News about bees and beekeeping from around the world
Number of news: 760 and counting
Beekeepers in the west of Australia have moved into survival mode with production falling by 80 per cent due to ongoing drought.
A new review has found considerable support for the use of honey in wound healing. The findings, published in the October issue of the International Journal of Clinical Practice, covered 18 studies.
Drugs might not work against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus — better known as MRSA, one of the flesh-eating superbugs — but honey could.
With the sting of invading Africanized honeybees wearing off, commercial and hobbyist beekeepers in Brazoria County now are hoping younger generations will take up the trade.
A virus has been identified that is strongly associated with colony collapse disorder in the United States, according to a new study conducted by researchers from Pennsylvania State University, Columbia University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and a number of other institutions and published in the journal “Science.”
Thorp, an emeritus professor of entomology from the University of California at Davis, found one solitary bumblebee worker last year along a remote mountain trail in the Siskiyou Mountains, but hasn’t been able to locate any this year. He fears that the species — Franklin’s bumblebee — has gone extinct before anyone could even propose it for the endangered species list. To make matters worse, two other bumblebee species — one on the East coast, one on the West — have gone from common to rare.
Some people have heard about the unexplained die-off of honeybee colonies in the United States. The malady, first reported last year, is called colony collapse disorder. It’s been the subject of research, speculation and even a hearing earlier this year before members of a House Agriculture subcommittee. Now an Illinois bee expert who testified at the congressional hearing wants to enlist the aid of average residents in conducting further research - this time on wild bees.
Stressing that rearing of honey bees could be a viable source of income, the Agricultural College and Research Institute (ACRI) here has launched a unique training programme for women on producing honey in the backyard or agriculture farms.
As both human and elephant populations grow in Africa, there have been increasing clashes between African residents, mostly rural farmers, and elephants. Now researchers are offering hope by revealing that recordings of angry bees are enough to send even big, tough African elephants scrambling for safety.
Backyard beekeepers may be the key to saving honey bees in the United States decimated by mites, viruses, and colony collapse disorder, the mysterious killer that has been wiping out huge numbers of commercial honeybee hives.