Category Archives: Bee Biology

Bumblebee Honey For Sale?

Posted on April 25, 2016 by Ron Miksha

My brother was at a farmer’s market in North Carolina this weekend. A vendor was selling a thimble-full of honey for $10. Maybe slightly more than a thimble. The seller told my brother that you wouldn’t smother a pancake with … Continue reading →

Posted in Apitherapy, Bee Biology, Ecology, Friends, Honey, Save the Bees | Tagged , , , | 11 Comments

Rhodo Poison?

Posted on April 19, 2016 by Ron Miksha

The rhododendron is a beautiful plant, but it’s rumoured to intentionally maim and kill honey bees.  My mother had a favourite rhododendron bush in the yard by our house in the Appalachian foothills. Now that I am older and presumably … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Ecology, Honey Plants, Pollination | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Big Brain, Small Brain, Bee Brain

Posted on February 25, 2016 by Ron Miksha

A bee brain is bigger in the summer, when there are more things to learn, experience, and think about. It shrinks in the winter, which must be a blessing because bees spend weeks on end doing nothing – an active … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Genetics, Science | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Bees are Meaner if Childhood is Miserable

Posted on February 15, 2016 by Ron Miksha

Some aggressive honey bees were raised to be mean. Some bees, it seems, grow up on the wrong side of the honeycomb. Or, as one experiment shows, in the wrong sort of hive. Illinois and Pennsylvania researchers conducted a brilliant … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Genetics, Science | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Ozone and the Bees

Posted on January 27, 2016 by Ron Miksha

Sitting in traffic, smelling everyone else’s exhaust (you know yours doesn’t stink), you begin to worry about the bees out there. They smell the fumes, too.  But if you look closely, you won’t see them gasping or coughing. That’s only … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Ecology, Honey Plants | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Resistance is Futile

Posted on January 25, 2016 by Ron Miksha

The Hive Mind, the idea that an entire colony operates like a single organism with one mind, is a notion that’s been picked up by people who don’t usually wear bee veils. Some of these folks are screenplay writers while … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Science, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Black Pollen Day

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Ron Miksha

Some bees eat coffee when they get desperate. I suppose some people do, too. We usually think that bees are always gleefully buzzing flower to flower, happy as ducks in water. But when food is scarce, anything goes. When my … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Strange, Odd Stuff | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

Does Royal Jelly Make Royal Queens?

Posted on December 6, 2015 by Ron Miksha

The kids in the Grade 5 classroom knew all about royal jelly. “The bees feed it to their babies and they turn into queens.” And so it is. We think. Royal jelly – countless journal articles (and Wikipedia) tell us … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Genetics, Queens | Tagged , , , , | 7 Comments

Bees on a Caffeine Buzz

Posted on October 23, 2015 by Ron Miksha

     Video:  Dr Couvillon shows that caffeine tricks honeybees into working harder. It seems bees may suffer from the same drowsy morning moods and weary fatigued afternoons as their human cousins. And it may be similarly cured with a … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Ecology, Honey Plants, Pollination | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

What Do a Million Bees Look Like?

Posted on September 23, 2015 by Ron Miksha

I hate to sound prickly and petulant,  but the news media has done it again.  Today, say the news folks, ONE MILLION BEES were removed from an Austin church. That’s a stupid statement. Someone working at the scene must have … Continue reading →

Posted in Bee Biology, Culture, or lack thereof, Queens, Strange, Odd Stuff, Swarms | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment