Abstract Western honey bees, Apis mellifera, live in highly eusocial colonies that are each typically headed by a single queen. The queen is the sole reproductive female in a healthy colony, and because long-term colony survival depends on her ability to produce a large number of offspring, queen health is essential for colony success. Honey bees…
Abstract Under normal conditions, each honey bee colony contains one queen. Queenless colonies are mostly supplied with new queens using commercial caged queens. In some countries, caged virgin queens are commonly sold for such purpose. Keeping virgin queens for a long period is essential for marketing and shipping purposes. In this study, a new cage…
Abstract In spring there is often a rise in honey bee mortality incidents. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential correlation, in the reported incidents, between exposure to pesticide treatments and virus infections. Here we summarize the situation in northeastern Italy during spring 2014, evaluated by monitoring 150 active ingredients and three honey bee…