What's the Buzz?

FRESH HONEY !!!

Using smoke to subdue the bees

Yesterday we were invited to help friends bottle up a batch of sweet nectar after a bit of bee background. What fascinating things we learned about these busy little creatures from Ed, the beekeeper.
~There is only one queen in a hive and her main purpose in life is to make more bees.
~She is larger than the workers or drones.
~Drones only live about eight weeks and their sole purpose is to mate with a new queen.
~Any drones left at the end of the season are considered unnecessary and are driven out of the   hive to die.
~Worker bees do all the different tasks needed to maintain and operate the hive; they make up the majority of the hive's occupants and are all sterile females. They construct the comb, rear the brood, tend to the queen and drones, clean, and defend the hive.

These honeybees spent a bit of time humming and buzzing while visiting the wildflowers that are beautifully spread across the fields. They’ve collected nectar and pollen and have been busy making honey for themselves...and for us!  Honey, which is actually a food source for the colony, is made when the nectar of flowers is consumed. It is refined and concentrated; then it's stored in the honeycomb by the bees. They make alot of honey so there will be plenty of food when flower nectar is unavailable, such as winter. Honeybees remain active through the winter so they must consume and metabolize the honey in order to keep from freezing to death.

We found this information last evening while reading about the bees: “The honeybees return to the hive and pass the nectar onto other worker bees. These bees suck the nectar from the honeybee's stomach through their mouths. These "house bees" "chew" the nectar for about half an hour. During this time, enzymes are breaking the complex sugars in the nectar into simple sugars so that it is both more digestible for the bees and less likely to be attacked by bacteria while it is stored within the hive. The bees then spread the nectar throughout the honeycombs where water evaporates from it, making it a thicker syrup. The bees make the nectar dry even faster by fanning it with their wings. Once the honey is gooey enough, the bees seal off the cell of the honeycomb with a plug of wax. The honey is stored until it is eaten. In one year, a colony of bees eats between 120 and 200 pounds of honey.”

Our future beekeeper

Using a hot uncapping knife to scrape the honey from the comb

 

Any excess honey that is nor scraped off is then spun from the comb


We had no trouble finding volunteers to help with the spinning


Straining the honey

Aaron feeling "a bit like Winnie the Pooh!"

Sweet Success !!!

Comments

[MaryM]

Donna,
What a fabulous field trip. We have watched the uncapping and extraction process before but have never had a chance to watch a beekeeper in the field. That would "bee" amazing! I love all the bee facts you included and the glimpse into a fun day. Great photos, btw.

[Maria]

Totally, totally, totally, totally awesome.

Did I happen to mention how totally awesome???

Wow!

[Jennifer G. Miller]

Oh, I've always wanted to do beekeeping! What a great field trip!