Scientific Beekeeping

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Beekeeping Through the Eyes of a Biologist

The scientific beekeeper doesn’t want to just be told how to do it, but to understand the reasons why. Scientific beekeeping is not about test tubes and lab coats, but rather about helping you, as a beekeeper, to make management decisions based upon knowledge and understanding of the biology and behavior of the fascinating superorganism we call the honey bee colony.

Topic: Nosema cereanae

Sick Bees – Part 14: An Update on the “Nosema Cousins”

Contents Worldwide Status and Distribution Ceranae vs. apis Coinfection Seasonality Sample Interpretation What if You’re Dealing with N. apis? Seasonality Recommendations Acknowledgements References Sick Bees 14: An Update on the “Nosema Cousins” First published in ABJ December 2011 Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com In my last article, I described how to quickly sample for nosema.  So what...

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Sick Bees – Part 15: An Improved Method for Nosema Sampling

Author’s Note Samples from Within the Hive Soundbite Science Infection Rate So How Did We Get on the Wrong Track? How to Determine the Colony Infection Rate So What if I Count the Number of Infected Bees out of 10? An Assessment of Our Situation One HUGE Assumption Validation of the Method Update Sequential Sampling...

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Sick Bees – Part 16: The “Quick Squash” Method for Determining Nosema Prevalence in a Colony

Infection Prevalence Sequential Sampling A Neat Little Shortcut Validation Summary (completely subject to revision) More Details Next Month Acknowledgements References 2019 Quick Nosema Prevalence Assessment Method First published in ABJ February 2012 Updated March 13, 2019 Randy Oliver Since the discovery of Nosema ceranae, I and many other beekeepers and researchers have been frustrated by...

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“Fried Eggs” Identified!

“Fried Eggs” Identified! Randy Oliver ScientificBeekeeping.com First Published in ABJ in Feb 2012 I mentioned in my previous article that I’ve been seeing an unidentified organism that looked like “fried eggs”  in the guts of bees from my operation in the California foothills (Figure 1).  I sent out requests to a number of researchers for...

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