Honey bees and beekeeping

Transcription

1 Honey bees and beekeeping All the things most beekeepers never told you

2 Goals of this presentation Share general information about beekeeping Explain the importance of honey bees Attract you to honey bees and beekeeping Eliminate fears and misconceptions Get feedback 2

3 Brief history of beekeeping 7000 BC: primitive drawings on cave walls in Valencia, eastern Spain show the first known evidence of beekeeping 1622: English bring the honey bee (Apis mellifera mellifera) to North America 1852: Langstroth beehive patent 1853: Christopher A. Shelton establishes 12 colonies just north of San José 2006: David Hackenberg discovers CCD 3

4 Scientific classification Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Suborder: Apocrita Infraorder: Aculeata Superfamily: Apoidea Series: Anthophila Family: Apidae Subfamily: Apinae Tribe: Apini (1 of 19) Genus: Apis (1 of 1) Subgenus: Apis (1 of 3) Species: Apis mellifera (Linnaeus, 1758) (1 of 4) 4

5 Apis mellifera subspecies Europe A. m. artemisia A. m. carnica A. m. cecropia A. m. iberiensis A. m. ligustica A. m. macedonica A. m. madaros A. m. mellifera A. m. ruttneri A. m. siciliana A. m. sossimai Africa A. m. adansonii A. m. capensis A. m. intermissa A. m. jemenitica A. m. lamarckii A. m. litorea A. m. monticola A. m. sahariensis A. m. scutellata A. m. unicolor Middle East A. m. adami A. m. anatoliaca A. m. caucasia A. m. cypria A. m. meda A. m. remipes A. m. syriaca A. m. pomonella Total: 29 subspecies 5

6 Colony structure Queen: 1 Workers: to (40000 on the average) Drones: no more than

7 Colony development: queen Queen: 16 days Egg: 3 days Larva: 4 days Capped cell: 9 days Stinger Life expectancy: 2 to 8 years 7

8 Colony development: workers Workers: 21 days (19 23) Egg: 3 days Larva: 6 days Capped cell: 12 days Barbed stinger Life expectancy: 6 weeks 8

9 Colony development: drones Drones: 24 days Egg: 3 days Larva: 8 days Capped cell: 13 days No stinger Life expectancy: 8 weeks 9

10 Honey bees tasks: queen Activities 1. Piping (before and after emerging) 2. Mating (day 6 to day 10) 3. Egg laying (from day 12 to day 17 and on) 10

11 Honey bees tasks: workers House bees (21 days) 1. Cleaning (3 days) 2. Feeding older larvae (3 days) 3. Feeding young larvae and queen (7 days) 4. Wax secretion, comb building, nectar ripening, pollen/nectar storaging (5 days) 5. Cleaning, guarding, ventilating (3 days) 11

12 Honey bees tasks: workers Field bees (21 days) 1. Undertaking 2. Pollen collection (younger foragers) 3. Nectar collection (older foragers) 4. Water collection 5. Propolis collection 12

13 Honey bees tasks: drones Activities 1. Cleansing/orientation flights (day 8) 2. Sexual maturity (day 12) 3. Mating 4. Doing absolutely nothing ¾ of their life 13

14 Colony cycle Spring: activities resume Maximum population: late June Lowest population: late December Winter: clustering 14

15 Waggle dance Means of communication for location of resources Karl von Frisch Austria Nobel Prize in

16 Swarming Natural process of reproduction Early in the season Multiple times during the season Lack of empty space Too much humidity Colony is invaded Several queen cells 16

17 Swarming Honey bees eat as much honey as possible Preparations last 15 minutes 40 60% of the colony leaves with the old queen It happens between 10AM and 2PM 17

18 Swarming Honey bees that leave form a ball They typically won t sting Scout bees look for a new place New queen takes over old beehive 18

19 Beehive: structure Telescopic cover (Screened) inner cover Honey supers Queen excluder Brood boxes (Screened) bottom board Stand 19

20 Beehive: structure Stand Bottom board Brood box (10 frames) Queen excluder 20

21 Beehive: structure Honey super (10 frames) Deep and medium frames Inner cover Telescopic cover 21

22 Beehive: dimensions 22

23 Equipment and tools Suit Hive tool Frame grip Smoker Brush 23

24 Products Royal jelly Beeswax Honey Propolis 24

25 Royal jelly Water: 67% Crude protein: 12.5% Monosaccharides: 11% Vitamins: B 5, B 6, C 25

26 Beeswax Monoesters: 35% Diesters: 14% Hydrocarbons: 14% Free acids: 12% Hydroxy polyesters: 8% Unidentified: 6% Hydroxy monoesters: 4% Triesters: 3% Acid polyesters: 2% Acid esters: 1% Free alcohols: 1% 26

27 Honey Fructose: 38.2% Glucose: 31.3% Water: 17.2% Maltose: 7.1% Higher sugars: 1.5% Sucrose: 1.3% Undetermined: 3.2% Ash: 0.2% Vitamins: B 2, B 3, B 5, B 6, B 9, C Minerals: Ca, Fe, Mg, P, K, Na, Zn 27

28 Honey Fructose: 38.2% Glucose: 31.3% Water: 17.2% Maltose: 7.1% Higher sugars: 1.5% Sucrose: 1.3% Undetermined: 3.2% Ash: 0.2% Vitamins: B 2, B 3, B 5, B 6, B 9, C Minerals: Ca, Fe, Mg, P, K, Na, Zn Invertase Sucrose Glucose oxidase Glucose Fructose Gluconic acid Hydrogen peroxide 28

29 Propolis Resins and vegetable balsams: 50% Waxes: 30% Essential oils: 10% Pollen: 5% 29

30 Beekeeping activities Season: February to November (CA) Spring preparation Inspections Honey harvest Winter preparation 30

31 Honey bees patterns Brood in the brood boxes Worker bee brood in the middle Honey at the edges Drone brood on the lower edge Swarming: queen cells at the edges Superseding: queen cells in the middle 31

32 Honey bees: character and behavior Apis mellifera ligustica Strengths: Weaknesses: Very prolific Very clean Excellent forager Superb comb builder Low swarming tendency Industrious Gentle Too prolific Susceptible to diseases High consumption of stores Prone to drifting and robbing Brood rearing starts later Forages in a shorter range 32

33 Harvesting honey Setting up the extractor Removing the frames Uncapping the frames Spinning the frames Filtering the honey Bottling the honey 33

34 Harvesting honey Setting up the extractor 34

35 Harvesting honey Removing the frames 35

36 Harvesting honey Uncapping the frames 36

37 Harvesting honey Spinning the frames 37

38 Harvesting honey Filtering the honey 38

39 Harvesting honey Bottling the honey 39

40 Harvesting honeycomb 40

41 Diseases Varroa mite American Foulbrood (AFB) European Foulbrood (EFB) Small hive beetle Tracheal mites Nosema: two species Many many more 41

42 Treatments Soft chemicals Hard chemicals No treatments 42

43 Pollination Electrostatic charge Commercial beekeeping Almonds start the season Almonds depend 100% on honey bees Decline in colonies (CCD) 43

44 Candlemaking 44

45 Good management Balance light and shade Providing water sources Providing air flow Regular inspections Looking for patterns Colony entrance observations Balance space, population, honey and swarming Looking for brood and colors not the queen Proper diagnosis and resolution of issues Treatments (if needed) Estimation of stores for the winter 45

46 Motivation and reasons It helps honey bees to reproduce It s fun and relaxing It s rewarding to see a colony progress Honey bees are tiny, cute and irresistible Honey bees are fun to watch Honey bees help to pollinate plants Honey bees make fabulous honey Honey bees are fascinating, hardworking and intelligent insects Honey bees are a source of inspiration 46

47 Motivation and reasons Honey bees are responsible for ⅓ of what we eat 47

48 Starting to keep honey bees Reading Budget Tutor Location Time (1 hour every days) Set up (February) 48

49 Sources for honey bees Swarms Nucs Packages 49

50 Equipment Mann Lake Dadant 50

51 Articles Dr. Jamie D. Ellis University of Florida Wikipedia Beekeeping magazines 51

52 Videos Dr. Jamie D. Ellis University of Florida Don t look on YouTube! 52

53 Films TV Tales from the hive (2000) Who killed the honey bee? (2009) The wonder of bees with Martha Kearney (2014) MOVIES The secret life of bees (2008) DOCUMENTARIES Vanishing of the bees (2009) Queen of the Sun (2010) More than honey (2012) 53

54 Curiosities The queen bee can lay up to 2500 fertilized eggs per day. Queen bees normally live a few years and up to 8 years but this is very rare. Worker bees live an average of 42 days during the warm season. Worker bees flap their wings times per minute. Worker bees die shortly after stinging. Honey bees are not capable of seeing in the red area of the light spectrum but they can see further into the ultraviolet region. The optimal temperature of a beehive is 95 F. Honey bees will not fly if the temperature drops below 50 F. Honey is 42% heavier than water. 54

55 Curiosities Honey bees cluster when the temperature is below F. During the winter honey bees cluster and try to maintain the center of the cluster at 95 F. Honey crystallizes between 50 F and 70 F. Crystallization is a natural characteristic of honey which depends on glucose/fructose and glucose/water ratios the higher the glucose, the faster the honey crystallizes. The part of the honey that crystallizes is the glucose. Some people say that honey helps people with allergies but there is no scientific correlation to prove that claim. Infants under one year of age should not be fed honey because their intestinal traits are not completely developed. 55

56 Credits Dr. Jamie D. Ellis University of Florida National Honey Board Compound Interest by Andy Brunning Honey bee life history by Gordon D. Waller Wikipedia 56

57 Contacts 57