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Depiction:
To rear drones or not to rear drones – that is the question posed to our bees with the return of the favourable season. Within a colony, males are indeed a luxury: they are far more costly to rear than workers. And the expense does not end at emergence: as adults, drones largely remain dependent on their sisters. In addition, they contribute nothing to foraging activities and very little to hive maintenance. Yet this luxury is necessary: the sole function of males, the transmission of genes, lies at the very heart of the biological meaning of life. Maximising the chances of reproduction while preserving those of survival – it is this subtle balance, to which both the queen and her workers contribute, that we propose to explore today.
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To successfully raise queens, it’s not enough to produce high-quality queen cells: the quality of the drones is just as important. This article summarizes what we know about their development, sexual maturity, the impact of Varroa mites, and the limitations of controlling fertilization in open-hive systems.
Nutrition appears to play a particularly important role in the health and immune defences of bees. They must have continuous access to nectar and pollen. However, this requirement is difficult to meet in modern agricultural landscapes. Periods without nectar flow during the most intensive phase of brood rearing slow colony growth and result in increased susceptibility to disease.
Bee resistance to Varroa mites cannot be reduced to a single trait or an acronym like VSH or MNR. This article provides a clear and nuanced overview of the mechanisms currently under discussion, demonstrating why what truly matters in the apiary is a colony’s ability to sustainably curb the parasite’s growth and better weather the season.
Communication in bees is highly elaborate and has been the subject of numerous studies. There is, of course, the well-known “waggle dance” or “figure-eight dance,” but what is less well known is that this dance serves solely to indicate the location of a food source. While dancing, the bee releases chemical messengers that recruit other foragers and inform them about the type and richness of the source. Communication therefore indeed relies on the exchange of chemical substances known as pheromones.
Berberis vulgaris is the scientific name of the barberry, a shrub that owes its name to a lightly fermented beverage made from its red berries, which resembles wine. However, its interest for beekeepers lies mainly in its flowers, which produce very abundant nectar during the months of May and June.
The creation, as early as spring, of several nucleus colonies from a small six-frame colony is highly profitable and straightforward, provided that the beekeeper monitors the development of the parent colony, transfers the brood frames onto two stacked boxes, and that frequent syrup feeding stimulates a particularly prolific queen.
The eggs laid by the queen pass through several developmental stages. The first, which lasts barely three days, is the most critical, as it corresponds to the development of the nervous and digestive systems of the larva inside the egg. After hatching, the larval stage begins with the emergence of a larva without antennae, eyes, legs, or wings, which is fed exclusively on a diet of royal jelly for three days.
(Photo: kleinewelt)
In Switzerland, as elsewhere, bees are disappearing, sometimes in a dramatic way. Without bees, it is not only honey that risks becoming scarce, but also fruits and vegetables. In an attempt to unravel the mystery of the disappearance of bees, Fred and Jamy travelled to the Vaucluse. Fred met with beekeepers and farmers, while Jamy set up his mini laboratory at the INRA in Avignon, right in the midst of hives used for research.
Saffron, a highly valued culinary spice, consists of the dried stigmas of a crocus species, Crocus sativus, also known as cultivated saffron. It is a perennial herbaceous bulb plant whose flower has six tepals (tepals = floral organs similar to petals), which are mauve with violet streaks.
Bees that build their own combs are less inclined to swarm, as the pheromones released during wax production inform the queen about the increase in the volume of the hive.
The wax originates from specialized glands located in the abdomen of young wax-producing worker bees approximately 12 days old, developing in an environment with temperatures between 33 °C and 36 °C. These workers consume large amounts of sugar for wax production, about 7.5 kg to produce 1 kg of wax. The wax appears in the form of small scales weighing less than 1 mg. Using her hind legs, the bee brings them to her mandibles, kneads them, and assembles them
Based on the videoconference by Prof. Joseph Hemmerlé on 11.01.2025, School of Agriculture Châteauneuf / Sion
Pollen is an essential resource for bees, but it is also of significant interest to humans. This presentation highlights the roles, characteristics, and applications of this fascinating biological material.
Over the past year, articles dealing with the falsification of wax have frequently been published in the specialist press. The damage includes the collapse of combs, patchy brood patterns on newly built combs, and bees becoming trapped during emergence. The cause of these problems is the addition of stearin, paraffin, or other organic substances. Pesticide residues can also cause damage. As is known from experience with mothballs, there is likewise a risk that undesirable chemical additives in the wax may later appear in the honey.
Himalayan balsam or glandular balsam (Impatiens glandulifera), of Asian origin, is a typical example of a plant that divides beekeepers, gardeners, and ecologists: highly nectar-producing and very ornamental, it nevertheless poses an ecological threat, as its invasive nature has a substantial impact on local biodiversity.
There is a simple and fairly reliable method for adjusting (calibrating) the refractometer: using extra virgin olive oil.
According to a test conducted by Dr. Werner von der Ohe from the Bee Institute in Celle, calibration of the refractometer with extra virgin olive oil at a temperature of 20 ºC is possible. Tests using three different extra virgin olive oils showed a maximum deviation of 0.08 % (see the article published below in ADIZ – die biene – Imkerfreund).
Invasive plants are non-native plant species that have been introduced intentionally or accidentally by humans outside their area of origin and that reproduce and spread extensively, to the detriment of native species. Most often originating from other continents, they profoundly disrupt ecosystems and reduce local biological diversity.
The glandular system, the circulatory, respiratory and nervous systems, as well as the digestive, excretory and reproductive systems, will be presented in turn in the following fact sheets. When addressing the internal anatomy of the honey bee, an anatomical plate is more informative than lengthy explanations.
Members of an “Apis mellifera” colony share the same olfactory signature, emitted by their cuticular hydrocarbons and linked to a specific intestinal bacterial flora.
The parasitic mite is decimating beehives. Biologist Paul Page has shown that an Asian forager has found a countermeasure through a system of “altruistic suicide.” A model that its European cousin could follow?
The division of a colony is carried out for various reasons :
- increase of the colony stock,
- replacement of a dead colony that has become drone-laying,
- risk of swarming in a very strong colony,
- creation of nuclei for trade,
- or reserve colonies to compensate for expected losses in the following year …
There are many different and very simple methods for dividing hives.
The method described below works well :
Measuring about 1 mm³, the bee’s brain is capable of remarkable feats thanks to highly sophisticated cognitive mechanisms. The bee makes decisions, memorises flight paths by precisely tracking the course of the sun, identifies food sources and evaluates them both qualitatively and quantitatively, and transmits multiple types of information to its nestmates in order to recruit a large number of foragers with differentiated skills.