way the bee will fly, they just work normally," he said.

"Each sensor weight is about 5 milligrams. This is about 20 percent of what the bee can carry. So the bee can carry a lot of weight in pollen, in nectar, so this is like someone carrying a small backpack."

Buzz off
Once their sensors are in place, the honeybees are released in Tasmania, an island state located off Australia's coast.

The radio frequency identification sensors will allow scientists to build a 3-D image of the bees' movements and provide them with information on how pesticides contribute to colony collapse disorder.

But tagging the bees is only the first stage of the project.

De Souza said researchers are working to make the sensors even smaller so they can be attached to insects like mosquitoes and fruit flies.

"We want these smaller tags to be able to sense environmental conditions such as temperature and presence of atmospheric gases; not just track their location. Further to this, the sensors will be able to generate energy from the beating wings of the insects, which will give the sensors enough power to transmit information instead of just storing it until they reach a data logger," he said.

*ORIGINAL SOURCE:  HUFFINGTON POST

Bee School Session 3...

Hampden County Beekeepers Bee School 2014

 Thursday, February 13th 

Willimanset Heights Improvement League (WHIL)

118 Mount Vernon Rd.

Chicopee, MA 01013

All Bee School sessions start at 7pm

Topics: Sources of Bees & Installing Bees

Speaker: Tom Flebotte

All members are welcome to attend.  We will have our usual break between the first and second hour of each bee school meeting and anyone who would like to bring food/snacks to share with the group is encouraged to do so.  See you at bee school!  

ZomBEEs...

Vermont beekeepers face threat of 'zombie' bees; 1st time parasite found in Eastern US

Published January 29, 2014

Associated Press

ESSEX JUNCTION, VT. –  Vermont beekeepers face mite infestations, extreme temperature swings and the possibility of colony collapse. Last fall, a new threat emerged: zombie bees.

Beekeeper Anthony Cantrell of Burlington discovered zombie bees in his hive in October, the first time they'd been found in the eastern United States.

John Hafernik, a professor from San Francisco State University, discovered the first zombie bees in 2008. A fly called Apocephalus borealis attaches itself to the bee and injects its eggs, which grow inside the bee, Hafernik said. Scientists believe it causes neurological damage resulting in erratic, jerky movement and night activity, "like a zombie," Hafernik said by phone Tuesday.

These aren't undead bees doomed to roam for eternity. They often die only a few hours after showing symptoms, Hafernik said.

'It is seemingly kind of Biblical here. We're getting every conceivable kind of plague.'

- May Berenbaum, a top bee expert

Hafernik and his team of colleagues and students have been tracking the zombie bee spread across the United States. California, Washington, Oregon and South Dakota all have confirmed zombie bees while this is the first time the bee has been found this far east, said Hafernik. The fly previously attached to bumblebees as hosts, not honeybees, according to Hafernik.

"Right now, we don't know if it's an isolated thing," Stephen Parise, Vermont agricultural production specialist, said Tuesday at the state's annual farm show.

The Vermont Agency of Agriculture hopes to use trapping to investigate the threat. Parise also told the Vermont Beekeeper Association that he expected more bee deaths this year due to wild temperature swings.

Chas Mraz, of Champlain Valley Apiaries, said mites, viruses and pesticides are bigger health issues for honeybees. A lack of nectar and pollen in a changing agricultural ecosystem focused more on corn and soybeans could affect bee immune systems, he said.

"There's tremendous pressure on bees," Mraz said. The apiary has been operating since 1931 and houses about 1,200 bee colonies. At peak population in good weather, that means over 60 million bees.

University of Illinois entomologist May Berenbaum, a top bee expert, agreed.

"It is seemingly kind of Biblical here," she said. "We're getting every conceivable kind of plague."

Given the way bee populations have become so homogenized and how they are shipped cross country to aid in pollenating, the first Eastern infection of the zombie fly makes sense, Berenbaum said.

"It's not surprising; it's certainly not good news," Berenbaum said. "There are so many pathogens and parasites that we're aware of that are afflicting bees."

New research by the U.S. Department of Agriculture released this month showed that a plant virus -- tobacco ringspot virus -- is now infecting commercial honeybees, Berenbaum said.

Leif Richardson, a doctoral student at Dartmouth College studies the interactions between plants, pollinators and parasites. Richardson said the fly involved in zombie bees could, besides using honeybees as hosts, potentially transmit viruses and pathogens.

Beekeepers "should definitely be concerned about it," Richardson said.

Hafernik said it would be a "game changer" if these flies could hatch from dead bees and complete their life cycle inside the hive, something that most worries Cantrell.

"I think it would be another nail in the coffin for honeybees in the northern hemisphere," Cantrell said.

Original Content from FOX NEWS

Yellow Jackets...

A lot of times when you tell people that you are a beekeeper, or when you are working at the Big E with the observation hives, you'll hear this response "I hate bees!"  I often reply, "You probably hate wasps.", and then try to explain the difference between the yellow jacket wasp and the honey bee.  Most people easily confuse the two.

Club prez, Jeff Rys, just sent me an email link to the video below (Thanks, Prez!) and I think you'll agree with me when I say, "Thank goodness we don't keep yellow jackets!"

Angry Yellow Jacket Nest - V E R Y Angry 

A 2 minute, 9 second video filmed "thousands" of yellow jackets attacking a camera.
Nest measured at 3 feet tall x 2 feet wide (which are the approx dimensions of an American made, electric dishwasher).
Popping sounds are the insects striking the camera.
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzz.............

ORIGINAL SOURCE: LIVE LEAK

Honeycomb Dessert Pan...

Nordic Ware Honeycomb Pull-Apart Dessert Pan

 The Nordic Ware Honeycomb Pull-Apart Dessert Pan is perfect for creating a stylish dessert. Unique honeycomb pattern creates a fun design, complete with bees and divides into perfectly portioned cakelets Perfect for bread, molded desserts as well as cake. Made of heavy duty cast aluminum for fine details and superior baking performance, the premium nonstick interior allows for quick release and easy cleanup. A heat-reflective exterior ensures uniform baking and browning. Made in the USA.

Premium nonstick interior for easy release and quick cleanup

• Makes a honeycomb shaped cake with pull-apart sections for easy sharing
• Durable heat-responsive cast aluminum promotes even rising and golden finish
• 12 1/4-Inch by 2 1/4-Inch by 11 2/3-Inch
• Made in the united states

HOW CUTE IS THIS PAN!?!?!?!  

Available for purchase from AMAZON.

Bee School 2014 Session 2...

Hampden County Beekeepers Bee School 2014

 Thursday, January 23rd

Willimanset Heights Improvement League (WHIL)

118 Mount Vernon Rd.

Chicopee, MA 01013

All Bee School sessions start at 7pm

Topic: Protective Clothing & Hive Assembly

Speaker: Lee Duquette

All members are welcome to attend.  We will have our usual break between the first and second hour of each bee school meeting and anyone who would like to bring food/snacks to share with the group is encouraged to do so.  See you at bee school!  

Some Recommended Reading...

For some really great beekeeping titles check out www.wicwas.com

First Wicwas Book for 2014              

Price:

$23.00

Authors or Editors: 

Stephen J. Repasky with Lawrence J. Connor

Ideal For: 

All Beekeepers, Naturalists and Adventurers

Publisher: 

Wicwas Press, LLC

Binding: 

Perfect (Paper)

Dimensions: 

6" x 9" x 3/8"

ISBN: 

978-1-878075-32-1

Description: 

Swarming is one of the most powerful instincts that most successful beekeepers encounter. Swarm Essentials outlines the ramifications of swarming behavior (highlighting the often overlooked benefits), proven prevention and management techniques, and how to recover and even prosper from a successful swarm attempt. Second generation beekeeper Stephen J. Repasky's inaugural publication marks the latest addition to the Essentials series and is an excellent read for any beekeeper who hopes to make it past their first year.

---

2013 Revised Honey Bee Biology and Beekeeping                  Drs. Dewey M. Caron and Lawrence John Connor

• Hard Cover

• 368 pages of vibrant color photos, diagrams & updated materials

• Questions and exercises for self-study & classroom teaching

• $60, includes priority mail

This book is perfect for:

• Bee schools and classes

• Master beekeeper study and review

• Life-long learners

For multiple copies for classroom, bee school or resale, contact LJConnor@aol.com for a quote including shipping costs. You will receive a discount for multiple copy orders.

For single copies, order from the Wicwas Press website, www.wicwas.com, and use the PayPal bookstore.

—Chapter titles—

• Introduction Beekeeping art or science, humans and bees, bees as weapons, bee gums, superorganism, learning beekeeping

• What’s in a name? The classification system, bumble bees, other bee species, races and hybrid bees

• Sociality Insect societies, wasps, ants, stinging in Hymenoptera

• What is a honey bee? Hive bees, field bees, fifferentiation

• Honey bee anatomy Digestive and excretory systems, reproduction and other systems, how the bee’s body works

• Bee nest Beeswax comb, nest organization, the modern beehive

• Dance language communication The wagtail dance, dance language controversy

• Pheromone communication Queens, pheromone functions, food transmission, colony odor, trail pheromones

• Queens, queens, queens Replacement, swarming, queenless

• Foraging and bee botany Forager types, water and propolis, fruit bloom, clovers, major U.S. nectar and pollen plants

• Getting started When and how, personal equipment, setting up hives, drifting

• Basics of management Key concepts, avoiding stings, robbing

• Fall and winter in the beehive Requeening, feedinig why colonies die

• Spring management Spring buildup, weak colonies, swarm control

• The honey harvest Nectar flow, supering, harvesting honey

• Honey & other bee products What can go wrong? Pollen, beeswax, royal jelly, pollen, bee brood, venom, mead

• Queen mating and rearing Raising queen bees, mating control, nucleus colony basics

• Pollination Managing bee colonies for pollination, improving pollination results

• Bee mites Varroa mites, integrated pest management, treatment options for mite control

• Diseases and pests Adult and brood diseases, pesticides, 
conditons that mimic disease

---

---

Undertanding Bee Anatomy: a full colour guide

Ian Stell, MD, London

COLOR THROUGHOUT!

Approx. 6.75 inches wide and 9.75 tall, softcover, 203 pages, Catford Press.

$60 priority mail postpaid in the United States

Wicwas Press is authorized to sell this book for Dr. Stell in the United States and Canada

This book aims to do two things.

Firstly,  to explain the structure of this fascinating insect and secondly, through stunning images, to reveal the insect’s intricate detail.

Dr Stell has applied his knowledge of the human body in describing the honeybee, system by system. 

The book starts with a chapter on the developmental stages, showing the internal changes taking place from the egg to the larva, and then the pupa.

It includes chapters on all body parts, wings and flight structures, the circulatory, respiratory and digestive systems and finishes with chapters on the queen and the drone.

The anatomy is explained in clear colour diagrams and illustrated with over six hundred high-quality photographs. These include electron micrographs, close-up images, high-power stained sections (histology) and other techniques.

This concise but readable book is perfect for the British exams in bee biology and training for master beekeeper programs in the United States. It is also a valuable resource for any beekeeper wanting to understand his insects better, or any student or scientist working in this area.

Dr. Ian Stell, has been a beekeeper in an urban area in South-East London since 1998, keeping about fifteen colonies. His day job is as a doctor in Emergency Medicine. Keeping bees has involved facing many disease challenges, much as Emergency Medicine does. This has led Ian into an interest in the microscopic examination of bees, and he has applied his knowledge of the human body in describing the honeybee, system by system. Ian became a Master Beekeeper in 2010, and was awarded the prestigious Wax Chandlers award, from one of the ancient City Livery companies with an historical link to beekeeping.

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History of American Beekeeping, Reprint of Frank Pellett's Classic 1938 Work.

It took me years to find a copy of this book I could afford, and then only due to the kindness of a friend. After the popularity of the Doolittle books, I knew that beekeepers liked classic reprints. And what a reprint this is. I was able get this reprinted by a printer who is a master of detail, Jeff Shaw, a Burgh Bees' member in Pittsburgh. The reprint looks just like the original, only fresher and a lot less expensive! There is gold foil and an embossing on the cloth hardcover. The book is Smythe sewn, so it will last longer than most first owners. Inside the book is exactly the same as the original but printed on earth-friendly paper and plant-based inks.

The price is $35 including priority mail postage inside the United States, and $45 elsewhere. If  you cannot use the following website's PayPal account, send a U.S. Dollar check drawn on a U.S. Bank to Wicwas Press, 1620 Miller Road, Kalamazoo, MI 49001, USA.

www.wicwas.com

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Consider Bee-sentials: A Field Guide as your bee school textbook

A number of bee clubs and bee school instructors have switched to Bee-sentials: A Field Guide, for their bee school textbook. The book was published last year, has 208 pages, and is in full color.

There are 15 chapters that may be used for lectures in a semester-long class, or covered survey-style in a one-day bee school.

It contains a thorough overview of getting-started basics, an equipment section, and how-to set up hives.

It recommends new beekeepers start with two hives their first season so they help each other during the summer, and helps them get at one least colony through the winter. AND it discusses the establishment of a nucleus colony for spare queen backup.

It reviews the beekeeper's management year, has 25 pages of bee plants in full color, covers the major hive products, and explains swarm management and control. 

There is a good treatment of bee mites and diseases, all with close-up color photos.

Worker, drone and queen production and activities review what is normal and how to problem solve.

Hive nutrition, other bee species, bee club mentorship are included. So are an extensive glossary, reading list and index.

If you go the the www.wicwas.com website, you may purchase copies for $29.95 postpaid. But if you email LJConnor@aol.com, you can find out how to purchase quantities of this book at discount. As an instructor, ask for a free copy for your use while teaching the class.

We have lots of copies in inventory, and will ship them out as soon get your order.

Bee-sentials gives the new beekeeper a book with meat on it's bones, a book they can carry in their briefcase, purse or backpack, or keep in the car or truck as they go to the bee yard. It has the basics, and a whole lot more. Many advanced beekeepers learn from this book as well. There are dozens of questions other beekeepers have asked, that have have been answered.

Send that email today to LJConnor@aol.com and get details about using this book for your next class.

www.wicwas.com

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Include this book in your beekeeping courses for new and experienced beekeepers. More than building your own beehive. This book shows you how to make and USE simple tools in the apiary.

This large format, softcover book folds open in the shop for ease of use.

Large font size.

Full color throughout.

Drawings of most items, and how-to-use photos.

Ed Simon is a retired IBM trainer, and now dumpster diver, who enjoys building things and is a master of building jigs that hold equipment together during assembly.

He writes for Bee Culture magazine.

Price mailed—$20.00 inside the USA.

There is something in this book for you whether you are a new beekeeper or an 'Old Smoke.'

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Please visit www.wicwas.com for a look at the complete bee book list. Remember, when you order two or more books at one time, I ship (to USA locations) by Priority Mail when your order fits the flat rate envelope or box. For example, if you get two or more of the Essentials booksthe order ships Priority Mail. The History and Anatomy books automatically ship by priority mail and no additional fee is required.

Thanks for your support and book-buying passion. I hope to see you soon!

Larry Connor, Ph.D.
Wicwas Press