The Apiarist

• Taking stock

  Why tolerate poor quality bees? Simple positive and negative selection strategies can produce significant improvements in colony behaviour. However, increased productivity and pathogen resistance (e.g. to mites and viruses) appear harder to reproducibly achieve.

• Vexatious viruses

  Do viruses really prefer virus-contaminated syrup? How much worse are viral coinfections of honey bees? Does miticide treatment kill mites, but leave virus levels damagingly high? Three recent papers on deformed wing virus, and their relevance to practical beekeeping.

• Half-time

  Midseason activities include managing late-swarming, rearing queens for overwintering in nucs, and making the best of the summer nectar flows … and, if that wasn't enough, there's the winter ahead to start preparing for. And now isn't too soon.

• The curse of laying workers

  Laying workers, and the distinct but functionally similar rebel workers, are a curse in hopelessly queenless hives. Why and when do they occur, how can you prevent them from appearing, and how to fix things if they do.

• The 'June gap', brood breaks, and myths

  The 'June gap' and brood breaks; does the queen stop laying, or are the larvae cannibalised? Probably both, and more. Plus some brief comments on hayfever and honey, and determining when OSR/canola honey is ready for extraction (it's earlier than you might think).