I have been keeping bees and mentoring new bee keepers for almost 18 years.
It's not my day job!
However, these unprecedented times have turned the self employment world upside down. Whilst we are all trying to figure out what the new "normal" will look like, my bees are a constant. They and nature and busy reacting to the seasons completely unaware and untouched by the currant world situation. There isn't a weeks goes by that I don't learn something new from them.
Whilst all the currant Beginners Courses are postponed I have been posting Bee Facts on my social media feeds, by popular request I am now listening them all together. Enjoy!
If you. have any questions, nip over to Twitter @AndieHill105 and Instagram, andie.hill, I will try and answer them.
It's not my day job!
However, these unprecedented times have turned the self employment world upside down. Whilst we are all trying to figure out what the new "normal" will look like, my bees are a constant. They and nature and busy reacting to the seasons completely unaware and untouched by the currant world situation. There isn't a weeks goes by that I don't learn something new from them.
Whilst all the currant Beginners Courses are postponed I have been posting Bee Facts on my social media feeds, by popular request I am now listening them all together. Enjoy!
If you. have any questions, nip over to Twitter @AndieHill105 and Instagram, andie.hill, I will try and answer them.
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Bees produce 3 substances, wax, honey and propolis. Propolis is made from resin, honey and wax and is used to polish, seal and disinfect the hive.
In a season you will find 3 types of bee in a hive. The workers: you will see these in your garden, all are female. Drones: male bees breed during the swarming season for mating. A Queen: who is the mother of all the above.
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All hives, whether up a tree or in a box are constructed around the "bee space" app 6mm. This allows 2 bees to pass, if the gap is bigger bees simply fill it up with brace comb.
In nature honey bees are considered a super organism. This means they work as individuals for the good of the whole. Sage advice for our times.
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Did you know, all honeybees are wild? They are not domesticated & they are not tame. It dosent matter whether they are up a tree or in a wooden hive.
Honey bees produce wax at great expense. They have to consume 8-10 lbs of their precious honey to make just 1lb(0.45klg) of wax.
Honey bees live in darkness. They communicate using a complex system of vibration, sound, smell and taste, known as pheromones. fell free to ask a question.
In summer, a large clony will fan their wings in unison to evaporate moisture from the honey, it is called a Bee roar and sounds like a jet engine. It happens just as the sun has gone down so not many beekeepers witness it. Turn your volume up!
It takes one bee, six weeks, to make one teaspoon of honey.
Honey bees have photographic memories and a 6sq mile foraging area. If you want to move a hive, you must move it beyond this, otherwise they bees just come back to the exact cm of their old entrance.
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All pollens are different colours and have different nutritional values. When you look into a hive you can see exactly which flowers the bees have been visiting.
Bees eyes are sensitive to polarised light, which penetrates thick cloud, so they can "see" the sun even in bad weather.
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When want to build comb, they link their legs together to form festoons then pass wax between each other.
Honeybees create 3 size wax cells. Worker, drone, and queen. The queen can feel the size and chooses whether to lay an unfertilised egg (male drone) or fertilised (female worker) or, to lay a new queen.