Further Resources about Bees & Beekeeping

In our search of the World Wide Web, MD Bee has come across some intriguing and informative websites that relate to beekeeping and bees. We have listed them below, assigning them to categories.

Please note that many websites contain information that pertains to multiple categories, but we have only listed them once to keep our lists from growing too extensive. Have fun browsing!

General Beekeeping

• Bee Basics by Dr. Richard Iacobucci. Great pictures showing the different stages of a worker bee from egg through pupa.
• Honey Bees and Beekeeping by the University of Georgia College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences
• Building Plans for Beekeeping Equipment. Excellent PDF documents available for downloading free of charge.
• Beginning Beekeeping from Mid Atlantic Apicultural Research and Extension Consortium; info on how to start keeping bees with colonies, nucs or packages.
• Basic Bee Biology for Beekeepers from MAAREC
• Honey Bee Biology and other Information Sheets about bees and beekeeping from the University of Arizona.
• Maryland Certified Master Beekeeper George Imirie's Pink Pages on Beekeeping. Very informative and insightful, with a nice touch of humor.

Beekeeping History

• A Taste of Beekeeping History from John's Beekeeping Notebook. Excellent images of historic beekeeping equipment.

Apitherapy: The Medicinal Use of Bee Stings and Bee Products.

• Apitherapy Blog with daily links to news and scientific findings.
• The American Apitherapy Society
• Apitherapy.com
• The Bee Lady: Pat Wagner's website. Living with MS since the age of 19, she has found that THE best treatment is Bee Venom Therapy.
• Ferris Apiaries: A Supplier of Bees for Bee Venom Therapy.
• Bee Venom Therapy by Glenn Rothfeld M.D.
• Apitronic Services, Bee Venom Therapy. Supplies and Books

Honey

• Honeything.com, gourmet honey with information on the medicinal benefits of nature's first sweetener
• The National Honey Board: a great source for honey recipes, facts, prices, etc.

Africanized Honey Bees

• Africanized Honey Bees PDF by Keith S. Delaplane, Extension Entomologist
• Africanized Honey Bees in California by Dr. Eric C. Mussen, UC Davis Department of Entomology.
• Africanized Honey Bees from the Alabama Cooperative Extension

Queens & Bee Breeding

• Discovery News story on Varroa Sensitive Hygiene Bees breed by the USDA Baton Rouge, LA Bee Lab
• The Buckfast Bee and Brother Adam. Be sure to click on the link on the left hand side to read the biography of Brother Adam and his Buckfast Bee.
• Queen Quality. An excellent article on what effects queen quality for all beekeepers from the UC Davis Department of Entomology.
• Honey Bee Breeding and Instrumental Insemination from Susan Cobey of Honey Bee Insemination Service. Excellent pictures and descriptions of Queen Insemination.
• The Dark European Bee in Ireland. The Galtee Bee Breeding Group aims to study, conserve, and improve the native strains of the Dark European Bee ( Apis mellifera mellifera L. )
• Queen Replacement: Hives often replace a failing queen.
• The Queen Bee's Allure by Kate Dalke. Article on queen pheremones.
• Making Queens without Grafting.

Varroa Mites

• The reproduction cycle of the varroa mite relevant to the honey bee by the USDA Baton Rouge, LA Bee Lab

Apiculture Research

• The Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC) is a regional effort to address the pest management crisis facing the beekeeping industry in the Mid-Atlantic Region.
• Beltsville Bee Lab USDA Agricutural Research Service Bee Research. The mission of the Bee Research Lab is to conduct research on the biology and control of honey bee parasites, diseases, and pests to ensure an adequate supply of bees for pollination and honey production.
• Bee Briefs from UC Davis Department of Entomology

Alternative Beekeeping Methods

Top Bar Hives

• John's Notebook on Top Bar Hives, an informative page about Top Bar Hives, an inexpensive but satisfying way of keeping bees.
• Bees for Development's page on Top Bar Hives with links to articles on how to build your own.

Bee Magazines

• American Bee Journal
• Bee Culture
• The Speedy Bee
• Bee World

Discussion Groups

• BEE-L, a listserv group for the Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology. Allows you to join current discussion and browse through archived messages.
• Irish Beekeeping Discussion Group devoted to beekeeping discussion with beekeepers all over the world on Yahoo.
• For a list of other Newsgroups and Email Lists click here.

Articles by Kirsten Traynor

• Old & Wise: Why Do Smarter People Live Longer Bees help explain the link between intelligence and long life.
• Wired Mad Science: Marla Spivak

Miscellaneous

• Stinging and Biting Pests of People by Beverely Sparks.