Articles

Another Species of Varroa Mite Threatens European Honeybees

While host-switching Varroa jacobsoni mites have not been found outside of Papua New Guinea, Purdue researchers Gladys Andino and Greg Hunt say vigilance is needed to protect European honeybees worldwide from further risk. “This could represent...

04 May 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Approaches and Challenges to Managing Nosema In Honey Bee Colonies

Articles

It’s A Tough Time To Be A Pollinator. Bee, butterfly, and bat populations are in decline across the globe. Even the honey bee, perhaps the best-studied pollinator, has suffered great losses as beekeepers and researchers struggle to identify the...

02 May 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Honeybees fill ‘saddlebags’ with pollen. Here’s how they keep them gripped tight

Articles

Source: Sciencemag. org Bees don’t just transport pollen between plants, they also bring balls of it back to the hive for food. These “pollen pellets”, which also include nectar and can account for 30% of a bee’s weight, hang off their hind...

29 Apr 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Crop Pollination Association

Articles

Hive numbers required? 70k plus another 20k? After attending a 2 day workshop with Horticulture Innovation Australia, it is apparent there will be big moves happening within horticulture and they are spending a lot on pollination - figures bouncing...

27 Apr 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

The Unique Chemistry of Australian Honey

Articles

Honey made from Australian native species best represents the iconic Australian character – we make honeys that are bold and diverse in flavour, which is certainly a reflection of the varied natural landscapes that are available to produce unique...

25 Apr 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Poland, the Only Country Where Instrumentally Inseminated Queens are Routinely Used in Commercial Production

Articles

Poland is unique in that instrumentally inseminated queens, IIQs, are commonly used in production hives, as well as for breeding purposes. Annually, an estimated 50,000 to 80,000 IIQs are produced and sold by commercial queen breeders to beekeepers...

20 Apr 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Mushroom Extract Might Rescue Bees from Deadly Virus

Articles

Right now, the mycelium extract isn’t currently available in levels for beekeepers to purchase for their hives. ìWe are ramping up production of the extracts as rapidly as is feasible, given the hurdles we must overcome to deploy this on a wide...

18 Apr 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Managing Hives to Minimise Damage from Small Hive Beetle

Articles

This past season has seen a large increase in the numbers of Small hive beetle (Shb) observed within beehives in many areas. There have been many reports of Shb forcing colonies to abscond and the hives taken over and slimed out. This has...

13 Apr 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Thinking Outside The Box: World Leading Autonomus Beehive

Articles

“We go out to the fields, and we see those white wooden boxes, the current beehives, and we tend to romanticise them, and we think they are the natural habitat of the bee - they’re not, they are man-made”, said Saar Safra, CEO of BeeWise

11 Apr 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Tasting Leatherwood Honey & Celebrating Tasmanian Beekeeper

Articles

The busiest time of the year for Honey Sommeliers can often be in the Winter months. While beekeepers and their bees have packed down for the cooler months, attention switches to updating honey tasting notes for recent months’ harvests, attending...

06 Apr 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

A Closer Look - Tropilaelaps Mites

Articles

Varroa (left) & Tropilaelaps (right) A potential future threat of the western honey bee (Apis mellifera) in North America are the parasitic mites in the genus Tropilaelaps which are currently confined to Asia and bordering areas. These mites are...

04 Apr 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Handy Hints for Extracting Honey for Beginners

Articles

Congratulations, you have successfully taken off supers of capped honey from your bees, and it is time to do your first extraction. Set up your uncapping devices be they electric, hot water, steam-heated knives, or other ‘cold’ uncapping...

30 Mar 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Minimising Honey Bee Impacts on Nesting Boxes and Hollows

Articles

Introduction: Swarming Honey Bees and Nesting Boxes and Hollows European honey bees swarm as a natural reproductive process. They also swarm if their hive is overcrowded, as often happens when the onset of warmer spring weather from August until...

28 Mar 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Recent Research The State of Our Industry Regarding Varroa Management and What can we do About it?

Articles

The EPA must take into account the risk to the applicator involved with the application of any pesticide. But unlike a farmer who can spray a product onto their crop from the safety of the cab of an air-conditioned tractor, the beekeeper must apply...

28 Mar 2024

By The ABK Team

Articles

Keeping Hives Healthy to Handle Varroa

Articles

In the months after the initial Varroa detection in June 2022, I proposed heading over the ditch to New Zealand that October to look at their Varroa Spring management practices. Whilst the idea had merit, it was definitely not the right time to go...

23 Mar 2024

By The ABK Team