The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend. by Berks County PA Honey Bee Removal

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bald faced hornets, honey bee pests, hornets, management of honey bee disaeses and pests, yellow jackets

About this time of year, for the past several years, most of my honeybee colonies would be fending off hundreds of yellow jackets daily. They also would deal with the occasional baldfaced hornet, but to a much lesser extent. This year however (so far), I have witnessed a grand total of 2 yellow jackets, and 2 baldfaced hornets attempting to harass my bees.

So why the picture of my topbar hive full of European hornets? It was back in May that I noticed a single, huge mother hornet enter my empty topbar hive. I looked through the viewing window to see an adorable little paper cone about the size of a silver dollar hanging from a bar. I was preparing to go in and smoosh it, along with mamma when I thought to spend a minute researching these things. I decided to leave it be, and if it got out of hand, then I’d kill it. It never really did get out of hand in my opinion, and it has been as interesting to observe as any other social insect colony.

Read the full article and follow some links to videos here: The Enemy of my Enemy is my Friend. — Berks County PA Honey Bee Removal 19601

Disease Management and Guidelines for the Honey Bee by NC State Extension

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disease management, diseases of honey bees, honey bee pests, management, management of honey bee disaeses and pests, pests

“It is the goal of every beekeeper to maintain healthy, productive colonies. This can only be accomplished by reducing the frequency and prevalence of disease within beehives. The following is an outline of recommendations for detecting and treating colonies for economically important parasites and pathogens of honey bees so that beekeepers may achieve this goal, and do so in a sustainable way for the long-term health of their colonies.”

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Overview

Disease/Pest	Causative Agent	Symptoms
Adult Parasites
Varroa mites	The parasitic mite Varroa destructor	Presence of adult mites, deformed wings
Tracheal mites	The parasitic mite Acarapis woodi	K-wings, morbidity
Nosema	The protozoan Nosema apis	Diarrhea, distended abdomens
Brood Pathogens
American foulbrood (AFB)	The bacterium Paenibacillus larvae	Discolored larvae, foul smelling brood, ropy remains, scale
European foulbrood (EFB)	The bacterium Melissococcus pluton and associated flora	Discolored larvae, foul smelling brood, non-ropy remains, no scale
Chalkbrood	The fungus Ascophaera apis	White or black mummies in cells or on bottom board
Sacbrood	A viral infection	Brown larvae in the curled “canoe” shape
Hive Pests
Wax moths	Larvae of Galaria mellonella	Silk cocoons and/or tunnels
Small hive beetle (SHB)	Larvae of Aethinda tumida	Wet combs, maggot-like larvae

Read the full Extension Guide titled “Disease Management and Guidelines for the Honey Bee by NC State Extension here: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/disease-management-and-guidelines-for-the-honey-bee