Beekeeping

The Behavior of Bees Behavior Patterns in Bees Honey bees are reasonably smart enough to learn such things as operant conditioning and color discrimination; the bees are also sensitive to taste, pheromones and UV. Bees can also store cognitive maps of their surroundings, location of food and knowing the times to look for food. A study published in 1983 in Science new journal showed that bees communicated much clearly with other bees in the same location. Foraging bees usually communicate with…

People began to notice that, in some hives, all of the worker bees suddenly began to disappear. At first, only a small percentage of hives seemed to be affected. Currently, “50 to 90% of colonies in the beekeeping industries are lost due to colony collapse disorder” (Cox-Foster et al, 2007). CCD occurs when almost all of the worker bees of a hive disappear, never to return. The queen bee and unhatched eggs are left as well as, in most cases, immature bees…

Imagine it is a beautiful summer day and you are sprawled out across a towel in the soft green grass, just soaking in the warm rays of the sun as you are reading your favorite book and enjoying a delicious snack of watermelon. The air is hot and humid, but there is relief from the heat comes in the form of a cool breeze that gently ruffles your hair as it passes by. You feel completely relaxed and content in your current position, and you feel yourself slowly drifting off to sleep when you hear…

Possible solutions, such as research to determine an insecticide that can deter the Varroa mite without affecting honey bees or organic growing without pesticides to maintain health of honey bees. Recent movements to educate the public on amatuer beekeeping can help boost the population of honey bees. Overall, as it currently stands, the agricultural industry will undergo serious changes, individual economies will suffer, and society will have to alter its’ preferences to keep up with the…

It is necessary to produce about one-third of the food that humans eat. No, it is not high fructose corn syrup, but pollination by honeybees. Brad Plumer of the Washington Post quotes, “The U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization estimates that ‘out of some 100 crop species, which 90% of food worldwide, 71 of these are bee pollinated.’ Around the World, these crops are worth at least $207 billion.” One fact even more bizarre is that honeybees are disappearing and no one seems to know for sure…

In an effort to reduce the risk of CCD the beekeeper must do everything they can to keep their bees in good shape. Howland Blackiston, of Beekeeping for Dummies, says that one of the first steps in fending off CCD is “keeping colonies strong by practicing best management practices” (Blackiston). He later goes on to define this as managing levels of mites and other parasites as well as proving…

With the constant buzz across the country from phones and technology we sometimes miss the more important buzzes. The honey bee population in the United States has been declining at an alarming rate over the past decade. The United States should take action to help preserve the honey bee so that there doesn’t end up being a nationwide crop failure. Though many citizens don’t believe that the honey bee crisis will affect them, the reality may leave sting. With the decrease in honey bees and no…

How Honey is Made Everyone knows where honey comes from, but what many people are not aware of is the process of how it is made. Bees are responsible for making this thick, golden liquid using the nectar from flowers. Nectar is a sugary substance that bees extract from flowers using their long tongues. The nectar is then stored in what is called their extra stomach. In their stomach, the nectar mixes around with enzymes that transform the nectar into a substance that is able to last longer in…

two beehives for every ache of almond trees and at least 1.7 million beehives total, or 85 percent of all the available commercial beehives in the United States, according to Gene Brandi, a California beekeeper and vice president of the American Beekeeping Federation. Since the honeybees’ health has been going downhill, California is attracting more bees in from various parts of the United States. Beekeepers are sending their beehives to California every year when the state has nearly 500,000…

On any given day, millions of Americans flock to grocery stores, farmers markets, or even their own gardens for food to sustain us. Similarly, on any given day, millions and millions of bees are buzzing over our flowering crops, pollenating them for reproduction. What we often forget to realize is that bees are responsible for the production of almost one third of our food. Bees boast an overwhelming 4,000 species’ in the United States, and these bees, particularly honey bees, pollenate around…