Bee-ing Sick is No Fun!

 As March comes along, so do sneezes and coughs! The flu season has begun, so it’s very important to wash your hands and cough or sneeze into your elbow bend. Just like we get sick, so do honeybees!

Honeybees have many different sicknesses that they can get. They can get viruses and fungal infections. Viruses and fungi are very, very small and can’t be seen by the regular eye. You will need a microscope to see them. A microscope is a tool scientists use to see very small objects, making them look larger.

I am a scientist in my college, and I work on helping honeybees who are sick and making medical treatments for them. I am studying the fungus called Nosema ceranae, more commonly called Nosema. Nosema can cause honeybees to be unable to fly, and in colonies with this infection, you can also see brown droppings on the outside of the hive box.

Viruses are non-living, which makes them different from fungi. This means that they need a living organism to transport them. A living organism that commonly transports viruses in the hive is the Varroa destructor mite, also known as the Varroa mite. One virus that honeybees can get is called the Deformed Wing Virus. This virus makes honeybee wings look crumpled and deformed. This means that the bee is unable to fly.

Honeybees can’t wear masks to help prevent spreading sicknesses in such close living quarters in the hive. But honeybees also have ways to avoid getting sick, called hygienic behaviors! Before a honeybee enters the hive after collecting nectar and pollen, there will be a bee at the entrance who will clean off any “germs” from her that she may have been exposed to. Also, when baby bees called larvae are still growing inside the hive comb cells, if an adult bee smells that a larva is sick, she will remove it from the hive to prevent disease.

More good news is that there are fantastic treatments that scientists are creating to help honeybees. These treatments are then sold to beekeepers so they can treat their colonies with their sicknesses and to control the spread of pests, like the Varroa mite.

Don’t forget to wash your hands, and I hope to “bee” seeing you soon!

~ Princess Emilia

Beauty and the Bee

Honey has many uses, which even include beauty care! As a nature humectant, or moisturizer, which can be perfect for the winter months. This three-ingredient mask will gently exfoliate your face, balance your complexion, and leave your skin feeling soft and fresh.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup of oats
• 2-3 tablespoons plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon honey

Steps

1. In a blender or food processor, blend the oats until they're finely ground.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the oats and all the remaining ingredients.
3. Apply to a freshly washed face in a circular motion and leave for 10-15 minutes.
4. Rinse off with warm water and follow with a gentle moisturizer.

You can use the mask once a week, but it's best to make a fresh batch every time.

2025 Representatives Crowned

The American Beekeeping Federation held their 82nd Annual Convention in Reno, Nevada. The new American Honey Queen and Princess have been crowned!

2025 American Honey Queen

Cheyenne Bastian-Brown from Pennsylvania

2025 American Honey Princess

Emilia Burnham from California

Congratulations ladies! They will travel the United States promoting honey and beekeeping and post interesting articles about bees and honey along the way. Keep an eye out for the sweetest representatives in America!

Jobs of a Worker Bee

The worker bee only lives for 5-6 weeks, but they are so busy during this time! In this short period, they will hold a variety of jobs that all contribute to the productivity of the hive.

After hatching, these insects will first be hive cleaners. They work to clear out their cell to make room for a new egg, as well as carrying out dead bees and dirt to make sure the hive is nice and tidy.

They then become nurse bees, helping to feed the larva and take care of the queen. While taking care of the queen, they become “attendants” and help to feed and clean her while she lays eggs. When they do this, they send out a special pheromone scent to alert the other workers that their queen is healthy.

After that, they become pollen packers, where their job is to neatly pack pollen into cells. They also work as wax masons, crafting the wax from the glands in their abdomen. They also contribute to temperature control in the hive, as well as collecting and storing water.

Soon after, these bees will become guards, where they sit at the entrance of the hive to watch for intruders or possible threats. If they see any, they will send out a pheromone scent to the rest of the hive to warn them.

At the end of their life, the workers will go out and forage for pollen and nectar, as well as turning the nectar into honey. When they make honey, they will use their long, straw-like tongue to suck up nectar into their honey stomach. In there, it will mix with a special enzyme and water. Once flown back to the hive, the bee will load this mixture into the honeycomb, then flutter their wings hard to dehydrate the honey down to the sticky substance that is honey!

Buzz buzz there is food over here

 Honeybees do not have ears, but they still communicate with each other. Honeybees communicate in two main ways; they use special chemical scents called pheromones and they also dance!

The queen honeybee gives off a pheromone, this causes all the honeybees in the beehive to smell the same. The pheromone from the queen honeybee helps the guard honeybees check that the honeybees that are coming into the beehive belong in that specific beehive. 

The honeybees also have a warning pheromone that the workers can produce. The warning pheromone tells the other honeybees that there is something dangerous around and then the honeybees will work together to get rid of the danger. 

Credit to Beetanical Apiary

Honeybees have a couple different dances that they use to tell the other honeybees many different things. The most famous of these dances is the waggle dance, this dance is used to communicate where there are food sources outside the beehive. When a honeybee comes back from collecting food, she will start moving in a figure eight and shaking her body back and forth. The direction of her shaking gives the other worker honeybees a map to the food source that she had just returned from.

Bee Thankful

Happy Thanksgiving! Here are two Thanksgiving recipes to try for your Thanksgiving feast.

Honey Glazed Carrots from Peggy Bell

Ingredients
-  10 to 12 sliced carrots
-  3 tablespoons butter
-  1 tablespoon brown sugar
-  2 tablespoons honey

Directions: Steam Carrots until just tender. Melt butter; add sugar and honey. Simmer for 2 minutes. Add carrots and cook on low, turning several times.

Pear Honey Cranberry Sauce from allrecipes.com 

Ingredients
-  1⁄2 cup water
-  1⁄2 cup white sugar
-  2 pears: peeled, cored, and diced
-  12 oz package of fresh or frozen cranberries
-  1 cup of honey
-  1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
-  1 teaspoon grated lemon zest

Directions
-  In a medium saucepan, stir together the water and sugar over medium-high heat.
-  Bring to a boil. Stir in pears, and reduce heat to medium. Cook, stirring frequently for 3 minutes, then stir in cranberries and honey. Continue to cook until cranberries pop and the mixture thickens slightly, about 5 minutes.

-  Remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and lemon zest. Cool to room temperature, then store covered in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Honey from the Beehive to the Bottle

 Most people only ever see honey once it is in the bottle ready for you to purchase, but how does it get there? 

Honeybees on a frame of honey

The process starts from the beehive. When the beekeeper is ready to harvest the honey they will start the honey harvesting process. First the beekeeper will get as many of the honeybees off of the frames of honey as they can. Then the beekeeper will transport the frames of honey to the honey house. This is an area that is specifically set up to harvest the honey. 

Opening the honey

After all the frames of honey are moved into the honey house, the beekeeper will remove the cappings. When the honeybees make honey they put a layer of beeswax over the honey to protect the honey. To harvest the honey, that wax layer needs to be removed, this is usually done by a knife that is heated or a tool that looks like a comb that has sharp ends on it. 

Honey extractor from above

Once the honey is opened the frames are placed into a machine that is called an extractor. The extractor will spin very quickly causing the honey to be forced out of the honeycomb and onto the walls of the extractor. The honey will then flow to the bottom of the extractor where there is a valve to get the honey out. 

Bottling the honey

From the bottom of the extractor the honey will be placed into buckets. The buckets are then placed into the bottling bucket. This bucket has a valve at the bottom that can be placed over a bottle to fill it. After the bottle is filled with honey, it then is ready for to be purchased and used in your house!