The World of Bees

A few weeks ago I knew nothing about bees, infact, I was one of those people who thought this is what lived in a  bee hive ....

.... now I know that's a bumble bee, not a honey bee! Bumbles do live in a colony and harvest nectar, but they only contain 50 individuals or less in their nest, so not exactly contenders for those of us wishing to win some honey from their work.

Today I know a little bit more about bees. I say 'little' because although I've been devouring books and attending a few lectures, I realise just how much there is to learn about these fascinating creatures. Theres so much I don't know where to start! This is my hive and smoker.

Hives come in many designs from across the world. Mine is known as a National. I like it because its small enough for me to lift without causing serious back injury! Any of the larger hives and I would be in trouble ... when a hive is full of honey the weight is unbelievable. The drawback of a National is that there may not be enough space for a growing colony, causing them to swarm. Learning the various techniques to reduce the amount of swarming is an art in itself. But why bother to reduce swarming? Because when your hive swarms you lose up to two thirds of your bees, leaving very few behind to collect a harvest of honey for their keeper. The queen leaves with the swarm and production is set back a month until a new queen hatches, mates and begins to lay eggs in the hive. Now you begin to see why its difficult to decide where to start when talking about bees! Theres so many interlaced cycles and activities, layers upon layers of interacting variables.

This is what my hive looks like when I take the roof and crown board off. This is the brood body where the queen lays her eggs, the nurse bees care for them, and the foraging bees store honey and pollen. In the picture you can see the bars along the top of the frames, the sheets of comb hang down supported by each frame. During my weekly inspection I take out each frame and check how much brood there is and the patten in which it is laid. I look for occupied queen cells as an indicator of possible impending swarming. I check they have enough stores of honey & pollen for feeding themselves and the brood. I make sure they have enough space for laying eggs and storing honey. Its reassuring to see the queen but seeing newly laid eggs is as sure an indicator that she is there and all is well. I look for signs of disease. I write it all down in my notebook, numbering each frame, taking my time and enjoying the tranquility of working alongside nature ... then I retire inside, have a cup of tea and savour the experience ... the essence of nectar, beeswax and smoke still lingering.

When I first began, I was petrified. As I approached the apiary I felt faint, my heart pounded and I wondered what the hell I was doing this for! Within 2 minutes of opening my first hive, alongside an experienced keeper, I experienced the wonder, awe and relaxation to be gained by working within the sphere of honey bees. Euphoric.

I still don't feel like a proper beekeeper ... I haven't been stung yet!

Comments

[mil]

Hello Becky, I can't resist a reply. We kept bees at Berrio for a couple of years. I never did get over the petrified feeling! We tried to find out all about them but nobody told us and we didn't read about the need to feed the bees with sugar if there is a shortage of flowers, or after you have taken the honey so that they can make their winter supplies from quick and easy sugar. As with my suggestions about washing possibly blighted potatoes - that was not supposed to be a fail safe method, just something that I am experimenting with myself. I have done it before, and it seemed to work, but of course one is never sure to what extent they had blight spores on them in the first place. So check up on the how and when of feeding bees sugar... love MIL

[Maddy]

Brave, all I can say is brave! I love honey, and bees wax smells wonderful.

[hedgewizard]

Looks great! Did you read about Mel's starvation swarm on Beansprouts?

[Henriette]

I have had my own bee family the last 3 years and helped looking after another one for 7 years or so- and I have only been stung 3x
1x when I was harvesting and 2x when I was weeding next to the hive- guess it dosn´t count :-D

Anyway
I normally feed sugarwater from the last harvest in late august. Every day I check if the bees have "harvested" the sugarwater- and they normally stop taking more in after 4 weeks or so.

This year due to the crazy rainy weather here in Denmark we havn´t really harvested any honey- they bees have used all the honey to feed the young ones- and I don´t like to feed sugar when I harvest honey- sugarwater makes the honey turn very white and taste really uninteresting ! - that is why I prefer to do it after honey harvest....
I guess I´ll harvest a little honey this weekend - and then have to feed early.

[Rebecca (author of Sallygardens)]

Thanks all. I did pop over to Beansprouts and read up on her swarmey experience ... raised the hairs on my back, and then I laughed, and then I got scared again!

[Selena]

We have a very small homestead, a little more than 1/3 of an acre but are hoping to have a small hive in the next year. I bought my husband a book on keeping bees naturally for his birthday. Is there a good time of the year to start this?

[Maria]

I've been waiting for a post on the bees!! Am dying to hear more about them as I'm thinking of keeping bees in the future. Please write more.....best of luck with them.