Different Bees in The Hives

• Workers: The worker bees forage for pollen and nectar, help the queen and drones, feed larvae, ventilate the hive,defend the nest and perform other tasks.

• Queens: The queen bee is the only member of the colony able to lay fertilized eggs.

• Drones: The drones only have one task , to fertilize new queen bees.  

 

Beekeeping Suits 

A bee suit is a must, if you are a beekeeper. The essential part of your bee suit that should never be left off is the veil. Your eyesight is too important to take a chance with. At the very least you should always wear a veil. It is not worth taking the risk of losing an eye from a sting.

The lighter your bee suit in colour the better, Bees tend to be more aggressive to dark colours. 

Bee gloves are a good suggestion, gloves long enough to reach over the elbows is prefered.

  

Species

There are about 20,000 species of bees worldwide. Some species may not yet have been discovered, and many are either not named or have not been well studied. Bees are found throughout the world except at the highest altitudes, in polar regions, and on some small oceanic islands. 

The greatest diversity of bee species is found in warm, arid or semiarid areas, especially in the American Southwest and Mexico. Bees range in size from tiny species only 2 mm in length to rather large insects up to 4 cm long. Many bees are black or gray, but others are bright yellow, red, or metallic green or blue.

The Importance of Bees

Bees are dependent on pollen as a protein source and on flower nectar or oils as an energy source. Adult females collect pollen primarily to feed their larvae. The pollen they inevitably lose in going from flower to flower is important to plants because some pollen lands on the pistils of other flowers of the same species, resulting in cross-pollination.

Bees are, in fact, the most important pollinating insects, and their interdependence with plants makes them an excellent example of the type of symbiosis known as mutualism, an association between unlike organisms that is beneficial to both parties.

Facts about bees

Diet: Honeybees produce honey from pollen and nectar of the plants they pollinate. They store the honey in honeycombs in their nests, which they use to feed their young in colder months. 

Habitat: Honeybee nests vary in size. They typically build their nests in tree crevices, but will occasionally build nests in roofs or chimneys.

Impact: Honeybees do sting, but they only sting once. The sting can be extremely painful if the stinger is not immediately removed from the skin. Persons allergic to insect stings will have a more severe reaction.

Prevention: Because honeybee colonies can be extremely large and removal can be very messy, only a pest management professional or experienced beekeeper can safely remove a honeybee nest.

About Bees

Honey Bees

Honeybees live in large "families" and are found all over the world. The honeybee is the only social insect whose colony can survive many years. That is because they huddle together and eat honey to keep themselves alive during the winter months. 

Their wings flap 11,000 times per minute, which is why it sounds like they are "buzzing". Honeybees can only sting once, because their stingers are barbed and tear off when they try to get away.

• Size: 1/2 cm
• Common Name: Honeybee
• Kingdom: Animalia
• Phylum: Arthropoda
• Class: Insecta
• Order: Hymenoptera
• Family: Apidae
• Species: Apis

Bee Keeping

If you can garden, you can be a beekeeper.It takes about the same amount of time and effort to keep your vegetables producing as it does to keep bees. One big bonus of beekeeping is that the bees help your vegetables, flower and other garden plants grow.

First Post

First Post

I'll be bringing you the farmers guide to bee keeping.