Posts Tagged ‘bee identification’

Photo by John Severns

Plants have a glandular secretion, called nectar, which usually collects at the base of the flowers. Bees depend on this nectar for their source of energy. Honeybees dehydrate nectar to produce honey because it contains a low to moderate concentration of sugar. If a little pollen is incorporated into it, there can be barely measurable amounts of proteins, vitamins and other nutrients in the nectar. There is two different ways bees use nectar.

The nectar will work as a substitute for water, used to dilute brood food and air condition the hive. The bees can also ripen the nectar to become a stored resource for carbohydrate. The nectar substitute can also be used in either one of those ways, but the beekeeper use different sugar concentrations for different purposes. Inspections of the colony should be conducted about every ten days during early and late spring. A beekeeper must stay aware of the conditions of the colony and the inspections will accomplish this.

During the early spring the beekeeper must be aware of the food supply and if it is enough. During the late spring the beekeeper must be attentive to the possibility of swarming to keep it under control.  Every inspection should inform the beekeeper if the bees have adequate food to get them through the times of bad weather. If they have enough to get them through until the next inspection, the beekeeper will again check their supply. If not, then the bees will have to be fed. In the spring beekeepers will always feed the bees a pollen substitute and if the bees need to be fed sugar syrup. The sugar syrups fed early in the season are used for brood rearing.

Feeding sugar usually stimulates egg laying and the syrup is usually a “light” syrup mixed with 1 part sugar and 1 par water. A heavy syrup, a mixture of 2 parts sugar and 1 part water, is fed late in the season to ensure adequate winter food supplies. They are stored as ripened syrup. If a medicated treatment is needed in the fall, feed for weight first, and then top off the colony with medicated syrup. There are beekeepers who use high fructose corn syrup to feed their bees, but they do not usually dilute the syrup regardless of the season. There are some levels of hydroxymethylfurfural (HMF) that will increase over time, especially with heat.

HMG is toxic to honeybees at high enough concentrations. It is best to feed the syrup to each colony individually. Every colony should receive its full share regardless of the size of the colony. It is best to feed in the evening, after the bees have settled down for the day. If there is a sudden abundance of syrup, bees will interpret this as an opportunity for robbing, by feeding after flying has ceased; the potential robbers find a source at home. Don’t spill any on the hive, this will attract ants and robbing bees.

After the beekeeper collects the honey it’s processed immediately after harvesting because it crystallizes when it’s allowed to sit. It has to be heated up between 150-170 degrees because it carries the bacterium that causes botulism, which can be dangerous since this is the very bacterium that causes food poisoning.

Honey is actually sweeter than table sugar, but the problem with table sugar is that it’s bleached white since actual unprocessed raw sugar is brown. Honey is pasteurized to kill off the bacteria like botulism to make it safe to eat and to put in food. Honey actually doesn’t have that golden color it’s actually white and pasty looking before it’s cooked down to the point that it caramelizes.

Honey also serves a purpose in medicine and in many vitamin supplements since raw unprocessed honey carries a high level of antioxidants and enzymes and aids in digestion and other health properties. What is great about honey is that it’s slowly taking the place of corn syrup being used in a lot of the food that we eat today because it’s been linked to cause diabetes because people eat it in such an increased amount.

Honey is being used because it’s produced naturally since corn syrup is mechanically processed. Honey is also being used in beer and other beverage like teas and is readily becoming a hugely useful product that puts a lot of beekeepers back in the spotlight to produce high quality honey. For the past 2700 years according to history honey was used in medicine to provide topical relief for rashes and skin irritation like the condition called MRSA (pronounced mersa-a type of resistant staph infection). Honey is also good for mixing it with a little lemon to treat laryngitis and was used to treat contagious conjunctivitis (pink eye). There are 7 different ways honey can be processed the most common are comb honey that’s heated and treated through pasteurization and then you got the raw honey which is the base for pasteurized honey you see mostly in the stores today.

Parents are advised to be careful in giving infant honey products because of the acid levels and potential exposure to the botulism bacteria. That’s why it is wise to eat honey that’s been pasteurized since you don’t know what kind of exposure the bees who produced the honey has been around so it’s better to eat honey that’s been pasteurized or produced by an organic farmer that does raw honey because that’s probably the safest kind of honey you can eat that isn’t going to expose you to harmful bacteria. Many beekeepers are trying to take the honey they produce to the organic level because they don’t believe in producing a product using harmful pesticides and chemicals.

If anything organic is your best bet because these farmers only produce a product on land that’s not treated with chemicals. Organic farming also have standards they adhere to in terms of what the market expects of the product and beekeepers are usually about the natural way of things especially when it comes to the honey they produce.

When a colony is not performing well, it is common practice to introduce a new queen into the colony. There are certain qualities that a beekeeper looks for in a queen ’s offspring, such as good collectors of honey or pollen, resistance to disease and pests, reduced swarming, gentleness, effective pollination, and minimal propolis use.

Propolis is the wax-type resin derived from a tree bees use as glue. It is a common practice to mark the queen with a small spot of paint on her back because the queen is the source of all the worker bees in the colony. They are impossible to distinguish one from another without an identifying mark. The beekeeping industry uses a color code that indicates the year the queen was introduced into the colony.

Model car paint is often used to place a very small dot on the back of the queen. The queen is usually marked prior to the introduction into the colony, but she can be marked at any time. Sometime a purchased queen will come already marked. The color code used is: The residents of the colony may reject or even kill a newly introduced queen, unless certain requirements are not met. There are several different methods that have been published over the years, but a particular procedure has not been accepted as the best procedure for all occasions.

The most common practice of all the procedures requires an introductory period of about three days. The queen is placed in a cage and is fed by the colony bees though the wire gauze covering the cage. The only way she can be released is by the worker bees eating a candy entrance. The beekeeper can decide to release the queen into the colony manually. The older more established worker bees are not as receptive as the younger bees to a new queen. You can turn the colony entrance to face the opposite direction to separate the older from the younger bees.

In an empty hive place at least one frame of honey facing the original direction. The older bees will leave the original hive and return to the new empty hive. The original hive will only have the younger bees, while most of the new hive will have accumulated the older bees. The queen can then be introduced into the hive of the younger bees with out problems. The two colonies can be reunited after the new queen is established. Before introducing a new queen into a colony, make sure the colony does not have a queen, and any of the developing queen cells are destroyed. Leave the colony with out queen for a day or so. Let the queen be caged for about two days.

To release a queen, place the cage between the frames with the screen side down and the candy plug exposed to the younger bees and the brood. Allow the bees two days to release the queen and then remove the cage as soon as possible. If the queen is to be release manually, watch the surrounding bees to determine if they are clinging tightly to the cage the queen is in. If they behave in an aggressive behavior, do not release the queen until the bees act passively toward the cage. Once you have released the queen, watch closely to see if the other bees are react with hostility to the new queen as she explores the comb on which she was released. Don’t open the hive again for a few days allowing the queen time to start her brood nest. A good technique and careful handling will ensure the success of introducing a new queen into the colony. Other factors can also play a part, such as environment conditions, changing seasons, the availability of food, and beekeeper competence.

News agencies started reporting on a disturbing phenomenon in the bee population, in the spring of 2007. It was reported beekeepers were visiting their hives to discover that their bees had disappeared. The queen and a few newly hatched bees were all that remained.

The presence of predators feeding on the bees did not leave any evidence of having been there. There was no evidence of dead bees from bee diseases either. Based on the lack of evidence, it seemed unlikely that the bees had gotten sick and died. However, many beekeepers reported that moths, animals, and other bees steered clear of the newly emptied nests. This is a normal reaction when bees die from disease or chemical contamination.

The news reports were alarming. They described beekeepers losing more than half of their bees and explained the importance of honeybees in the pollination of food crops. Some of the articles implied with the disappearance of the bees widespread starvation would follow. The disappearing of bees or otherwise called “Colony Collapse Disorder: is a real phenomenon. It has the potential to impact food and honey production, but it is more complex than it has been reported. The colony collapse disorder has had an effect primarily on the domestic, commercial honeybees.

These bees are raised exclusively for producing honey and pollinating crops. It also seems to effect bees from hives that are moved from place to place to pollinate crops. Of the overall bee population, the commercial honeybees make up only a small portion. Africanized honeybees, along with other types of bees, do not seem to be affected. Also, this is not the first time the honeybee population has suddenly and unexpectedly declined.

In the last 100 years beekeepers have reported sharp decreases in their hive populations several time. In 1915, beekeepers in several states reported substantial bee losses. The condition became known as the “Disappearing Disease”. It was not named for the bees disappearing, but because the condition was limited and did not happen again. Researchers never determined the cause for Disappearing Disease or the declines in bee population, and the causes are still unclear today for the colony collapse disorder. Several possibilities have been ruled out because they are not present in all of the affected colonies. The bees in the affected colonies were all feed using different methods, mites and other pests were controlled in a different way. The bees did not even come from the same supplier.

The work group investigating the phenomenon does not suspect genetically altered crops to be the problem. There are some theories on the causes of colony collapse disorder. The process of transporting bees over long distances in order to pollinate crops may cause stress, which has depressed the bees’ immune system, exposed them to additional diseases or affected their navigational abilities. Mites generally feeding on the bees may be exposing the bees to an unknown virus. Mites have caused colony collapse in the past, but they have also left evidence, which is not the case in colony collapse disorders. One common theory regarding cell phones as the culprit, but it has been discounted.

This theory made the news in April, 2007, “The Independent” who featured the article about a study being done on the cell phones and linking them to the bee disappearance, they failed to dig deep enough for their story. The study was not related to cell phones, but was on the electromagnetic energy coming from the base units of cordless phones. A cordless phone uses a different wavelength than the cell phone. It is unknown exactly where the honeybee species is headed or exactly how the drop in the population of the bee will affect the world’s food supply. The drop in population in all likelihood not lead to the sudden extinction of the human race, it is going to have an l effect on what we eat if it continues.

Large beekeepers can not turn a profit if they limit their market to their local community. Beekeepers who have several colonies must be able to sell their product at larger grocery stores and supermarkets if they want to remain financially solvent. In order for beekeepers to sell their honey to a larger market their packaging must meet certain USDA standards. The first thing beekeepers have to decide is what kind of container they want to use to hold their honey. The standard size of containers used to sell honey are measured in pounds. The typical amount of honey offered to the customers can be as small an amount as a half pound or as large as five pounds of honey. Some stores perfect to sell honey that is measured in gallons, these stores offer their customers the option of purchasing a container of honey as small as a half pint or as large as one gallon. If, as a beekeeper, you are attracted to novelty containers you can choose from a variety of fun containers such as skeps, bears, and plastic squeeze bottles. Once you have settled on the perfect bottle for your honey you have to design an equally perfect label. Before you start designing a label for your honey check with your state government, most states have several laws and requirements about how labels appear on products. Make sure that the word honey is written in bold letters across the label. The word should stand out and really catch the casual shopper’s eye. Most graphic designers recommend that the honey should run parallel with the container’s base. Do not authorize a label if the design does not incorporate your name (or your farm’s name) and your address. If you use a packing or distribution company their name and address must also be included on the label. The final thing that needs to be clearly printed on the label is the net weight of the honey. If the honey you are marketing weighs between one to four pounds then the weight has to be written in both pounds and ounces. The print size used to show the net weight is not random, the font size is determined by the size and shape of the container. If you are a beekeeper who harvests your honey more then once a season you might be able to write what flavor of honey you are selling. You might have honey that is flavored with clover, alfalfa, or apple blossoms. Labels that have words such as unfiltered, natural, raw, and areanic refer to honey that has not been processed. Beekeepers who have USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) grades printed on the label have passed a set of USDA grade standards. Honey that has a USDA grade of A has passed the exacting government standards. Honey that has a USDA grade of D has passed only a bare minimum of standards. The USDA grades honey based on the amount of moisture in the honey, clarity, flavor quality, and defects.

There’s approximately 20,000 species of bees throughout the world making them the interest of beekeepers who rely on them to cross pollinate because when bees do that it changes not only the flowers they collect pollen from creating new species of flowers, but it also changes the consistency of the honey the produce. Beekeepers also track bees when they cross breed with other species of bees and that’s how they track their habits from mating to origin of where they come from. Beekeepers will also track their honey production since different species of bees will also produce different consistencies of honey. Most bees were originated from places in Europe, Africa and some parts of Asia, but with the fact that many bees were brought over by immigrants to the United States over the centuries. Bees are found on all continents except Antarctica. The evolutions of bees are derived from wasps since they’re cousins with the exception that wasps aren’t pollinating insects and their ability to be organized rivals wasps, beetles, flies, and butterflies. Bees are also categorized in two social classes that are ideal for beekeepers to adapt their system of managing bees and hives. Most bees born are usually female you have few males, and females will fight each other for control of the hive and colony. Now most people when they hear about the African bee they think killer bees when in fact the Africanized honeybee is in fact not dangerous as people make them out to be. It is this species of bee that is the most popular with beekeepers and the beekeeping industry alike. The African honeybee are the most readily used when they produce clover honey which is the most used and produced honey. One reason that the African bee is so popular is because they’re not an aggressive species that will readily attack someone, but they will attack when they’re defending the hive and the Queen-who will go into permanent residence inside the hive after she becomes pregnant and isn’t seen ever again. Usually most beekeepers remove portions of the hive, but leave the one that contains the queen where it’s. Bees are generally docile, but they do get annoying when they fly around you during picnics because of the fact that their sense of smell will direct them since they don’t have very good eyesight. Their sense of smell is what helps them find flowers they pollinate and sometimes with the food people eat in this world the smell can mimic flowers which can result in them getting their scents mixed up. This is why you’ll likely find bees swarming around trash because debris on food wrappers can attract them because sweet scents resemble flowers and plants. Beekeepers should be careful about dispensing their trash because bees can smell sweet scents for long distances and what can be harmless such as disposing trash can turn into a huge pest problem when they start gathering in places that isn’t their normal habitat.

The springtime is the time when honeybees reproduce. The natural means of reproduction for honey bees is called swarming. The springtime swarming period typically last about three weeks. Normally a single swarm of honey bees divide and becomes two during the swarming period. Because swarming typically means a loss of production so beekeepers try to discourage the behavior. One way that beekeepers eliminate swarming in their hives is by purchasing new bees each spring to replace their previous bees that they turned out of the hives the previous fall. Another method commonly used by beekeepers to discourage swarming is the creation of a starter colony. Creating a starter hive and then splitting it encourages bees to stay in their hives. Some beekeepers believe that bees only swarm when they have an abundance of food in the hive. Beekeepers who subscribe to this theory use a method called checker boarding to discourage their bees from swarming. When a beekeeper checkerboards their hives they remove some of the full frames of honey, giving the bees the illusion that they don’t have any honey in reserve, and therefore discouraging the bees from swarming. It is unusual for a bees to swarm when there is a new queen in the bee hive. As time passes and the Queen ages is when the hive typically prepares to swarm, generally the elderly queen leaves with the primary swarm, leaving a virgin queen in her place. When the elderly queen is getting ready to swarm with the primary swarm she stops laying eggs. She concentrates on getting fit enough to fly when she leaves the hive (the only other time the queen has flown is when she went out on her nuptial flight). When smaller swarms leave the hive they are commonly accompanied by the virgin queen. When they first leave the hive in a swarm, bees don’t typically go far from the hive they have always known. After fleeing the nest the bees settle on a nearby tree branch or under an eave. The worker bees cluster around the queen, protecting her. Once they have the queen protected, some bees, scouts, look around until they find a suitable hive to turn into their new home. Some beekeepers see swarming as a way to restock their hives. An experienced bee keeper has no problem capturing a group of swarming bees. Beekeepers use a device to called a Nasrove Pheromone to lure swarming honey bees. When they swarm, honey bees carry no additional food with them. The only honey they are allowed to take from the parent hive is the honey they consumed. Although honey bees normally swarm only during the spring the same is not true of Africanized Bees, also called Killer Bees. The Africanized Bees swarm whenever they have a difficult time finding food. Although they typically don’t go after people when they are swarming, their is something about the site of a swarm of bees that scares people. It is not unusual for a beekeeper to be called out to capture a colony of swarming bees.

Obviously the whole reason to set up, maintain, and stock a beehive is to harvest honey. You will know that it is time to harvest the honey when you look in one of your hives supers and find that the frames are full of honey combs that your bees have covered with wax caps. Now all you have to do is remove the honey combs. Harvesting your honey won’t be a problem as long as your put on all your beekeeping gear, wear light colored clothes (beekeepers swear that lighter colored clothes have a soothing affect on bees) and stay calm. When the super is full of capped honey combs you are going to have to remove the bees from that super. There are chemicals available on the market that will make this easier. One popular chemical that beekeepers use to remove bees from the super is Bee-Go. All beekeepers have to do is apply Bee-Go to a fumer board. When the bees smell the Bee-Go they head to the bottom of the hive, leaving the super full of capped honeycombs empty for you to harvest. Another product beekeepers use to clear out supers is one called Fishers Bee Quick. Neither of these products harm the bees, the bees simply find the scent offensive and move away from it. Now that you are in possession of the honey comb you need to prepare it to be extracted. The first step in this preparation is to remove the wax caps the bees have used to seal the honey into the honey comb. Many beekeepers prefer to use nine frames instead of ten in their supers. By using nine frames they give the bees enough room to draw the comb out, placing the cap right on the very edge of the comb. This makes it easier to remove the wax caps. Beekeepers use a metal knife to remove the caps, the knife works best if the knife blade is warmed, after all its easier to cut warm wax then it is to cut cold wax. You can keep the knife blade warm with frequent dunking in a basin that is full of hot water. Many beekeepers like to use their bread knife to remove the wax caps from the honey comb while others prefer an electrical knife that is designed just for beekeepers. What do you think bee’s wax candles are made out of. Removing the caps from the dripping honey is easy, just use a piece of cheese cloth to empty the contents into a second pot, the honey will drain through the cheesecloth and the bee’s wax caps will collect on the top. Once the caps are removed from the honey comb the honey is ready to be extracted. As you remove the caps, let them fall into a pot, do not just through them away. You will notice that there is a surprising amount of honey attached to these caps, honey that can be processed and used. Also there is a market for the wax caps. Once the caps have been removed from the honeycombs the honey combs are ready to have the honey extracted.

Pollen is a source of protein, vitamins, mineral and some carbohydrates for honeybees. One pollen alone does not provide a bee with all the nutrients they need to stay healthy, so a variety of pollens are needed to provide them will all the nutrients they need. Without these nutrients, bees would not be able to produce the royal jelly required to feed the queen and rear brood. If the weather will not allow the bees to leave the hive for several days to collect pollen, and there is very little stored in the combs, it will be necessary the beekeeper to feed the bees a pollen substitute. At the same time the beekeeper will feed them sugar syrup.  The main ingredient used in making a pollen substitute is brewer’s yeast. The yeast can be fed to the bees dry, but the bees can better utilize the yeast when it is made into patties with the consistency of peanut butter. The yeast is often mixed with 50% sucrose syrup to moisten the patties. The patties are wrapped in wax paper or placed inside plastic bags to keep them moist. The beekeepers that use the high fructose corn syrup will mix the patties using that syrup. Other ingredients can be added to the patties that offer more nutrients than the yeast and syrup mixture alone. Beekeepers will add casein, lactalbumin or soy flour to their mixtures. If the beekeeper use the casein and lacatalbumin it is necessary for them to watch out for lactose and over two- percent sodium. When the beekeepers use soy flour, they try to get the “debittered” soy flour that has been processed and retains some lipids, and toasted to knock out enzymes that interfere with the bees’ digestion. Always make sure to check the data on the soy flour. The beekeeper will want to determine if the soy is a “high sucrose” variety or contains mostly stachyose. Stachyose is toxic to bees. Beekeepers will sometimes add a “feed yeast” like Torula to the pollen mixture to enhance the nutrients in the substitute. Most of them don’t use it because of the high cost. Pollen substitutes do not increase brood production as well as pollen sources brought in by the bees themselves. Because of the pollen substitute brood rearing will not stop all together should the weather stay bad for a while. A beekeeper will have a fatter bee when using a pollen substitute. There are some areas where pollen is scarce in the late summer and fall. If the beekeeper feeds the bees pollen substitute for a fatter bee, a fatter bee will winter better and rear more brood the next spring than their non-fed counterparts. Bees are not fond of pollen substitutes. It must be place directly in contact with the bees and as close to the brood as possible. As long as the bees are bringing in a trickle of pollen the substitute will be eaten. If there is no pollen being brought in, the substitute will be ignored and will spoil over time. There are some commercially formulated pollen substitutes on the market that claim the pollen substitute is so attractive to the bees that they will eat it anytime the substitute is offered. No one has investigated those claims.

One of the reasons people become involved with beekeeping is so that they can market the honey. Many beekeepers chose to sell their honey to a local market. Beekeepers who choose a local market for their honey typically sell their product to friends, family members, and neighbors. They typically set up a roadside stand to display their product, selling the honey produced in their hives along side berries, apples, and vegetables that they have grown in their gardens. If they produce a quality product their honey may start to appear in stalls at farmers markets. Some small honey producers will gain enough local credit to sell their honey at local grocery stores. Beekeepers that sell their products locally typically only a few active bee hives. The key to a successful local marketing technique is to provide the customers with a quality product and good customer relation skills. Beekeepers that market their honey typically enjoy face to face contact with their customers. Often the sale of the honey has as much to do with friendship as it does with the product. Beekeepers that sell their honey locally should take an active interest in their product. They should make sure that their display is kept clean. They should spend a significant amount of time designing the package. Bottles that are filled with honey should be made of clear plastic and glass. The bottle should be attractive, something that will catch a customer’s eye. Glued on the bottle should be a label. The label be clear an easy to read. Clearly printed on the label should be the type of product, honey, and the name of the beekeeper who produced the honey. The bottle of honey should be something that the customer will want to display on the their kitchen counter or table. If you are a beekeeper that is planning on marketing your honey at a roadside stand you should make sure that they have a sign that can be easily read by drivers. In large letters the sign should read Honey for Sale. The sign should be eye catching, but simple. If the sign is to complex, drivers won’t be able to read it. Try to keep shade over your road side stand, a comfortable customer is one who is more likely to take their time and spend some their money purchasing your product. Keep an eye on the honey you are selling. If you notice that one of the bottles on honey is stating to crystallize immediately replace it with a fresh bottle. Many beekeepers claim that setting up a hive near their roadside stand helps attract customer interest. Successful beekeepers pass out literature that gives customers insight to the art of beekeeping seems to increase sales. Handing out cards that have recipes that use honey gives customers an idea about how they can use the honey they are purchasing. Many beekeepers encourage handing out free samples and promote spending time getting to know potential customers. When you are pricing your honey make sure you consider the demands on your time and the cost of all the products you are using to turn your honey into a marketable commodity.