Willie G's Honey/Bees

06/02/2025

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04/11/2025

Update on the Yellow-legged Hornet
Dr. Gard W. Otis
Professor Emeritus, University of Guelph, Canada and Adjunct Researcher, Institute of Bee Health, Bern, Switzerland

Amidst the reports of huge colony losses and the political chaos in the USA, the Yellow-legged Hornet (YLH; Vespa velutina) seems to be far from most beekeepers' thoughts. This invasive hornet has contributed to the deaths of huge numbers of honeybee colonies in western Europe. Unfortunately, it has made its way to North America: it was first reported in Savannah, GA, in August, 2023, and 7 nests, all near the city of Savannah, were killed that year. Clearly some hornet colonies escaped detection and reared daughter queens because 50 additional hornet colonies were located and destroyed in Georgia and South Carolina last year. Overwintered queens should become active soon, but as of 18 March, 2025, there have been none reported yet.

To continue reading, please visit: https://www.beeculture.com/update-on-the-yellow-legged-hornet/

Photo Credit:
The Yellow-legged Hornet is a large wasp with distinctive yellow legs. In late summer and fall, YLHs frequently hover in front of bee hives to catch foragers as they return to their colony. Photo credit: Quentin Rome, Museum nationale d’Histoire naturelle, Paris.

04/10/2025

Several minutes after stopping the video, the queen came out of the entrance. I quickly caught her in a queen clip, and placed her inside the nuc, leaving her in the clip. I allowed a few hundred bees to enter the nuc box, then closed the entrance, regulating the bee loss from the parent hive. I’ll go back to check the colony and decide how to manage the remaining resources.

04/03/2025

Pictures from the video post

04/03/2025

An early morning swarm boxing. Received a call from the landowner telling me there were bees on a fence post. Cloudy, breezing, and cool conditions.

03/12/2025

Sorry about the shadow. I’ve never claimed to be good at this. 😂 Inspection time .

02/21/2025

Latest update on nationwide colony losses.

Here is the second release of information about the PAm Colony Loss Survey. This is for a general audience, stay tuned today for a document sharing more detailed survey results for beekeepers/survey participants.

Read the press release here: https://loom.ly/sYp-CBw

02/06/2025

12/06/2024

Commercial honey bee annual losses hit new high reports the 2023-24 Beekeeping Survey administered by Auburn University and Apiary Inspectors of America, co-funded by Project Apis m.

A staggering 55.1% of managed honey bee colonies reported as lost from April, 2023 to April 2024. For this survey, 1652 beekeepers responded. They collectively managed 337,134 colonies on October 1, 2023.

Read the full report: https://loom.ly/LUIoUkk

10/21/2024

Market season is quickly coming to a close. We are planning to be at the Fort Payne Main Street Market, Monday afternoon from
3 pm - 5:30 pm. Located in front of the train depot museum, corner of Hwy 35 and Gault Ave.

10/01/2024

I snapped a few quick pictures of some 5 frame nucleus colonies foraging pollen. Pollen is needed to feed young larvae to produce healthy nurse bees. Without the presence of protein that pollen provides, the existing nurse bees will consume the eggs, after the queen has laid them, causing the brood nest to shrink in size, ultimately causing a smaller
cluster of bees as winter approaches. The first pic shows bees with 3 different colors of pollen. The majority is bright yellow, most likely goldenrod, then some orange, and also white. Bees need a well balanced diet from different pollen sources, just as people need a well balanced diet to benefit their health.

04/10/2024

Swarm season in NE AL. I did a retrieval of these 2 swarms earlier today. They had been clustered there since Monday. Is it normal for them to hang for 2 or more days?🤷🏻‍♂️Sometimes “normal” and “bees” shouldn’t be used in the same sentence. I’m guessing the rainy weather kept them in place, but like I said, I’m guessing. Bees keep me guessing a lot of the time. They are now each in a dry box with a frame of drawn comb and 4 frames of foundation. They will continue to be fed for a couple of weeks, until they’ve draw out the foundation. Hopefully, each colony will have a laying queen present when I check them.