Something is buzzing in the bee yard! This time of year is the BUSIEST of all in the world of honeybees. And as much as we love to partake in the toils of our thousands of hive residents, for them it is all about survival of the species. Spring is the official kick-off to building up as many bees as possible while storing up more food than imaginable by fall.
During winter the hives simply stay alive. The worker bees (all female) hover around the queen, beating their wings to keep her warm. They feed off stored honey from the summer before just waiting for spring and the return of pollen and nectar. The moment that happens the queen is back to her regular job, laying eggs to rebuild the hive.
Even before dandelions and peach tree blossoms appear, our girls are pouring into the hives with packed pollen sacs. The first pollen is yellow, then as the weeks go by we begin to see different shades of yellow and orange. The moment the maple tree in the front yard bursts with tiny red buds, it is covered with thousands of buzzing bees feasting on both nectar and pollen. Within a week, the willow tree is filled with bright yellow curly-cues- ahh, the menu is growing
larger by the day.
To say these bees are workaholics is no joke. Once spring appears the average lifespan of the worker bee goes from the five month wintertime span to only an average six week summertime span. As the queen fills the brood cells with eggs the demand for baby food requires a full time commitment from all involved. One might think that every bee in the hive is out collecting nectar and pollen, however that job is the top promotion in the honeybee world.
Everyone in the hive has a very important job, so we will begin with the most famous, the queen. The queen begins her life the same way any other female larvae does, except she is fed royal jelly from the worker bees so that she will grow to be larger than the other females. The hive collectively decides on when to grow queens, usually because the current queen has died, is aging and no longer laying, or has left in a swarm. There are
Queen cell on bottom right corner
usually many queen cells created and upon the queens being born they duke it out until just one queen remains. At this point the winner takes her maiden flight to a “drone zone” to be mated by around a dozen drones. This will ensure that her babies will have different traits that will increase their chance of survival. For instance, a bee with cold weather genes will better survive a cold winter, while a bee with hot weather genes will survive a heat wave. Somehow this amazing little queen finds her way back to the hive and begins laying eggs. She will stay in the hive her entire life unless the hive becomes overpopulated, at which point she will swarm by taking half the bees with her to find a new home. The worker bees (which are all female) create the brood cells in such a way that she will know which cells to lay fertilized eggs which will be female bees or which to lay unfertilized eggs which will be males (drones). The female honeybees will begin their lives with the task of nurse. She feeds and takes care of the larvae, tends to the queen and caps the honey in the hive. From nurse she graduates to build honeycomb and collect water then on to become a hive guard. Eventually she will graduate to her final role where she will leave the hive to collect pollen and nectar to bring back to the hive and make honey. The first worker bees to locate where the pollen and nectar is return to the hive and waggle dance the directions to the rest of the collectors. As long as temperatures are near 50* and there isn’t too much wind or rain, these girls will be out all day every day bringing in the ingredients to make that incredible liquid gold.
Right now, we are checking the hives about once a week to see where they are at with brood and honey. As more honey is made, we are adding honey supers to the tops of the hives. These are boxes specific for honey, while the brood box remains on the bottom. We are also checking for mites and beetles. Unfortunately, these pests can quickly destroy a hive. If we find beetles, which we usually do, we put obstacles in and around the hive that the bees can maneuver around, but the
beetles can’t. Even a simple dryer sheet strategically placed can cause a beetle to get stuck while the honeybees continue on with business as usual. Mites are a whole other story for another blog. Because we keep chemical-free bee yards, we have to interrupt the mite’s lifecycle later on in the summer.
The final hive check is for queen cells. Finding a cluster of queen cells in a healthy hive this time of year is a good indication the hive is preparing to swarm. A little kind intervention not only keeps half of the hive from leaving our bee yard, it often allows us to create a whole new hive for the yard!
Remember, all pollinators are the magic makers when it comes to our favorite fruits, vegetables, flowers and trees! Planting a pollinator garden, letting the dandelions grow and keeping pesticides away from your property help insure these amazing necessary friends can continue to thrive!
Audrey L Elder
Fourteen Acre Wood
Comments