Thursday, April 25, 2024
On March 11 the Morris Federation learned about beekeeping from Christina (Baker) Coleman of Smiling Bee Honey Farm in Levita, Texas. As a youngster, she watched her father and older brother work as beekeepers, but she and younger siblings were not allowed to help. Later, when she had a chance to work with them, beekeeping became a passion, and she loved working with the honey bees.
Her first suggestion for anyone interested in becoming a beekeeper is to learn as much as possible about honey bees – from books, beekeeping clubs, beekeeping classes, and neighboring beekeepers. One needs to understand how and where to build a hive, how the hive works and how responsibilities are divided up among bees, where to get good bee stock, and what is needed to provide adequate management for beekeeping (i.e., necessary safety equipment, how to prevent and troubleshoot problems, and much more).
In selecting a site for the apiary, these are a few things that need to be considered: an abundance of flowering shrubs and flora, a water source nearby, an open and shaded dry place, an area clear of dry leaves, a location away from power stations and highways, available ventilation, and an area receiving both morning and evening light.
Each colony will have perhaps 50,000-60,000 bees, but only one queen bee is allowed to survive. Several queen bees may hatch, but usually the first one to hatch kills her rivals. She is the reproductive individual and generally leaves the hive only either to mate, or as an experienced queen with a swarm. (A swarm may occur when the bees get agitated due to heat or overcrowding in the hive, and the beekeeper must watch for signs of a swarm and act before it occurs in order to prevent losing much of his stock of productive workers as well as a good queen.) The queen may be recognized because she has a larger abdomen and smaller wings than the worker bees, but often the beekeeper puts a colored mark on the queen’s back so she can be easily located in the hive.
The male bee is called a drone. He is larger than the worker bees and in some ways his body resembles that of a bumble bee. His only function in life is to mate with the queen bee. The queen may leave the hive to find a group of drones. Sometimes the drones may come from her hive, or they may have come from a mile or more away. The queen may mate five to seven times, and up to around 40 or more times. After mating only one time, the drone dies. Those who do not mate may return to their hives, but eventually they become a drain on the hive, and since they serve no purpose, the worker bees kill them. The queen saves the sperm to use for the rest of her life, which may be two to six years. (In the past, the average was six to seven years, but the average now is two to four years). She will lay about 1,000-1,500 eggs per day during the honey production season, replacing bees who have died. Between 175,000-200,000 eggs are laid each year.
The last class of bees are the worker bees (sterile females). They are aptly named because they do all the foraging, care and feeding of the young, honey production and storage, wax production, cleaning and defending the hive. They carry off dead bees and drones they have killed. They feed and protect the queen. Their lifespan may last only four to six weeks. They forage as much as 5,500 miles back and forth to the hive and may visit 50 to 100 flowers on each trip, but a worker bee only makes an average of ½ teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. They collect nectar and pollen, which combine with enzymes in their honey gut to mix into “bee bread,” used to feed larvae and the queen.
Coleman said that she doesn’t always wear the protective clothing for beekeepers because she is used to the bees, and they are familiar with her. There are exceptions, however, such as when she is performing certain jobs that may disturb the bees or if they are agitated. Asked how to tell when they are agitated, she said that the bees will fly into you headfirst, as if giving a warning that their space has been invaded. For the most part, the workers are fairly docile, and if they sting anyone or anything, they die shortly afterward.
In warm weather, nearby or more distant flowers and flowering shrubs allow worker bees to bring in food to make honey and to make royal jelly to feed the queen. Coleman sets out water nearby for the bees and adds sugar water (half water and half white sugar) for them. Once she removes the sugar water, she replaces it with sugar patties, especially for the winter months. In hot weather, the worker bees may gather around the queen and beat their wings to keep her cool. In cold weather, they gather close in to surround the queen, and the beating of their wings causes warmth. Coleman said that one time she was standing close enough to a hive that her leg began to feel a strong burning sensation, then she realized the heat was being created by the workers in the hive. Their wings beat about 11,400 times per minute, and that’s what causes the buzzing sound bees make.
Hive management includes many responsibilities and close monitoring of the hive. The beekeeper needs to watch for signs of swarming, such as agitation, building new queen cells or swarm cells as indicated by peanut shell-shaped extensions from the lower part of the hive, indication of an ill or aged queen, or bearding (bees gather outside the hive with strands similar to beards coming off the hives, indicating lack of circulation and heat from overcrowding).
Splitting the colony is one possibility, and there are several ways of doing this, depending on your beekeeping plans. Another thing to watch for is the queen bee dying; if this happens and is not addressed, the entire hive can be lost. Avoiding purchase of new bees that are ill is an issue. Use of insecticides and sprays by neighbors or by neighbors of individuals from whom you buy your bees can taint your whole colony and the honey as well. Sometimes individuals call for help in removing bees from their property. She related one story of an ambulance driver who left the door of the vehicle open overnight, and the light inside the ambulance attracted a bunch of bees by morning. Coleman said that people are asked not to spray hives with insecticide, but rather to call someone trained to remove bees — a sheriff, police chief, county agricultural agent, or beekeeper. The insect spray causes the hive to become a total loss, whereas others will know how to remove the bees safely and perhaps save them for another colony.
Harvesting and processing honey is another job for beekeepers. Raw honey is locally produced, taken from the hive, very lightly filtered, and never fully heated to the level of pasteurization. Pure honey is pasteurized; it is removed from the hive and gently filtered to remove dirt, pollen, and dead bugs before being packaged, and it is pure 100% honey with no added ingredients. Processed honey is over-pasteurized to the point where it loses most of its nutritional value. Honey can last for a long time; some from about 3,000 years ago was found in King Tut’s tomb, and it still looked edible.
Coleman emphasized the importance of bees. They are instrumental in our current agricultural system as pollinators of 30% of the world’s most common food crops. They are the only insect that produces food for humans, with honey being a most valuable nutritional food. It is full of a variety of essential minerals, antioxidants, and amino acids. Eating honey is a natural way to get an energy boost, and studies have shown that it works well in preventing fatigue and enhancing performance of athletes.
The wax plays an important role in many industries, including cosmetics, polishing, and pharmaceutical industries. Honey is an antimicrobial healing agent and can be used effectively on minor burns or scrapes. It has been shown to speed the healing of wounds and helps as therapy for breathing, allergies, arthritis, emphysema, and bronchitis.
Coleman explained that she has a deep or brood size honey bee frame in a window at her home with a working bee hive inside. It has two tubes extending from it, one going outside to allow the bees to leave and return from foraging all day, and the other coming inside with a plastic mask on the end so that she can hold it up to her nose and smell the honey and wax. She said that it not only smells pleasant, but also helps allergies, sore throats, and breathing.
