Honeybees and Easter
Posted by Alyssa Fine and Danielle Dale
"What are the first things that come to your mind when you think about the Easter holiday? Bunnies, baby chicks, egg dyeing, and of course many different candies… Do you think about honeybees? Many people don’t realize, but honeybees play a very important role in this special holiday because they produce beeswax."
Honeybees and Easter Posted by Alyssa Fine and Danielle Dale
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A very well written article about honey and backyard beekeeping.
"Larry Haigh's green half-acre sits just off Chuck Dawley Boulevard in Mt. Pleasant's Moss Park neighborhood, where the lot sizes are generous and many of the residents have tried their hand at gardening. Stepping off the screen porch into his backyard, Haigh spots a bluebird resting in the boughs of a pear tree and then takes note of his grapevines, still brown and clutching an arbor frame in the final days of winter. In the middle of the garden sit two humming boxes where industrious honeybees toil away producing the year's first outpouring of liquid gold." Backyard honeybees make liquid gold by Paul Bowers "Checker boarding is a simple and elegant swarm management tool. It uses the bee’s natural swarm and survival impulses to maximize hive populations and honey production. When checker boarding, empty comb frames are alternated with feed frames in supers directly above the broodnest."
Checker Boarding Dennis Murrell - The BeeNatural Guy Sugar could be scary bad. Honey seems to be the only safe, healthy sweetener around.
" The fructose component of sugar and H.F.C.S. is metabolized primarily by the liver, while the glucose from sugar and starches is metabolized by every cell in the body. Consuming sugar (fructose and glucose) means more work for the liver than if you consumed the same number of calories of starch (glucose). And if you take that sugar in liquid form — soda or fruit juices — the fructose and glucose will hit the liver more quickly than if you consume them, say, in an apple (or several apples, to get what researchers would call the equivalent dose of sugar). The speed with which the liver has to do its work will also affect how it metabolizes the fructose and glucose. In animals, or at least in laboratory rats and mice, it’s clear that if the fructose hits the liver in sufficient quantity and with sufficient speed, the liver will convert much of it to fat. This apparently induces a condition known as insulin resistance, which is now considered the fundamental problem in obesity, and the underlying defect in heart disease and in the type of diabetes, type 2, that is common to obese and overweight individuals. It might also be the underlying defect in many cancers. If what happens in laboratory rodents also happens in humans, and if we are eating enough sugar to make it happen, then we are in trouble." Is Sugar Toxic? By GARY TAUBES If it works for the bees, then it works for me.
"Research from North Carolina State University shows that honey bees 'self-medicate' when their colony is infected with a harmful fungus, bringing in increased amounts of antifungal plant resins to ward off the pathogen." Bees 'self-medicate' when infected with some pathogens Credit: Michael Simone-Finstrom, North Carolina State University "I'm sure all of us that hunt or fish have some stories that weren't funny at the time but we can see the humor in them now.
Last sat. my pastor and a buddy of mine went trout fishing and my pastor pushed a limb out of the way and it had a hornet nest in it. He took off running down the creek and only got stung once. My buddy ran into the swarm and got stung 13 times and then realized his glasses had fallen off so he went back to get them and got popped again. My pastor told him 'you know I was praying for you all the time'. My buddy told him I ain't as dumb as I look I can tell the difference between praying and laughing." Funny Bee Sting Stories No. GA. Mt. Man Notice in these stories that it's not honey bees doing the stinging. The culprits are usually hornets and yellow jackets. "Scientists have discovered ways in which even low doses of widely used pesticides can harm bumblebees and honeybees, interfering with their homing abilities and making them lose their way.
Dave Goulson of Stirling University in Scotland, who led the British study, said some bumblebee species have declined hugely. 'In North America, several bumblebee species which used to be common have more or less disappeared from the entire continent,' while in Britain, three species have become extinct, he said in a statement. The threat to bee populations also extends to Asia, South America and the Middle East, experts say." Are bees threatened by insecticide use? New studies say yes. By Kate Kelland, Reuters / March 29, 2012 "The unusually warm weather has many things blooming early and that is having a direct impact on pollination. Honey bees are not breeding fast enough to keep up with the growth of flowers and fruits."
Warm weather creates worries about bees WZZM 13 ONLINE Written by Chris Fleszar Maybe the bees think that cars are causing Colony Collapse Disorder, and they're finally fighting back.
"A big buzz broke out in downtown Salinas Wednesday when hundreds of bees swarmed a woman's car while she went inside a bank... The bees turned out to be honey bees, a non-aggressive species. Once gawkers in the parking lot realized this, several curious people put their hands on the swarm without being stung. Bordi arrived at 6 p.m. to collect the bees in a bucket so he could use them for pollinating crops. While the swarm did not mind being gently touched by curious thrill-seekers, they were annoyed by the more aggressive beekeeper who slid them into a bucket. The bees became riled up and stung a KSBW producer who was shooting photos several times." Hundreds of bees swarm Salinas woman's car By Amy Larson Supersedure in honey bees is the replacement of an old queen with a new queen, usually done because the old queen is failing in some regard.
"The colony that decides their queen is not up to the task at hand starts supersedure promptly. After starting supersedure cells the old queen is expendable. The colony is not going to let her interfere in the process. If the old queen insists on removing the competition, and balling her away from the supersedure cell in development does not provide adequate attitude adjustment, they are forced to terminate her. They would prefer to have her continue to lay until her daughter is mated and laying." Are They Supersedure or Swarm Cells? Bee Culture – July, 2005 by Walt Wright "If in the Spring or early Summer or late Summer or Autumn you suddenly find between one and five evenly aged queen cells built on the face of the brood combs of this colony, you may very well have a very rare treasure, i.e. a supersedure strain. Should you subsequently examine your colony and find therein your old queen still laying while on an adjacent frame you find her daughter queen also laying, then you surely have a pearl of great price. For this is supersedure at its very best and this is a strain which is well worthy of future propagation." LONG-LIVED SUPERSEDURE STRAINS, written in 1997 by Micheál Mac Giolla Coda |
AuthorBilly Craig Archives
May 2013
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