Of Bees & Honey
by David Henrikson
“Have you ever been stung?” That is among the top questions I am often asked when someone finds out I am a beekeeper. Another question is often “Are the bees doing okay?” They inquire, almost sympathetically about our favorite pollinator on which 80% of the foods we eat rely upon. Much attention has been brought to the honeybees in the last few years since the mysterious condition called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) began reducing the bee populations in many places. Many people began paying attention to the bees, and it created many new beekeepers, and bee protectors. I began working with bees in 2007 with two colonies of bees, about the time CCD began, but no one knew what hit them yet. With our large family making our own bread from scratch, we were buying 100 pounds of honey each year. And we also found local honey to be very beneficial to our health. I stumbled across a few articles on beekeep- ing, and a friend of mine also kept bees. After considering the idea over one winter, I made the decision to take on this new venture. Like many hobbies, one can put in a lot of time and money, and never see a financial return on the investment. But the reward is in the hobby itself. For us it is the local, raw honey for my own family and others. It is extremely fascinating learning about the bees and being an advocate for the only insect we get food from. I have also had op- portunities to teach kids in schools about bees/beekeeping, which made learning about insects very exciting. I’ll try to take you through my beekeeping year here. So, how are my bees doing now? I went into winter with 6 colonies. This spring I have 2, maybe 3, pulling through it okay. It is not so much the cold that gets the bees, but being cooped up for long periods of time, spreading disease, and parasites, that is difficult. They are okay with the extreme cold as long as they have plenty of food (rea- son they store honey) and that they can get to it. They won’t move to a different spot in the hive where there is honey if it remains very cold for too long. Sometimes it is a mystery why they die. One of the hives I knew was weak died, and one died that I thought was strong. There is a saying in beekeeping. “If you think you know every thing about keeping bees, you either a beginner, or you’re a liar.” Some things about bees we never figure out. To bring my colony numbers up again, by the end of April, I will be receiving 2 new queens in the mail. I will take some young bees and brood (larva/pupae before the adult stage) and add a new queen to it in a separate hive box. I am also purchasing 2 nucs (nucleus colonies) which are very small and complete hives that already have a jump start on the bees working together and growing strong. After they grow larger, these should help me get my capacity back in time for the flower nectar flow which begins in June. A bee colony is almost like one social super organism. There is the Queen, which really doesn’t ‘rule’ the hive, but does have important roles such as is spreading her scent (pheromone), letting all know things are okay, and laying eggs. Lots of them. About 2000 a day! And there are the worker bees. These are non-fertile females doing all the rest of the work. From building the comb, cleaning house, taking care of young, and of course, gathering nectar which they turn into honey. They, together, make the decisions for the colony, which also includes whether they need to ‘create’ a new queen if there isn’t one doing a good enough job. Then there are the males- drones. Their life consists of very few things; Eat, sleep and the rare, one in thousands chance of mating with a queen (outside the hive, 300 feet in the air). They don’t do any other work. The girls want them to stay out of the ‘kitchen’ since they make such a mess so they hand feed them honey. But the drones get theirs. In the fall, when resources are low, the girls kick them out of the hive to freeze and starve to death. Mating? If they had that rare opportunity, they will fall from the sky to their death afterwards. Soon I will be getting my bee suit on, opening up the boxes, and inspecting their state of affairs. During times when
22 Crest Ink April, May & June 2016
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