Blue Sky Bee Supply Blog

The black bump on this honey bee’s back is a varroa mite. Mites weaken bees’ immune systems, transmit viruses, and siphon off nutrients. Photo by Scott Bauer, USDA Agricultural Research Service. By: Scott Weybright – College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences PULLMAN, Wash. – Saving honey bees is easier when varroa mite infestation is reduced. WSU researchers are hoping mid-season hibernation can help in the fight against the mighty mites.Varroa mites are pests t …

Mite Monitoring is an important part of spring hive management. Typically, strong overwintered colonies come into late spring and early summer with strong overwintered mite loads. It's critical to keep an eye on mite levels and treat accordingly once your colonies are above the recommended threshold, which is 2% (6 mites in a 300 bee sample) in the summer time. A lot of folks find the idea of an alcohol wash to be overwhelming, complicated, and unnecessary. We firmly believe that it is cruc …

Approximately one third of all the food Americans eat is directly or indirectly derived from honey bee pollination. Some crops pollinated are cucumbers, almonds, carrot seed, melons, apricots, cherries, pears, apples, prunes, plums, pluots, seed alfalfa, cantaloupe, seed onions, avocados, kiwi, blueberries, cranberries, etc.There are three members of a honey bee colony: Queen - mother to all the bees in the colony; she is a fertile female.Worker - an infertile female that performs the labor …

Scientists at Washington State University have created a microscopic particle that could save honey bee colonies from collapse. It attracts pesticide residue in bees. Over time, pollen tinged with itsy bitsy amounts of pesticides accumulates in a bee’s body, reducing the lifespan of each bee in a colony.Originally, the material is a powder that acts as a magnetic microsponge that absorbs ingested toxic residues. It can be incorporated into a sugar solution that’s fed to bee colonies. Each microp …

Panorama of pollinator establishment plots with cool season cover (wheat on left, oats on right)It can be difficult to establish pollinator habitats via various NRCS conservation practices (e.g. conservation cover, contour buffer strips, field border, filter strip). The most significant challenge appears to be seedbed preparation and subsequent planting. The most frequent challenge with the seedbed is the weed seed bank. Weeds often germinate and grow faster than the desired plant species and …