Posts Tagged ‘How To Be A Beekeeper’

I know we are in the middle of winter at the moment, but let’s look forward to later on in the year. From midsummer in a good year, many hives will be approaching a crisis point. The worker/gatherer bees, numbering anything around 50,000 in a decent colony, will have brought back home huge quantities of nectar and pollen, and the vacant cells are overflowing.

The Queen has increased by many thousands the number of her brood, and now finds herself encroached upon, and pushed for space in her domain. The hive is extremely crowded, all the combs are fully occupied, and the “fanner” bees, who have the unenviable task of keeping the colony cool, are finding it difficult to cope, and returning bees cluster around the entrance, unwilling to enter this situation.

To add to the pressure, a newly hatching brood due in a week will add to the congeston even more. Something has to be done about this state of affairs, and it has to be done at once. Inactivity (except in winter) is anathema to the bee, and not tolerated in their world.

So the bees prepare to swarm. Of course, the bees who remain with the hive to form the nucleus of a new colony must have a Queen. The original Queen will go with the swarm. Ever efficient, the bees cater for any unexpected accident by preparing for many new Queens. The workers construct special cells by sacrificing other cells around them. These special cells are larger, with thicker walls.

The existing Queen then lays into these specially prepared cells eggs, which would usually hatch into worker bees. However, the nurse bees feed these eggs with richer food, and more of it, enlarge the cells more as the larvae grow. Until the cells are capped, with the new virgin Queens emerging in a week.

At this time restlessness seizes the old Queen, who rushes about, trying in vain to assert her authority, even threatening the young Queens-to-be, and order breaks down. The temperature rises to a point where things are all but intolerable and the bees swarm from the hive. The Queen, having finally left her old home, will settle not too far away initially, in some nearby bush, tree, old log or suchlike, the bees will cluster around her, forming the familiar ball shape of the swarm. This is the time that the beekeeper, if he has been watchful, can gather them up and transport them to a new hive to start anew. Otherwise, within a short time scouts will have found a new permanent home, and the swarm will be lost.

The original hive, now depleted by more than half, now returns to it’s life as though nothing had happened. A few days later the strongest of the new Queens-to-be lets it be known that she is ready to emerge. She will cut the capping of her cell, which has previously been thinned and smoothed by the nurses to aid her exit, press against it, force it open like a hinged lid, and step out onto the comb. The nearest honey cell has her first attention, feeding hungrily. She then devotes her attention to her sisters, finding all the other Queen cells, ripping them open and killing her rivals.

If she is not quick enough, or is not allowed by the other bees, she will wait to fight to the death any other potential Queens that may emerge. Alternatively she may decide not to fight for the position of Queen here and join an “afterswarm”. The bee law remains intact. A law of bee life, having very few exceptions, has been upheld. “One Queen – one kingdom”.

As the days get longer with the onset of spring, the mass of bees clinging to the combs start to feel the slight increase in temperature, and the cluster begins to move. Those bees on the outside of the cluster move into the warmer centre of the group, and those on the inside start to move to the outside, making their way to venture out into the world again.
The beekeeper, who should by now be watching for signs of activity, will be pleased to see these first emissaries coming out of the hive. First one or two, then a few, then many will find their way out. They don’t go far, or stay out for very long initially. Just re-aquainting themselves with their surroundings, and gathering strength before getting back to the daily grind withing a few days. Gathering food for the hive.
At this time the Queen is stirring, she produces a pheromone which tells the hive that breeding time has started again. General activity then spreads throughout the hive. Now the Queen will start moving in a small circle to begin with, going from cell to cell. Examining each one, and when satisfied laying an egg in it. These eggs are looked after by “nurse” bees, who lavish care and attention on them. After three days the eggs hatch, and the resulting grub is is fed by the nurses for five days on honey and pollen collected from flowers the previous season, and stored for the purpose.The cell is then sealed with wax, and kept warm by the nurse bees until, after a week, a perfect fully formed new bee emerges. Ready to involve themselves in the increasingly busy life of the colony. In the meantime the Queen has enlarged her brood, moving onto fresh combs. Now, with new bees being produced constantly, the population is growing at a great rate.
Within the hive, those bees whose job it is to produce wax from the building of new combs, have fed themselves from the stores of honey. They form into compact clusters, generating the high temperatures necessary for them to produce it. This wax is prepared in the mouth, then transferred to the “builders” to make the comb. The comb is an amazing piece of engineering, having the shape and form which gives the greatest possible strength, with the least expenditure of materials, time, and labour.
Other bees are the sanitation crew. Their job entails general cleaning of the hive. They remove the winters dead bees. Also any dead cells, which could be a cause of infection in the hive. The floor, which over the winter will have aquired a carpet of broken comb, pollen pellets, and dust, is swept. Ensuring that all is clean and infection free, ready for the new season ahead.
Still more “sentry” bees are employed around the entrance to the hive in order to ensure that only bees from their own hive are allowed entry. They will vigorously defend their hive against any attempt by robber bees, wasps, and any other would be thief to gain access to their colony and it’s riches. Any beekeeper who has witnessed their sentries in action against marauders will know they will give their lives for the good of the hive, and they do.
After only about three or four weeks the hive is in full swing, and the beekeeper is looking forward to another prosperous summer.