Vermont Beekeepers Association

Apiology

The study of honeybees...

'Intensive' beekeeping not to blame for common bee diseases

More "intensive" beekeeping does not raise the risk of diseases that harm or kill the insects, new research suggests.

Intensive agriculture—where animals or plants are kept crowded together in very high densities—is thought to result in higher rates of disease spreading.

But researchers from the University of Exeter and the University of California, Berkeley found this is not the case for honeybees.

More:Intensive

RNA virus spillover from managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) to wild bumblebees (Bombus spp.)

The decline of many bumblebee species (Bombus spp.) has been linked to an increased prevalence of pathogens caused by spillover from managed bees. Although poorly understood, RNA viruses are suspected of moving from managed honeybees (Apis mellifera) into wild bumblebees through shared floral resources.

More:Bombus

Seasonal variation of pollen collected by honey bees (Apis mellifera) in developed areas across four regions in the United States

For honey bees (Apis mellifera), colony maintenance and growth are highly dependent on worker foragers obtaining sufficient resources from flowering plants year round. Despite the importance of floral diversity for proper bee nutrition, urban development has drastically altered resource availability and diversity for these important pollinators.

More: Pollendiversity

Toward Audio Beehive Monitoring: Deep Learning vs. Standard Machine Learning in Classifying Beehive Audio Samples

Electronic beehive monitoring extracts critical information on colony behavior and phenology without invasive beehive inspections and transportation costs. As an integral component of electronic beehive monitoring, audio beehive monitoring has the potential to automate the identification of various stressors for honeybee colonies from beehive audio sample

More:AudioMonitoring

Reduced density and visually complex apiaries reduce parasite load and promote honey production and overwintering survival in honey bees

Managed honey bee (Apis mellifera) colonies are kept at much greater densities than naturally occurring feral or wild colonies, which may have detrimental effects on colony health and survival, disease spread, and drifting behavior (bee movement between natal and non-natal colonies).

More:HoneybeeDrift

Catch the Buzz

General Beekeeping News...

Beekeeping in Vermont...

Tunbridge Fair - We Need You

Volunteer at Tunbridge World's Fair.

VBA members! Have a Close Encounter with people from all over Vermont in four hours of fun and socializing. For those new to VBA, the organization has long hosted a booth at the Fair to promote beekeeping and sell member's honey. (More on that to come.) Volunteers are still needed for the following slots:

3 slots for Thursday September 12th | 9am to 1pm.

2 slots for Thursday September 12th | 5pm to 9pm.

1 slot for Friday September 13th | 9am to 1pm

1 slot for Friday September 13th | 5pm to 9pm

1 slot for Saturday September 14th | 1pm to 5pm

2 slots for Sunday September 15th | 2pm to 6pm

To sign up, or for questions about the fair please contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Summer Meeting 2019

A very few scenes from the 2019 VBA Summer Meeting in Townshend on the 13th.

From left: Dr. Humberto Boncristiani, VBA Recording Secretary Fred Putnam presents Cheryl Dorschner with the new VBA Mission Superhero award for her work organizing the VBA booth at the 2019 Vermont Flower Show, Windham County Beekeepers President Jeff Battaglini (holding the mic) and WCB Raffle organizer Jill Dean at left, and Bill Mares and Scott Wilson's arm presenting Dannah Beauragard with her Vermont Certified Beekeeper patch. A good day all around!

Special Subscription Offer

VBA Members may take advantage of a special subscription offer to the Mother Earth News arranged by the Windham County Beekeepers (WCB).

WCB arranged this for the recent VBA Summer meeting in Townshend. To take advantage of this discount, please login to the site and look under Publications in the Members Only menu.

VBA Membership at a Glance

VBA membership information as presented at the 2019 Summer Meeting:

UVM Study Discussed on VPR

A recent study by the University of Vermont and the Vermont Center for Ecostudies researcher suggests viruses from managed bees have spread from apiaries to wild bumblebees. UVM researcher and pollinator specialist Samantha Alger shared her findings with Vermont Edition.

Yes or No?

HoneyBeeSuite.com asks the question: "Is the Beekeeping Bubble About to Burst?"

What do you think? Please take a few minutes to read the article then come back here and take our one-question very unscientific survey. (You also have the opportunity to leave your thoughts in a comment box.)

We'll have our experts review the comments - if any - and show the results in an upcoming email Update. In the meantime you may view the results here.

VBA June Meeting Minutes Online

Minutes from the June VBA Board of Directors meetings are now available online. VBA members may read the minutes by logging in to the site and selecting Meeting Minutes under the Members Only top menu heading.

Call a Beekeeper, Not an Exterminator

This is the time of year when Vermont homeowners are likely to find swarms of bees in trees, or even within the walls of houses or barns. While frightening to those unfamiliar with it, it is a natural part of a bee's reproductive cycle. Swarming is the process by which a new honey bee colony is formed when the queen bee leaves the colony with a large group of worker bees - usually to alleviate over-crowding in a hive. When that happens: Call a beekeeper to remove a swarm of bees, not an exterminator.