The Amazing World of Bees

Well-being of bees

Since spring this year has come much earlier than usual, beekeepers had to begin the work. However, they are aware of potential low temperatures.  To start with these works, it is necessary to inspect the hive, i.e. remove everything from the hive bottom and check whether there are any parasites, or bees with some worrying infectious symptoms. Then, the appropriate treatment and care for the insects can be selected. Most of all, it is necessary to check whether the bees are alive and whether they have enough food to survive safely until their first outings from the hive and the time between the blooming of different varieties of plants.

Carbohydrates are in the natural diet of the honey bee. They also consume sucrose or inverted sugar syrups. Products can be prepared by the beekeeper, such as special feed doughs, says Dr Anna Gajda, SGGW. If we want to prepare the dough ourselves, we need powdered sugar with the addition of honey. We can add some pollen or some other kind of protein. We knead all the ingredients together and place the dough in a beehive.

When the warm weather continues for a long time, the bees should be resettled in a new, clean and disinfected hive. The old hive frames should be replaced and some new ones should appear as the bee colony grows. New frames should enable bees to build comb. It is recommended not to disturb the bees and look into the hive too often if you don’t need to. They like quiet. And then comes the time when insects fly out to find blooming flowers.

Naturally, it is necessary to take care of the welfare of bee colonies all year round. When they are out of the hive too; diseases are lurking, which they can contract from bees from other colonies. The work of a beekeeper requires constant attention and care. The honeybee is a farm animal, so the work is demanding and time-consuming. However, according to a beekeeper and bee scientist, Dr Anna Gajda, beekeeping is fascinating.

Honey bee colony

The bee colony includes worker bees, drones (bee males) and the bee mother. Worker bees require 21 days to develop from the egg stage to the emergence of an adult bee, whereas drones take 24 days to develop. The queen bee can lay up to 2000 eggs a day. How to identify the queen bee? The queen bee is longer and narrower than any of the other bees. She is the largest bee in the colony.  The queen bee’s abdomen has a pointed shape with fully developed reproductive organs.  Worker bees are responsible for the queen’s offspring, i.e. brood rearing. They feed them, depending on their purpose.

Special hormones allow communication among the honey bee colony; worker bees recognize their queen by the scent using the pheromones she secretes. The queen can quack and toot. That is how she lets the bees know she needs them.  Honeybees cluster together in winter. They form the cluster inside a beehive with the queen in the middle.

Larvae are fed royal jelly for the first three days of their life, said Dr Gajda. Then their diet is based on pollen and honey. If a queen is to be produced, the worker bees select a single egg or a very young larva and feed it with hormone food, or royal jelly, throughout its larval and post-larval life. The queen is produced from the same egg as the workers only fed differently. On the other hand, drones are produced from unfertilised eggs. When it becomes warm outside, the worker bees fly out of the hive to collect pollen and water. Water is needed when rearing the brood.

In the cruel world of beneficial insects

If the colony does not accept the queen bee they treat her as an intruder and kill or remove her. If the queen does not secrete the right amount of pheromones, is injured or is too old and does not lay as many eggs as they would like then they aim to replace her. The queen is important because it guarantees the continuity of the bee colony, but it is up to the worker bees to decide whether they want this one or the other.  Drones have a challenging life too, says Dr Gajda. This is a dramatic story. Drones are only needed to inseminate queens, that is, during the bee season.

Uninseminated queens fly out of the hives. Fertilization occurs in the air, in a distinctive place, like the woodland edge. That is a place where queens and drones from different beehives gather. A queen can copulate with up to a dozen drones, as confirmed by scientific studies. Unfortunately, drones die shortly after that act, as their reproductive organs are torn out and the poor ones bleed out. After the bee season is over, the surviving drones are no longer needed. The worker bees do not allow them access to the honey cells. Therefore, they starve to death and are thrown out of the hive.

What do bees dislike?

Bees don’t like foreign or intense scents, so if you want to work in an apiary, do not wear the fragrance.  Using strong washing liquids and detergents for the clothes worn to do the work should also be avoided. Bees prefer neutral scents. The colours and texture of the clothes also matter. Bright or multicoloured ones are appropriate. Bees do not like dark colours.  Clothes must not be fluffy even if the colours are bright. Insects may then associate it with a bear. And that can end badly. After all, a bear in the apiary means an intruder.  Every time I warn the students during the classes in the apiary that if they have had a class with horses before, a change of clothes is necessary.  Honeybees can sometimes become irritated by the smell of horse sweat. When they smell it, they get nervous and may start stinging, adds Dr Gajda.

Anita Kruk, Biuro Promocji SGGW

Consulted with Dr Anna Gajda (DVM), Department of Veterinary Pathology and Diagnostics at the Institute of Veterinary Medicine, SGGW