Ear candling is one of the oldest folk remedies using beeswax.
We mention this as being of historical significance but are not recommending this method of removing ear wax. It is still practiced...
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eliochel
Apr 2, 20231 min read
The largest and still increasing demand for beeswax is cosmetic and pharmaceutical use.
The demand for beeswax in personal care and pharmaceutics will remain high due to consumer demand for natural additives, organic...
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eliochel
Apr 1, 20231 min read
The honey bee is the only insect with its own branch of medicine, apitherapy.
Apitherapy is the medicinal use of products from bees including venom, propolis, honey, pollen, and royal jelly. The last 3 are...
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eliochel
Mar 31, 20231 min read
Flowers attract bees with electricity.
It's not surprising that bees would be attracted by a static electric charge, given their sensitive antennae and the hairs covering their...
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eliochel
Mar 31, 20231 min read
Foragers snack before they fly out from the hive.
If a forager goes very far from the hive, she must carry enough nectar in her crop for her to consume to make the trip out. If collecting...
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eliochel
Mar 30, 20231 min read
Possibly the most critical change in a hive happens in the winter bee to spring bee "change-over."
The fat bees (bees with larger fat bodies) produced by the colony last fall are old now, putting the last of their life’s energy into...
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eliochel
Mar 30, 20231 min read
How fast do bees move their wings?
Honey bees are examples of super efficiency in the insect world in just about everything they do. Take flight for example. A fly (Order...
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eliochel
Mar 29, 20231 min read
Those tiny pollen baskets collected by a hive throughout a year may add up to over 100 lbs.
As beekeepers know, every hive is different and some are more intent on one task or another: raising brood, making honey or collecting...
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eliochel
Mar 29, 20231 min read
Honey bees are known for flower fidelity.
Many native bees species or other pollinator species depend on one or a few species of flowers for their diet. The monarch butterfly is...
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eliochel
Mar 28, 20231 min read
Most forager honey bees specialize.
Most of the foragers collect either honey or pollen, with a few specializing in water or propolis. Only about 15% of foragers have been...
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eliochel
Mar 28, 20231 min read
The size of pollen baskets may indicate wind-blown vs insect vectored pollen.
One reason given for varietal size difference of the pollen baskets on returning foragers is the stickiness of the pollen. Some flowering...
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eliochel
Mar 27, 20231 min read
Pollen is not all yellow or orange; bees find and collect quite a range of colors.
Pollen is not all yellow or orange; bees find and collect quite a range of colors. This is particularly noticeable late in the summer in...
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eliochel
Mar 27, 20231 min read
Dragonflies fly over twice as fast as honey bees.
Honey bees are not the fastest flying insects. In contrast, it appears to be generally agreed that dragonflies are among the fastest...
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eliochel
Mar 26, 20231 min read
Do honey bees sleep?
It is believed that worker bees don’t sleep until they are foraging age. Until then they are cleaning, nursing the brood, tending the...
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eliochel
Mar 25, 20231 min read
If the honey bee queen can lay over 1000 eggs per day, why are so few dead bees at/near a hive?
If the honey bee queen can lay over 1000 eggs per day during spring and summer when the hive is most populous and most active, the bees...
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eliochel
Mar 24, 20231 min read
Honey bees are the only insects that produce food that humans can eat.
Throughout the world, people eat insects in their egg, larval, pupal or adult stages, a behavior known as entomophagy. However, the only...
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eliochel
Mar 24, 20231 min read
The brain of a honey bee, about a cubic millimeter in volume, is used in biomedical research.
Studies of the brain of a honey bee, only about a cubic millimeter in volume, yield valuable information in medical research, information...
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eliochel
Mar 24, 20231 min read
Researchers call the honey bee a “flying dustmop” and use that trait in research.
Bees are fuzzy, not just covered by hairs, but covered by plumose (branched) hairs which trap particulates. This trait aids their...
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eliochel
Mar 7, 20231 min read
What is “mad honey” and why is it not a danger in the United States?
“Mad honey" is honey from the nectar of certain plants, particularly the Ericaceae family, which includes rhododendron, pieris and other...
14 views
eliochel
Mar 7, 20231 min read
How long does a honey bee live?
Worker bee life span during summer may only be 7 weeks, about 4 of them flying. During the winter some of the workers live 5 months or...
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