Apiology

Apiology – (from Latin apis, "bee"; and Ancient Greek -λογία, -logia) is the scientific study of honey bees and is a look at recently published articles curated by Vermont Certified Beekeeper Scott Wilson.

Influence of Pollen Nutrition on Honey Bee Health: Do Pollen Quality and Diversity Matter?

Honey bee colonies are highly dependent upon the availability of floral resources from which they get the nutrients (notably pollen) necessary to their development and survival. However, foraging areas are currently affected by the intensification of agriculture and landscape alteration.

Pollen Nutrition

One Health, One Hive: A scoping review of honey bees, climate change, pollutants, and antimicrobial resistance

Anthropogenic climate change and increasing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) together threaten the last 50 years of public health gains. Honey bees are a model One Health organism to investigate interactions between climate change and AMR.

More:OneHealth

Effect of comb age on cell measurements and worker body size

The honey bees (Apis mellifera L.) mainly use beeswax (comb) for brood rearing and food storage. Changes in the color and cell dimensions occur due to repeated food storage and brood rearing in the comb.

More:Cell Size

Giant hornet (Vespa soror) attacks trigger frenetic antipredator signalling in honeybee (Apis cerana) colonies

Asian honeybees use an impressive array of strategies to protect nests from hornet attacks, although little is understood about how antipredator signals coordinate defences.

More:MURDERHORNETS

Honeybee Social Distance in Colony to Combat Parasitic Attack; Study on Ectoparasite Varroa Destructor Exposure Shows Anti-Transmission Behavior

Honeybees experience a threat every day when they reside in an uncontrolled environment. Very much like what humans do today, the bees perform a social distancing whenever they detect an incoming parasite and the risk it brings.

More:SocialDistance

Epidemiology of Nosema spp. and the effect of indoor and outdoor wintering on honey bee colony population and survival in the Canadian Prairies

The epidemiology of Nosema spp. in honey bees, Apis mellifera, may be affected by winter conditions as cold temperatures and differing wintering methods (indoor and outdoor) provide varying levels of temperature stress and defecation flight opportunities.

More:Canadien Winter

Evaluating toxicity of Varroa mite (Varroa destructor)-active dsRNA to monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus) larvae

Varroa mites (Varroa destructor) are parasitic mites that, combined with other factors, are contributing to high levels of honey bee (Apis mellifera) colony losses.

More:Varroa Toxicity

Queen cells acceptance rate and royal jelly production in worker honey bees of two Apis mellifera races

Royal jelly (RJ) is an acidic yellowish-white secretion of worker honey bee glands, used as food material of worker bee larvae for the first three days and queen bee larvae for the entire life. It is commercially used in cosmetics and medicinal industry in various parts of the world.

More:Royal Jelly

Making honey without bees and milk without cows

It's not unusual for vegans to miss certain foods. What is unusual, though, is Mr Mandich's solution: to create a type of honey, identical to the natural kind in every molecule, but produced without involving any bees at all.

More: VeganHoney

Early-life experience affects honey bee aggression and resilience to immune challenge

arly-life social experiences cause lasting changes in behavior and health for a variety of animals including humans, but it is not well understood how social information ‘‘gets under the skin’’ resulting in these effects.

More:Early Life

Beekeeping in Vermont

Beekeeping in Vermont

Foulbrood Guide Update

The Honey Bee Health Coalition has released a new edition of its guide, "Identifying and Mitigating Foulbrood in Honey Bee Colonies and Reducing the Use of Antibiotics: Information for Beekeepers and Veterinarians."

The guide provides information on identifying, testing for, and mitigating American and European foulbrood.

In Memoriam:

Merril Tittemore

The Vermont Beekeepers Association is sad to report the passing of longtime beekeeper Merril Tittemore of St. Albans. He was a master beekeeper, earning the Vermont Beekeepers Association Beekeeper of the Year Award in 2017 and a "mentor to scores of people who had an interest or passion to learn from one of the best." Most recently he was recognized at the VBA Summer Meeting in September 2022 for his work as a mentor.

More information on his life is available here.

Recognizing Beekeepers

At the 2022 Summer meeting, the Vermont Beekeepers Association (VBA) recognized several people for their outstanding efforts supporting beekeeping, beekeepers, or honey beesMentor/mentee pair recipients Jeff Battaglini and Charlotte Neeves, left. Recognition Committee members, Fred Putnam and Anne Bowers, right, made the presentations.. The VBA also encourages participation in the Vermont Beekeeper Certification program.

There are two new Vermont Certified Beekeepers – Deb Pasho of Hartland and Eric Duncan of Corinth. Congrats to both of you for completing the steps needed to attain this distinction!

There were three other categories of recognition: Mentor/Mentee pair, Friend of the Bees, and Mission Superhero(s):

Mentor/Mentee Pairs: Jeff Battaglini and Charlotte Neeves and Merril Tittemore and Matt Callahan for their outstanding and successful efforts at teaching, learning, and helping each other. These are examples of great initiative on the part of the mentees and excellent guidance by the mentors.

If You Missed the September 15 Workshop...

VBA's Andrew Munkres and Fred Putnam presented this AMA online workshop on September 15th to help you prepare your colonies for winter.

If you missed the workshop the recorded video is available online. Simply login to the VBA site and look for Past Workshop & Events Recordings (Login required) under the Calendar menu.

Topics covered include the knowledge you need to help your colonies survive the winter. Learn about target hive weights, feeding options, winter hive preparations, and much more

Tunbridge Fair - 2022

Setting up the VBA booth at the 2022 Tunbridge Fair. L to R: Ron Hernandez, Bob & Mary Stoddard, Peter Hadeka, Richard Roy, Bill Mares.

EPA Awards Grant to UVM

The EPA has awarded six grants to advance
"Smart, sensible, and sustainable pest control in agriculture"

The University of Vermont won an award for their project which "aims to help reduce neonicotinoid seed treatments applied to row crops in Vermont by providing education in English and Spanish to more than 1,000 growers on IPM practices"

Details about the EPA's announcement along with a more detailed description of UVM's project are available here.

If You Missed the August 31 Workshop...

VBA's Fred Putnam, Jeff Battaglini, and Tony Antonucci collaborated to present this AMA online workshop on August 31. This is the time of year where your actions can make the difference between your colonies surviving the winter or not. If you missed the workshop the recorded video is available online. Simply login to the VBA site and look for Past Workshop & Events Recordings under the Calendar menu.

Topics covered include: Late season swarm control – Demaree method, mite (and virus) control - new HBHC Varroa management guide, readying colonies for Fall, value of pollen subs and when to use them, analyzing issues attendees might have had with their colonies and more...

Webinar: Winter Bee Biology

From SABA and NY Bee Wellness: Dr. Gard Otis discusses the biology of winter bees and how beekeepers can keep them healthy to improve the colony’s winter survival.

Tuesday, September 20, 2022, 7:30 PM until 8:30 PM

This is an external webinar hosted by NY Bee Wellness. There is no cost to attend, but you must register in advance by clicking on the following link: Webinar Registration