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Beekeeping diary: the hard life of a bee


Ian Douglas returns to the beehive and hopes he hasn't killed them all in his first week.
Approaching the hive Photo: Ian Douglas 01 Jul 09 By Ian Douglas
The bees have been in their hive for two days when I arrive at the allotments. They're locked away with nothing to do but reproduce and process the sugar syrup that I left in there with them. It's time to let them out....

New Bait Lures Varroa Mite to its Doom


ARS scientists have developed a new bait that may help control varroa mites, the top pest of honey bees. Click the image for more information about it. 01 Jul 09 By Jan Suszkiw
Varroa mites could literally be walking into a trap—thanks to a new attractant developed by Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists in Gainesville, Fla. The 1/16-inch long parasite

New York urban beekeepers swarm City Hall to protest ban


A BEEKEEPER in Brooklyn pulls out panels from her rooftop beehive to check on the condition of her bees.Photo: AP 28 Jun 09 By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Local beekeepers are trying to clean up the name of bees – and save them in the process. Wayne “Chappie” McChesney founded the Alachua County Beekeepers Club in hopes of educating the public and beekeepers. He said there is always a need for more beekeepers to help protect the insects so important to the growth and sustainability of plants and agriculture.

Much abuzz about bees


Cory, an Alachua Elementary 4th-grader, tries on bee keeper gear during Career Day. 25 Jun 09 By PATRICIA HOYOS
Local beekeepers are trying to clean up the name of bees – and save them in the process. Wayne “Chappie” McChesney founded the Alachua County Beekeepers Club in hopes of educating the public and beekeepers. He said there is always a need for more beekeepers to help protect the insects so important to the growth and sustainability of plants and agriculture.

RHS students help NASA study disappearing honeybees


Working on the AP biology class’s pollinator garden outside Ridgefield High School were, from left, Lindsey Frazier, Lisa Fox, teacher Jacob Greenwood, Alex Trombetta, Jill Pracella and Elizabeth Smith. —Macklin Reid photo 22 Jun 09 By Macklin Reid, Press Staff
“One of every three mouthfuls of food is pollinated by bees,” said Lisa Fox, a Ridgefield High School junior. “The number of bees in the U.S. is falling and a lot of commercial plants are reliant on bees to pollinate, a lot of farmers are reliant,” said classmate Jon Borden. “”...So, it’s big business. It would be a heavy loss.”

What's the buzz? Beekeeping


Photos by Justin Cook | The Roanoke Times Beekeeper Jerry Borger prepares to extract thousands of bees from the wall of an old Floyd County farmhouse. Dottie Kirkland and Karl Backlund bought the farmhouse from Arthur Stapel, 86, who hadn't gone upstairs in years and had no idea the bedroom wall was filled with bees, Kirkland says. 21 Jun 09 By Shawna Morrison
CHRISTIANSBURG -- After Jerry Borger planted a couple of dozen apple, peach, plum, nectarine and cherry trees on the land around his home off North Fork Road, he thought it might be a good idea to have some bees around to pollinate them.

Honeybees to be welcomed at White House after months of negative buzz


Joshua Olmstead, left, and Vladimir Marinov look for the queen in frames from a beehive. Olmstead and his father, Barry, beekeepers in Elk Grove, are planning to apply for a federal grant to study colony collapse disorder, which is killing off honeybees. 20 Jun 09 By Rob Hotakainen
WASHINGTON – Official Washington is all abuzz over honeybees. At the White House, two types of parasite-resistant honeybees developed by U.S. scientists will be delivered to the first family's new garden next month.

Beekeepers Keep the Lid On


HIDE-OUT Bees are the illegal occupants of a rooftop in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn. 19 Jun 09 By JOSHUA BRUSTEIN
THERE were hives to inspect and honeycombs to drain, but before all that Patrick Gannon sat on a cinder block in his backyard on City Island with his 9-year-old son, Julian, and just watched the bees. “I can’t think of anything more relaxing than sitting in front of my beehive, drinking a beer, smoking a cigar, letting the bees fly,” Mr. Gannon said on a recent Saturday afternoon. “And the smell. It’s the most beautiful smell.”

LAFF | The Bee Suit Comes Off: “The Last Beekeeper” Director Ashley Mariner


A scene from Jeremy Simmons' 'The Last Beekeeper.' Image courtesy of the LAFF. 19 Jun 09 By indieWIRE
The world’s honeybees are currently in crisis. These unsung heroes of the food chain, who are responsible for pollinating a third of the food we eat, are vanishing at an alarming rate. With some beekeepers reporting an unexplained 90% decrease in their hive population, scientists are working to solve this environmental mystery. This phenomenon, known as Colony Collapse Disorder, is at the heart of Jeremy Simmons’ documentary, “The Last Beekeeper.” [Description courtesy of LAFF]

The Bee Man


Glenn R. Clayton Sr., along with his family, maintains more than a dozen colonies of bees on his farm in Shipman. TOP: Glenn R. Clayton Jr. holds up one of the screens used in the beehives on the Claytons’ property near Shipman. These bees were collected from a swarm by him and his father last week near Charlottesville. 19 Jun 09 By Erin McGrath Media General News Service
For 45 years, Glenn R. Clayton has been playing with bees. A retired firefighter from New Jersey, Clayton’s passion for the honey-generating flying insects has evolved from a part-time hobby into a full-time job. The rest of the family has become enamored with the bees as well and Clayton, along with his wife, Joan, run Hungry Hill Farm in Shipman, a honey producing and packing operation that supplies the Central Virginia area.

Rooftop Bees Give Restaurant Hyperlocal Flavor


Ian Bens and Aron Weber tend more than 100,000 Italian honeybees living on the roof of the Fairmont hotel in Washington, D.C. 14 Jun 09 By Kate Davidson/NPR
Ancient Egyptians were the first known beekeepers, sometimes floating their hives up and down the Nile to pollinate crops along the river. Now, in Washington, D.C., two chefs are among the newest beekeepers in this long line of apiarists.



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Randy Oliver- Migratory Beekeeper


Randy Oliver photo. 28 APR 09 Find out more about Migratory Beekeeper and Bee Researcher Randy Oliver in HBN's exclusive interview. ... read more

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Tess Arnold of Arnold Honeybee Services 03 Jul 09 Find out more about Tess Arnold of Arnold Honeybee Services in HBN's exclusive interview. ... read more

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