The Oliver drone trap frame.
Stephanie loading new trap frames. We tested 300 last year.
Inserting a trap frame in the almonds for an early start.
Drone trap frame at four weeks—honey at top, drone brood below.
Cutting out the drone comb with a hive tool.
Reinserting the frame for the next round of trapping. The bees will quickly build new comb on the remaining wax. The whole process takes only 15 seconds!
Trap frames set to edge of brood chamber for comb honey production in bottom half.
Pure beeswax extracted from cut out drone combs. Less than an ounce per comb, but this wax can be sold at a premium, as it is comp...
The honey of Bohemia
The rural landscape of Maramures attests to the mountain civilization of northern Romania, with its wooden churches, its deep forest. Here, time seems to have stopped and farming is still like that of Western Europe before mechanization.
Bee-Romania03
Since the beginning of migratory apiculture, the Romanian beekeepers have taken to the custom of installing their hives on the trailers, which they call the “lodge”.
Bee-Romania04
The comings and goings of the bees at the entrance to their h...
LES001
At the end of a hot day, bees cluster to regulate the temperature inside the hive.
LES002
Various techniques are used to recover swarms depending on where they have settled. Under roof tiles, a vacuum cleaner fitted with a box is often the best solution.
When the swarm is accessible, a hive need merely be placed below it, and then the swarm made to fall into the box. These operations require a level head, a steady hand, and an excellent understanding of bees.
LES003
Various techniques are used to recover swarms depending on where th...
Almond bee migration
Bee-USA-Migration01
At Bob Harvey’s apiary in West Palm Beach, Florida: preparation of the hives and an inspection to detect the presences of ants on the hive’s pallets. Insecticide was sprayed on the ground fifteen day ago and the pallets cleaned with a high-pressure water cleaner.
Bee-USA-Migration02
At Bob Harvey’s apiary in West Palm Beach, Florida, the team of scientists from the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture carries out a sampling of bees and larvae and installs the measuring instruments for monitoring thermal and hydrometric variations inside the 12 hives...
Separating the terminal abdominal segments
The intestine and a large, shapeless, clear poison sac are exposed. Among this is the spermatheca, a white, spherical structure, about 1 mm in diameter. This will appear whitish and rough in texture, due to a covering net of trachea.
Teasing out the spermatheca
Tease the spermatheca out of the body cavity with your thumbnail. Gently roll the spermatheca between your fingers to remove the tracheal net. This will collapse in a small separated white mass. The color shade and density of the spermatheca indicates th...
LAPI001
An apiary in Isère in autumn.
LAPI002
A traditional covered
apiary in the Val
d’Abondance
protects the hives
from bad weather.
LAPI003
A beekeeper
opens the hive
to gather cells
built by the bees
outside the frame.
LAPI004
A queen-breeding apiary in springtime.
LAPI005
To impress crowds, some beekeepers will wear an impressive bee beard. There is a trick. The apiculturist pla...
LVR001
Near a pond’s edge, a water-carrier bee collects the precious liquid.
LVR002
Near a pond’s edge, a water-carrier bee collects the precious liquid.
LVR003
A group of about 100 bees comes to get water on common water-crowfoot flowers. On hot days when the wind dries the vegetation, foragers play water carriers and fly back and forth to hydrate thirsty workers.
LVR004
Foragers approaching
their hive in a colza field.
The bee's muscles allow
it to f...
LR001
Two nurse bees watch over
a queen larva in its cell.
LR002
Frontal view of a queen
alone on a capped
brood comb.
The cells and the nymphs
they contain have been
sealed by workers
for the final transformation
to occur.
LR003
The nurse bees
watch over two queen cells.
These acorn-shaped
alveoli are larger than
the others, have a
pointed tip at their base,
and stand out from
the perfect regularity
of the comb frame.
...
ABV001
A honey harvest
in 14th arrondissement
of Paris, in the garden
of the Visitandines Sisters
private hospital.
ABV002
A honey harvest in 14th arrondissement of Paris, in the garden of the Visitandines Sisters private hospital.
ABV004
In Valenton, Val de Marne, France, a garderner-apiculturist in the garden of association "Le Jardin du Cheminot" opens a beehive, a cliché of traditional beekeeping.
ABV005
A beekeeper in a glass cage opens a hive and ...