Beekeeping practice

The first-year dropout rate runs 40-60%. The cause isn't cost or complexity - it's opening the hive in March and finding a dead colony nobody warned you about.

A colony doesn't mate to reproduce - it swarms. The old queen leaves with half the bees. The rest raise a new queen. That's been true for 5,000 years.

Comb honey was the default until the 1900s. Extractors killed it. Now it commands $20-30/lb at farmers markets and production can't keep up with demand.

A colony doubles every three weeks in spring. The queen goes from dozens of eggs per day to 2,000. One warm week in March can determine if a colony makes it.

Beekeepers with a mentor have a 20% dropout rate. Without one, it's over 50%. The 4,000 local clubs in the US are the difference between quitting and staying.

The timing of mite treatments matters more than the chemical. Treat too late and winter bees are already damaged. The calendar isn't optional.

A 40-liter box with a south-facing entrance, 3 meters up, baited with old brood comb. Seeley's research validated the formula. Catch rates approach 80%.

When the queen's pheromone output drops, workers build replacement cells mid-comb. Sometimes the old queen survives. Sometimes mother and daughter coexist.

A colony consumes up to 1 liter of water daily - none of it for drinking. The nearest reliable source is often your neighbor's pool. Bees don't forget it.

Swarming is a colony splitting in two - controlled, seasonal, predictable. Absconding is 50,000 bees deciding overnight to abandon everything and never come back. The triggers and warning signs for each are completely different.

A scattering of dead bees with intact wings is Tuesday. Deformed wings mean Varroa. Extended tongues mean pesticide. The entrance is a diagnostic window.

A colony surrounded by 10,000 acres of soybeans is starving. Monocultures bloom for two weeks then become a floral desert. Bees need diversity, not volume.

Seeley tracked wild colonies in Arnot Forest for 33 years. They survive untreated. Small cavities, high swarming rates, and natural selection explain why.

A queen breeder grafts 12-hour-old larvae into wax cups with a toothpick-sized tool. The industry produces over a million queens a year, mostly in three states.