Introduction to beekeeping

Introduction To Bees and Beekeeping

The honey bee – apis mellifera

Bees are not wasps

Not all bees are the same

Why are we scared of bees?

“A huge swarm of deadly African bees spreads terror over American cities by killing thousands of people. “

“Corporate smuggling of South American killer bees into the United States results in huge swarms terrorizing the northern hemisphere. “

…but there’s hope

Bee Movie – Dreamworks – Nov 07

Stinging is bad for bees

What have bees ever done for us?

• In the UK about 70 crops are dependent on, or benefit from, visits from bees.

• Bees pollinate the flowers of many plants which become part of the feed of farm animals.

• The economic value of honey bees and bumble bees as pollinators of commercially grown insect pollinated crops in the UK has been estimated at over £200 million per year.

• They are responsible for pollination of approximately one third of the United States' crop species, including such species as: almonds, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears, cherries, raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, watermelons, cantaloupes, cucumbers and strawberries.

• In the US it’s over $15billion

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man."

Einstein - apparently

FACT: Honeybees are the only insects that produce food for

humans.

The Bee Colony

• 1 queen • 250 drones • 20,000 female foragers • 40,000 female house-bees • 5,000 to 7,000 eggs • 7,000 to 11,000 larvae being fed • 16,000 to 24,000 larvae developing into

adults in sealed cells

The birds and the bees???

• The queen makes only one mating flight during her life.

• Stores the sperm from up to 20 drones that she collects on that flight.

• Drones that mate with her die in the act.• She can store the sperm for up to 5 years.

The Queen

• Queens will lay almost 2,000 eggs a day.• A rate of 5 or 6 a minute. • Between 175,000-200,000 eggs are laid

per year. • A single hive contains approximately 40-

45,000 bees!

A bee’s life

• 1-2 days Cleans cells and keeps the brood warm

• 3-5 days Feeds older larvae • 6-11 daysFeeds youngest larvae • 12-17 days Produces wax, builds comb,

carries food, undertaker duties • 18-21 days Guards the hive entrance • 22+ days Flying from hive begins, pollinates

plants, collects pollen, nectar and water.

A bee• A bee travels an average of

1600 round trips in order to produce one ounce of honey; up to 6 miles per trip. To produce 2 pounds of honey, bees travel a distance equal to 4 times around the earth.

• Bees from the same hive visit about 225,000 flowers per day. One single bee usually visits between 50-1000 flowers a day, but can visit up to several thousand.

…many bees

• Bees eat honey primarily to fuel their wing muscles.

• They fly within a radius of up to 4 miles of their hive though few go that far.

• Their top speed is about 22mph (32 Km/h).

• Honey fuel consumption is approximately 7 million miles per gallon (2,25Km/litre) of honey.

Swarms

Swarms

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qsNSym_ca2o

• Reproduction• Overcrowding/Space

Swarms – bad news for beekeeepers

• You don’t want it to happen• Lose half your bees – your flying bees• Need to wait 3 weeks for bees to hatch.

Bee diseases

• Varroa• European Foul Brood • American Foul Brood• Nosema• Acarine• Sacbrood • Chalkbrood• Wax moth

CCD – Colony Collapse Disorder

• CCD – Colony Collapse Disorder• Complete absence of adult bees in colonies, with little or no

build-up of dead bees in or around the colonies. • Presence of capped brood in colonies. Bees normally will not

abandon a hive until the capped brood have all hatched. • Presence of food stores, both honey and bee pollen:

– which are not immediately robbed by other bees – which when attacked by hive pests such as wax moth and small

hive beetle, the attack is noticeably delayed.

– Big in the USA– No one knows why

An Apiary

The Hive

Stand

Alighting board

Brood chamber

Queen excluder

Honey supers

Roof

Brood Chamber

Honey Super and QE

Other beekeeping equipment

Beekeeping Technology

Want to get involved?

• North London Beekeepers– http://www.beekeeping.org.uk

• London Beekeepers– http://www.lbka.org.uk/– Taste of Beekeeping 23rd September

• British Beekeepers Association– http://www.bbka.org.uk

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0qJ_jTSFqg

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ijI-g4jHg