Tag: bees

“It’s just getting harder for bees to do what they do,” Keith Delaplane says. Increasingly, honeybees and other pollinators face survival challenges from climate change, pesticide use, and habitat destruction—in addition to bacteria, parasites, and viruses that can swiftly decimate a hive. But researchers like Delaplane, a professor of entomology at the University of Georgia and the director of UGA’s Bee Program, are working to offer beekeepers tools to combat at least some of these threats. Next year, Georgia—home to one of the biggest commercial beekeeping industries in the country—might also be home to the world’s first vaccine for honeybees.

No rescue is the same when it comes to bees: They can be anywhere you can imagine, from 30 feet up in a tree to the tarmac of the airport. I think it’s amazing that people call me to rescue bees in the first place. Even though they are terrified, people don’t want to hurt the bees because they know they are good for the environment.

Mead has long been the drink of legends. Now meadmakers are looking to elevate the fermented honey wine from an archaic novelty to a beverage as buzzworthy as cider or even craft beer.

Master beekeeper Julia Mahood’s is the first female class in a statewide inmate beekeeping program that began in 2012. Now entering its third year, the facility’s beekeeping program is 25 women strong and provides students both a sense of community on the inside and the skills to start a career upon release.