Beekeeping

“If the bee disappeared off the face of the earth, man would only have four years left to live.”

‘Honey consumption (as compared to refined sugar or HFCS) leads directly to the formation of liver glycogen, thus stabilising blood sugar levels. Honey thereby reduces metabolic stress and improves fat metabolism and disposal, thus combating two of the key parameters of the metabolic syndrome, Type 2 Diabetes and obesity.’

~Dr Ron Fessenden, The Honey Revolution

What Is Beekeeping

Beekeeping is a rewarding hobby that will teach you about the environment.

Beekeeping is exactly as it sounds keeping of bees, caring for the honey bees and doing your very best to ensure the survival of the honey bee. If you take care of your bees correctly, they will reward you with beautiful honey and a tree full of tasty fruit and vegetables.

What do Bees Do?

The Honey Bee is a critical pollinator: they pollinate 70% of all crop species that feed 90% of the world and are responsible for $30 billion a year in crops. If we should lose the honey bee we may lose all the plants that they pollinate, and all the animals that eat those plants.

So, by using all the chemicals that are affecting the bees we are putting ourselves in in danger. If you think about it food, medication and beautify supplies are all the result of our bees

What Bee’s Make Up a Hive

A Queen (Big Girl)

The Queen Bee’s purpose is to lay eggs and set the mood for the hive. If you have an angry hive, you more than likely have an angry queen bee. She will live for around 1-3 years and will either swarm or get killed off by the worker bees when she weakens.

The Queen bee has a stinger but normally only use it to fight to the death with other Queen Bees. This will only generally happen if there are two Queen Bees in the one hive.

Worker Bees (Small Girls)

The worker bees make up much of the hive, 95% in fact or around 60,000. They do all the decision making of the hive. The Worker Bees have the following jobs:

Foraging for food
Guard the hive.
Decide on what type of bee the queens egg will be
Decide when to swarm
Look after the brood (babies)
They also can lay emergency eggs if the hive is queens less. I have never had this happen but it can.

If you were to be stung by a bee it would be the worker bee that stings you. They will die after they sting as it rips their insides apart and is the ultimate sacrifice to protect the hive.

Drones (Big Boys)

They don’t do allot to be honest, they die during sex and are kicked out to die in the winter.The workers feed and do everything for them. They will only mate with queens from another colony and will fall from the sky. Drones do not have a stinger