Beekeeping practice

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 reproduction - half the colony leaves. Absconding is abandonment - the entire colony vanishes. The triggers, timing, and outcomes differ completely.

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.