Hot Topics
The topics covered below include:
-Nutrition
-Education
-Habitat Loss
-Environmental Influences
-Hive health
-Biodiversity
If you'd like to learn more about a topic or have topic ideas, please send us an email by clicking on the button below.
Nutrition
Healthy hives require:
Quality nutritional resources in good quantities.
Nutritional resources include:
1. water
2. pollen
3. bee bread
4. nectar
5. honey
Water:
Water is essential for all life. Colonies need reliable water sources, especially when temperatures allow your bees to be out flying. Here in Colorado, it is essential to provide water year-round since we see our bees out flying on 50°F days in February. Sometimes I'll see them when temps are in the 40°'s! I recall recording a video of my bees on Valentine's Day titled "My 10,000 Valentines." Side note: Being a first year beekeeper, I was naïve to how many Valentines I truly had in my hive that February, but it was a whole lot more than 10,000!
Pollen:
Pollen is the protein source for the honey bee. Pollen is the powder-like substance seen on flowers and flowering trees/shrubs. Pollen varies in color depending upon the source. The bees will forage and collect pollen and store it in their corbiculae or pollen baskets on their hind legs. Beekeepers also call these their "pollen pants!" Awestruck is a rarely used word, but perfectly describes the feeling when looking at the color variances of pollen collected by the bees, especially on a full pollen frame.
Beebread:
Beebread is stored pollen in the hive and has more of a packed, wet appearance in the hexagonal wax cells. It obtains a glossy, wet appearance after the bees concoct a mixture of salivary enzymes, pollen and a small amount of nectar in order to ferment and store it properly for long-term use. It is mostly fed to the young, non-foraging bees giving them nutrition to take care of the eggs and larvae.
Nectar:
Nectar is the liquid component produced by flowering plants, trees and shrubs. I like to think of it as the flower's sweet reward for the pollinator. The honey bee consumes the nectar from the flower with their proboscis (tongue) and stores it in their crop (honey stomach). Once they return to the hive, they perform trophallaxis with a non-foraging, hive bee in order to relieve their crop of the nectar contents. Trophallaxis is how the liquid is transferred from one bee to another. Once trophallaxis is complete, the foraging bee will leave the hive to go forage again and the non-foraging bee will begin dehydrating the nectar in order to store it as honey in the hive.
Honey:
Honey is the product we all know so well! The nectar that was brought in by the forager bees is transferred to a non-foraging bee in the hive via trophallaxis. The non-foraging bee now uses specific enzymes and dehydrates the water from the nectar until it reaches a specific amount (18%). Once properly converted and dehydrated down to 18%, the bee will cap the cell full of honey with a thin layer of wax for long-term storage. The beekeeper either chooses to uncap and extract the honey for human consumption or leave the honey in the hive for the bees to consume throughout the winter. It is recommended that the beekeeper leave 80-100lbs of honey on the hive for the winter bees, which is equivalent to a full 10-frame deep of honey.
Education
Learning is the key to living!
Beekeeping is one of those subjects that once you start learning it, you literally can't stop!
Not only is there so much to learn, but beekeeping continues to evolve and will continue to do so. The research that has been conducted is available to assist in guiding us towards improved and more sustainable beekeeping practices. We are also beginning to understand how to work with the pollinators and not against them. Many individuals are not fans of wasps, flies or even moths, but we are starting to realize that these pollinators are just as important to our ecosystems. The vast subject of pollination alone could fill one's entire lifetime...and then some many more!
A few extraordinary beekeeping facts include:
1. The queen bee will measure a cell with her front legs to know whether she is supposed to lay a male (drone) egg or a female (worker) egg. Drone cells are larger than worker cells.
2. The worker bees (female) go through stages in their life cycle where they perform specific duties including: nurse bees, wax-producing bees that build comb, guard bees, and finally forager bees. The drone's (male bee) purpose is to mate with an unrelated virgin queen.
3. "Winter bees" are born to survive the winter with excess fat bodies, whereas the bees born the remainder of the year die within 35-45 days due to working/foraging themselves to death.
Joining your local bee club is one of the best ways to obtain knowledge and beekeepers love to talk about bees! Visit: https://harvestlane.com/pages/beekeeping-clubs to select your state and find a local bee club near you!
If you're in the Denver area, visit: https://www.milehivebeeclub.org/ and join today! We'd be thrilled to have you and your membership also gives you membership to CSBA - Colorado State Beekeeper's Association - https://coloradobeekeepers.org/
Today, we are so fortunate to have such access to published studies, research articles, books, magazines, journals, podcasts and videos/documentaries. Local libraries are still great sources for reading material and online webinars are abundant (sometimes free too)!
Opportunities for continued learning will arise as you become more involved in beekeeping.
Your knowledge will continue to grow and grow!
From personal experience, I can tell you it feels so great to share what I've learned so far with newer beekeepers who are seeking my advice and opinion. I'm not afraid to tell them I don't know and sometimes it's a fun challenge to find out the answer for us both!
Habitat Loss
What does "habitat loss" mean to you?
Can you picture what it would look like to the honey bee?
Some thoughts that may come to mind are:
-Clear-cutting forests
-Wildfires
-Monoculture
-Urban development
-Personal home aesthetics
Habitat Loss: Natural vs. Unnatural
Habitat loss can occur both naturally and in unnatural ways. Natural habitat loss are acts of Nature, such as flooding and wildfires, whereas unnatural loss can be thought of as "man's doing" or "by man's own hand." For example, unnatural habitat loss may be man electing to cut down a tree on his property containing a feral honey bee hive or man creating a picturesque, green manicured lawn.
The cause of habitat loss may be unavoidable. However, human's have more of an affect on the 'unnatural' aspect than we think. Education plays a major role in developing a level of understanding, which allows us to gain an overall perspective of how humans alter the environment. Through self-education, we can make more informed decisions and take into consideration who or what could be affected by our decision.
The literature says honey bees prefer to concentrate foraging on just a few flower species per day as opposed to visiting vast numbers of flower species per day. This saves them foraging time and energy. Consider the example below.
A honey bee may find an abundance of Russian Sage flowers. She'll go back to the hive, perform her waggle dance to alert the other foragers in the hive of the location of the abundant Russian Sage and then her and a large number of foragers will focus on that mass of Russian Sage flowers until it is mainly depleted. Of course, multiple foragers in the hive may have discovered their own pollen/nectar treasure somewhere else and recruited their own group of foragers. Therefore, multiple groups of foragers are going to different nutrition-rich locations over the course of the day.
For this reason, it is encouraged that gardeners who are planting 'specifically for pollinators' consider planting in clumps, but still keeping a wide variety of plants in their pollinator gardens.
As an example, if you're planting Echinacea, then you'll want to keep your Echinacea mostly together (in clumps) to make foraging easier for the bees. Along with Echniacea however, you'll want to plant a diverse selection of other pollinator-friendly species. This increases biodiversity, or variety!
Food for thought: I once heard that pollinators are near-sighted, which is why planting in clumps/clusters is also beneficial, allowing for the increased ability to "see" ample resources from further away!
Habitat Loss: Monoculture
You may think planting in "clumps" is exactly what monoculture is doing, so why is monoculture considered bad for honey bees?
Monoculture is looked at differently because most times the mono-crop "one-crop" is the only thing planted for miles and miles. Also, monocultured crops will only have one or possibly two bloom-windows when food (pollen or nectar) is available for the bees. Once that bloom-window is over, the bees suffer prolonged dearth (absence of forage food/nutrition).
Bees need a variety of pollen sources to store in the hive. One way to relate to this is to think of our diets and the variety of protein sources we consume. Pollen = protein for the bees. The pollen is then converted into bee bread that the young, non-foraging bees consume in the hive. It can be thought of as bringing your child up on only one protein source and you only have a limited time to obtain it and store it properly. This is just an idea of what monoculture may be for the bees. It is likely to say that natural, feral honey bees would not set up their home in this type of environment.
Bees may forage up to 5 miles, but prefer to forage within 1.5 - 3 miles of their hive. This lack of variety/biodiversity results in a lack of overall nutrition available. In addition to the constraints of specified bloom-window(s), these are just a couple of reasons why monoculture is not ideal for honey bee species.
Bees have preference over food just as we do. Just because a plant is there, doesn't mean that it is the plant that the bee prefers. Such is the case with corn, which is mostly wind-pollinated and thus why it must be planted in blocks. Bees do not necessarily prefer to forage on corn, but will take what they can get. In other words, some pollen is more nutritional for the bees than others and bees prefer to forage on the most nutrient-dense source if available.
Influences
Environmental influences are numerous and constantly evolving. Understanding how the surrounding environment is affecting your bees is a lifelong learning lesson. It'll likely be consistently unpredictable!
Current environmental influences we are seeing is an increased report of drought and higher temperatures. Here in Colorado, daytime and nighttime temperatures are increasing. If it is getting warmer earlier in the morning as well as later into the evening, then one can assume that the bees are out being busy the entire time. If the bees are busy, then they are consuming food to keep up with the energy they are utilizing. And, if there is not enough food in the environment due to drought and the high temperatures, then the bees are likely consuming some of what they have stored in the hive. These stores may be considered their winter stores, depending on what time of year we're talking about. This results in an overall increased consumption of food stores by the bees.
Increased length of foraging times could lead to the reduced ability to find adequate amounts of food to replenish what is being consumed. Just because the weather is nicer longer, doesn't mean you are going to find what you're looking for if you're out in it. This may take a bit of thought to understand, but it is worth considering. This imbalance could result in a depletion of food stores early on, leading to starvation throughout the progression of the cold season.
This poses the question: Has the bloom season been extended due to the overall elevation in temperatures or do plants still exhibit their regular length for bloom windows? One may even argue that the elevated temperatures could actually be decreasing the length of the bloom season due to severe drought or intolerable excessive heat resulting in early plant deaths or shortened bloom time.
Higher temperatures also result in evaporation and lack of water. Water is just as important to the bees as it is to humans and needs to be consumed regularly. However, the bees also utilize water droplets to cool the hive if the internal hive temperature is becoming too hot. Increased hive temperatures can be fatal to the developing brood (babies). Fanning and evaporation of water droplets inside the hive allows for the internal temperature to decrease. If there are not adequate water resources available for the forager bees to bring into the hive, then the hive is at risk for overheating, resulting in the potential for multiple negative effects.
All conspiracy theories aside, the increase in air pollution is becoming more and more apparent in our major cities. Now, more than ever, the skies of Denver are being polluted with poisonous chemicals and are termed "Chemtrails." These are lingering, very long trails of chemicals released from designated aircrafts. These chemicals have been identified as Aluminum, Barium and Strontium. The appearance of the clouds, following the spraying of these chemicals, has absolutely no resemblance to natural clouds and the effects are long-lasting.
If you need further information, first start by looking up and observing what is going on in the skies where you live. Not every city is bombarded by the chemical skies, but please visit www.geoengineeringwatch.org if you'd like more information. By doing so, you'll likely become more devoted to advocating for the health of your bees.
Honey bees are a "keystone" species and their significance is one that affects many, many other species on this planet, both plant and animal. The effects that the honey bee has on our future is paramount...to keep it summarized, we need them to survive.
Hive Health
Hive health is your #1 priority as a beekeeper.
One of the most important beekeeper concepts to comprehend is how your hives can affect other hives in your area.
Honey bees have been known to forage up to 3-5 miles from their hive, but they mostly stay within a range of 1-3 miles. It can be assumed that the majority of hobbyist beekeepers do not know how many neighboring hives are located within that range. Since it is not required to register your hives in the state of Colorado, it becomes a guessing game as to how many neighboring hives are in the vicinity of your own.
Moreover, neighboring hives as well as our own hives are constantly changing due to splits, swarms, absconsions and death. Quite frankly, keeping an accurate count does not seem all that feasible. Therefore, a different approach can be taken by simply accepting that there are likely several neighboring hives in your area that your bees interact with daily.
Bee-to-bee interaction can occur in many different ways including:
- sharing the same forage source (a large patch of lavender)
- sharing the same water source (a fountain in the yard on the corner lot)
- robbing events of smaller, weaker hives by larger, stronger hives
- drone congregation areas (DCA's)
- drifting of both worker bees and drone bees
We're never going to stop these interactions from happening, nor do we want to in certain instances because without bee-to-bee interactions there would be no life! On the other hand, I'm sure we'd all be thrilled if we saw lesser occurrences of robbing and drifting. So instead, what we can do is take measures to ensure that our managed hives are the healthiest they can be.
How can you ensure you are maintaining healthy hives?
- monitor & manage Varroa mites in each one of your colonies and test often (monthly)
- provide water sources in or near your apiary
- provide supplemental feed if necessary such as pollen substitutes and sugar syrup
- reduce the entrances of smaller, weaker hives to prevent or reduce robbing
- perform splits in an effort to prevent swarming
- evaluate brood closely for any signs of disease (EFB, AFB, sacbrood, chalkbrood, etc.)
- evaluate bees closely for any signs of disease (DWV, PMS, CBPV, IABV)
- evaluate equipment closely (Nosema, dysentery, wax moths, SHBs, Varroa mites)
- talk to your neighbors, bee club members, & social platforms about local hive health
- be sure to ask questions to mentors, fellow beekeepers and experts in the field
- attend continuing education courses, webinars & lectures for the most up-to-date info
The health of our hives carries out into the world and affects neighboring hives just as their hives affect ours.
Keeping healthy hives is a collaborative effort among beekeepers and a unified goal.
As beekeepers, each of us plays a part in contributing to honey bee health.
How healthy our hives are impacts the honey bee species as a whole and affects the next generation of bees...as well as the next generation of beekeepers.
Cheers to keeping HEALTHY HIVES!
Biodiversity
I think providing a definition for biodiversity is a suitable introduction:
Biodiversity is the biological variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic, species, and ecosystem level ~ Wikipedia
According to an article posted on sciencedirect.com, there are 431 World Ecosystems that have been identified. That number helps us humans put into perspective just how deep the rabbit hole goes when trying to understand biodiversity. Luckily, we don't have to completely understand it!
Diversity of life on Earth helps with balance. The planet is always striving towards homeostasis. Once the observer realizes how biodiversity contributes to a more sustainable Earth, then certain practices, such as monoculture, are evaluated from a different perspective and understood differently. It's not just the human and the crop they manage or the human and their livestock, but a cohesive relationship between all of the species in that particular system that allows for the operation to be a success. This includes the interactions and relationships between what is in the soil, what is growing from the soil, what is being consumed, what is in the air, what is being added and the list goes on and on.
Soil composition in and of itself is a compilation of billions of bacteria, microbes, fungi, nematodes, microorganisms, protozoa, and arthropods. Reduction in soil biodiversity results in malnourished soil that is void of the elemental components responsible for keeping it in balance. These components are what differentiate soil from dirt. The effect that one component has on another component becomes apparent when the balance is thrown off and these relationships are what keep the overall composition of the soil in check.
Fluctuations in this biological variety and variability of life on Earth are arising due to imbalance. One example is the algal blooms seen in the oceans. Too much of one species can do temporary harm, permanent harm or even cause death. Emerald ash borer, Beetle kill pine, and Varroa mites in honey bees are example of species overload or imbalance.
The first step is understanding what biodiversity is.
The next step is considering what interests you or what is important to you so that you can focus on what positive impact or contribution you'd like to make.
One example could be improving the variety and variability of the flowering plants in your backyard, which would contribute to increasing the biodiversity of your pollinator habitat in an effort to increase the number of native pollinator species who visit.
Biodiversity also contributes significantly to overall improved nutrition. Diets consisting of rich, diverse foods allows our bodies to thrive with the essential vitamins and minerals we need. Essential vitamins and minerals must be obtained through diet; on the other hand, our body will produce or synthesize the Non-Essential vitamins and minerals.
Honey bees obtain protein from pollen sources and carbohydrates from nectar sources. Providing a variety of pollen and nectar sources expands the nutrients available to the bees who consume these proteins and carbohydrates. It's like a buffet!
The concept is simple, but there are some technical and scientific words that can throw us for a loop.
In simple terms, your positive impact could be to plant a variety of flowering plants that provide both pollen and nectar sources for the pollinators that you're wanting to attract and support. The pollinator list is expansive and includes bees (there are 20,000 species), bats, butterflies, birds, beetles, wasps, flies, moths and so on!
Discover what interests you and began diversifying life around you!