Data-Driven Innovation

PROPRIETARY Technology

We created Bzzz, a proprietary hive management system, to ensure the health of each beehive was recorded and ready for research.

Biodiversity Mapping

Using our invention of HoneyDNA – genomic sequencing of the pollen in honey to reveal the bees' floral resources – we can assess and analyze the biodiversity of local ecosystems.

Queen Rearing

We are selectively breeding hardier queen bees, and through them, colonies that can survive under the many different conditions found in cities, suburbs and rural areas across the nation.

Research Partners

We share our data with the scientific community. Collectively, it’s used to understand trends, analyze what’s working and what isn’t, and create a barometer of environmental stability.

Best Bees does not receive donations, funding, or payment of any kind from our research partners.

Our Research Team

Noah

Chief Scientific
Officer, Ph.D

Ronnie

Data Analyst

Dylan

Data Analyst

Bridgette

Field Researcher

Research in Action

Latest updates from our scientific team.

Queen Rearing

August 16, 2023

Bridgette Whalen

We didn’t need to move any cells out of the cell raiser because at this point we’re done grafting! The developed cells from graft nine yielded 25 mated queens. Of the 26 cells we put in, only ONE didn’t make it! We left those queens in their mating nucs so they will make more brood that we can use to help out troubled hives in the Boston region. And that was our queen rearing season!

In total, we reared 95 healthy queens who successfully mated, and we moved 35 of those locally reared queens to other regions. We are so excited to continue on this journey; the growth potential of this program is exponential. Hopefully soon, we won’t have to source any queens that we didn’t rear ourselves and be more sustainable and have healthier colonies overall!

Latest Updates

Queen Rearing

July 27, 2023

Caitlin went and moved the developed cells from graft nine to the apiary – she had 26 fully developed cells to put into the mating nucs, and caught 12 mated queens.

Queen Rearing

July 17, 2023

I conduct graft nine, which is our last graft for the year, and again only did 30 cups in the cell raisers. From the eighth graft, there were 42 developed cells, so we had to split our mating nucs to make more room! They were super packed! I caught 13 mated queens from graft seven when putting all those 42 developed cells into the mating nucs.

Queen Rearing

July 7, 2023

I’m back in Boston! I conduct our eighth graft on my own. This graft we decided to go back down to only doing 30 cups, because we were having those issues earlier with other, non-Best Bees queens infiltrating our cell raisers. In the cell raisers from the seventh graft, there were 17 developed cells. When we went to the apiary to visit the mating nucs and put those developed queen cells in, we caught 15 mated queens from graft six.

Bees and Biodiversity: Insights from HoneyDNA™ on Pollinator Diet, Foraging Behavior, and Habitat Health

Latest Research from The Best Bees Company — October 2024

Data from HoneyDNA™ can be leveraged to inform landscaping and planting strategies, helping individuals, property managers, and corporations protect and improve the health of their local environment — and thus, improve pollinator health.

With nearly a decade’s worth of data from client beehives at our fingertips, our team of in-house experts embarked on a multi-year study to understand just how powerful HoneyDNA™ could be as a biomonitoring tool — the findings might surprise you.

DOWNLOAD REPORT

Our Scientific Approach to Studying Bees

honey bees as indicators

Our primary contribution to native pollinators is through the collection of data on bees and the scientific study of bee health.

genomic analysis

We pioneered HoneyDNA, the process of identifying the exact percentage of various pollen species found in honey through advanced genomic sequencing.

urban bee lab

In 2014, we launched the Urban Beekeeping Laboratory & Bee Sanctuary as an official 501(c)3. This non-profit organization conducts studies to improve the health of pollinators worldwide.

Published Research

Our CEO and Chief Scientific Officer, Noah Wilson-Rich, founded Best Bees as a way to continue his Ph.D. research on honey bee immunology. We stay true to those research roots, and prioritize sharing our learnings with our scientific, beekeeping, and global communities. More data creates more education, and more education leads to greater impact.

Nature’s reset: The effect of native and invasive plant forage on honey bee nutrition and survival

This research, led by Kaitlyn Culbert through the Urban Bee Lab, sheds new light on the critical link between native plants, honey bee health, and overwintering survival. Working with Best Bees data and our CEO, Noah Wilson-Rich, Katie's study revealed that the availability of native and invasive plants plays a critical role in bee health, performance, and fitness, particularly in post-catastrophic event landscapes.

Beyond Pollination: Honey Bees as Zootherapy Keystone Species

In this article, authors August Easton-Calabria, Kristian C. Demary and Nola J. Oner discuss the medicinal properties of honey bee products and their relation to the insects’ own natural survival mechanisms. The authors explore the phenomenon of “social immunity”, a collective immune defense developed and shared by social animals like honey bees.

Incorporating NASA Earth Observations into an Assessment Tool to Identify Correlations Between Factors Associated with Bee Health

Leveraging citizen science, NASA Earth observations, and nationally reported statistics, a comprehensive methodology was developed to illuminate environmental variables that are linked to honey bee prosperity in the New England region of the United States from 2015 to 2018.

The team created a tool harnessing Google Earth Engine to incorporate in situ data collected from local hives and apiaries and biophysical variables, such as vegetation indices, and soil moisture collected from satellite data.

The Bee: A Natural History

In this richly illustrated natural history of the bee, which includes more than 250 color photographs and illustrations, entomologist Noah Wilson-Rich provides a window into the vitally important role that bees play in the life of our planet. Published with the Princeton University Press in 2018.