The honey bee as a model organism has many advantages (haplodiploidy, high recombination rate, huge family sizes, well known ecology and physiology, etc.).  A subtle and understated advantage is unlike other lab critters, you don’t have to feed them… as a matter of fact, the bees feed you! Here are a few pictures of our honey harvest from a couple of weekends ago.  A very rewarding experience after a long and warm field season!