Grant County Backyard Beekeepers

05/11/2026

see you tomorrow . . .
Beekeepers Meeting
Monday, May 11th
6:30p.m.
Location:
Grant County Extension Office
105 Baton Rouge Rd, Williamstown, KY 41097

05/10/2026

Happy Mother's Day!

04/23/2026

Black Locust in full bloom!

04/12/2026

see you tomorrow . . .
Beekeepers Meeting
Monday, April 13th
6:30p.m.
Location:
Grant County Extension Office
105 Baton Rouge Rd, Williamstown, KY 41097

Speaker: Mike Hagedorn
Topic: walkaway Splits, forced swarm (or artificial swarm),
Preparing for honey flow

04/11/2026

Can you find the queen?
This is a picture I took today.

04/05/2026

Happy Easter!

03/10/2026

Please pre-register if you plan to attend.
Grant County march 27th (Friday)

03/08/2026

see you tomorrow . . .

Beekeepers Meeting
Monday, March 9th
6:30p.m.
Location:
Grant County Extension Office
105 Baton Rouge Rd, Williamstown, KY 41097

Topic: Swarm traps

02/25/2026

02/19/2026

As promised — my favourite pheromone chat… and honestly, one of my favourite topic areas in beekeeping. 🐝

If you’ve hung around Bee Haven for any length of time, you already know I love this stuff.

At its most basic, a pheromone is a chemical (or mix of chemicals) released by one individual that changes the behaviour or physiology of another individual of the same species.
In honey bees, this is how the hive talks.
Constantly. Quietly. Brilliantly.

Two big pheromone categories:
1) Releaser pheromones
Fast action. Immediate behaviour change.
Think: “Something is happening RIGHT NOW.”

2)Primer pheromones
Long-term effects on physiology and behaviour.
Think: “This shapes how the colony functions over time.”

Common honey bee pheromones

🐝Alarm pheromone
Produced by workers. A classic releaser pheromone.
One sting releases it → others join in. Hive defence activated.

🐝Brood pheromone
Produced by larvae. A primer pheromone.
Among other roles, it suppresses worker o***y development and keeps the colony focused on brood care.

🐝Drone pheromone
Released by drones to find one another and form DCAs.
Yes… this is the honey bee dating scene

🐝Dufour’s gland pheromone
Still a bit mysterious.
Seems to play a role in queen–worker interactions and changes as workers transition into laying workers.
Egg-marking pheromone
Allows workers to tell queen-laid eggs from worker-laid eggs.
Important for colony order and policing.

🐝Fecal pheromone (remember this one?)
Produced by virgin queens.
During in-hive disputes, virgins may sq**rt f***s on aggressive bees.
Result? Workers stop fighting and start grooming.

🐝Footprint pheromone
Released by workers from their feet as they walk the comb.
Attractive to other bees. Likely helps with orientation, entrance finding, and possibly food location — still not fully understood.

🐝Nasonov pheromone
Used to call nestmates to the entrance, a swarm cluster, or a food source.
You’ll often see bees fanning with their abdomens raised when it’s in use. Also very useful for swarm traps.

🐝Tarsal pheromone
Queen version of a footprint pheromone.
Laid onto the comb and believed to delay or prevent queen cell construction.

🐝Tergite pheromone
Produced by all bees, but varies by caste.
In virgin queens, it’s thought to be linked to fighting behaviour.

🐝Queen mandibular pheromone (QMP)
Often called “queen substance.”
This is a big one.
Regulates social behaviour, mating, swarming, and suppresses laying workers.
Spread by workers to signal that the hive is queen-right and functioning normally.

🐝Queen retinue pheromone (QRP)
Keeps workers clustered around the queen, grooming and feeding her.
The royal entourage scent

🐝Worker pheromone ( I love this one! I am going to do a large post on this one)
Produced by foragers. A primer pheromone.
Slows the development of nurse bees into foragers, helping maintain balance inside the hive.
Bee Haven 2026

A honey bee colony isn’t just bees in boxes — it’s a living, chemical communication network.
Every role, every transition, every decision… pheromones are behind it.
And yes — I will always geek out over this topic 💛🐝

02/10/2026

Put on your calendar