The Bee Hive in Winter

Honey bees area unique among insects. In temperate areas, they spend the winter inside the hive alive and active unlike wasps and hornets that die in the winter or lady bug beetles that hibernate. The honey bee accomplishes its winter-time survival by making and storing a high-energy food, honey. By eating the high-energy food, the worker honey bee is able to generate about 104 degrees Fahrenheit of heat in its flight muscles to warm the colony. Again, the honey bees are unique among insects, which are cold-blooded animals, in their ability to generate heat. The bees use the heat that they produce to warm the center of their cluster of bees. They hold the heat inside the cluster by forming a tight layer of bees on the outside. These bees, which eventually chill, periodically exchange places with bees inside the cluster. The cluster of bees expands and contracts with the outside temperature. The bees don’t waste energy warming the entire hive cavity, only the cluster of bees. The colder the weather gets, the more tightly compacted the cluster gets. As the cluster shrinks, it leaves a surrounding area of empty honeycomb. During prolonged periods of cold weather, the bees often remain tightly clustered; and they don’t venture the short distance to where honey is stored in the hive. Beekeepers often find colonies that have starved with ample stores of honey only inches away from the cluster.

The structure of a bee hive makes it quite an effective housing for surviving the harsh elements of winter. Empty cells of honeycomb make excellent insulation, and parallel sheets of comb effectively block winter winds. As the cluster of bees consumes the food stored above them, the cluster moves upward into this space. This upward movement of bees during the winter gives beekeepers an opportunity to move bees from lower frames as I am doing in today’s photo. I am transferring bees from the dark-colored deep hive body into medium boxes filled with honey.

--Richard

Planning the Bee Yard

Beekeepers have been generous in passing along the craft of handling honey bees. A new beekeeper who attended our local beekeepers association’s introductory short course came by Peace Bee Farm to get some ideas for establishing his bee yard. I explained that the first consideration is always public safety. Bee hives should be placed so that the bees’ flight path avoids areas frequented by people. If bee hives are placed in residential areas, the bees can be directed to fly above people’s heads by placing a fence or hedge in front of the hive. While many bee hives are maintained in backyards and even on building rooftops without problems, the number of hives placed on small residential lots should be limited.

After safety considerations, the next important issue for beekeepers is access to the bee hives. Beekeeping equipment is heavy, and it is best to place hives where the beekeeper can drive close to the bee yard any time of the year. Many beekeepers like to face the hives toward the east or south, so that the sun warms the hive entrance early in day. This causes the foragers to fly earlier, and thus gather more nectar. Many beekeepers like to arrange the bee hives for afternoon shade to help the bees cool the hives in the summer. Others prefer to place the hives in the full sun to lessen small hive beetle reproductive success. Bees kept in wooded areas are often more defensive than bees kept in open spaces. Honey Bees also need a source of water. Without a convenient water supply, foragers may visit swimming pools or other outdoor water sources. Wind screens of evergreen foliage planted to the north and west of the bee yard help block cold winter winds. A few snow geese passed overhead today, many have started their migration to their breeding grounds in the arctic. It’s still winter, but birds are migrating; bees are flying on warm days; and brood production has started.

--Richard

Landmarks

Worker honey bees live for about six weeks. The first three weeks of their life are spent doing tasks inside the hive. The next three weeks are spent doing work that involves flying away from the hive. When the bees begin venturing from the hive at about three weeks of age, they start by making a series of orientation flights in which the bees memorize the appearance of the hive and its surroundings. The young bees start their “flight school” in the afternoon by flying in a small figure-eight pattern inches away from the hive’s entrance. As the bees make their orientation flights, they are looking for colors and patterns of shapes. Honey bees can see all of the colors that humans do with the exception of red. The bees can also see ultraviolet, which is beyond our eyesight. The images that the bees memorize involve shapes and patterns of interruptions. After flying close to the hive’s entrance, the bees expand their flight to learn landmarks surrounding the hive.

Honey bees at the Children’s Museum of Memphis have no problem finding their hives located among the huge building blocks that spell “CMOM.” In today’s picture from the museum’s blog, www.cmom.com, the museum’s CEO, Richard C. Hackett, is high in the air above our bee hives painting the letter C in pink for breast cancer awareness. To learn more, the museum directs us to www.nbcam.org/about_nbcam.cfm and www.cancer.org/. The always personally involved Mr. Hackett, a beekeeper himself, proposed the honey bee exhibit and offered useful suggestions in the development of the observation bee hive project. Mr. Hackett swung in close to the bee hives to paint the iconic blocks that make the museum a landmark in the heart of the city. The honey bee exhibit is designed to fit into the museum’s mission: “We create memorable learning experiences through the joy of play in hands-on exhibits and programs.” The museum helps honey bees as well as children expand their view.

--Richard

Observation Bee Hives

Much of our knowledge of the honey bee colony’s activity and life cycle is learned using observation bee hives having clear windows of glass or plastic providing a view inside the hive. Regardless of the weather, beekeepers cannot keep a bee hive open for an extended observation without disturbing the bees and adversely affecting the colony. Observation hives allow for long-term viewing with a minimum disturbance of the bees. However, observation hives are usually smaller and are more difficult to maintain than regular, full-size hives. Most commercially available observation hives hold from two to six frames. These smaller hives are more prone to starving, swarming, and being overtaken by Small Hive Beetles. Bees in small hives also have more difficulty in maintaining the hive’s temperature.

The Columbia University Beekeeping Club is considering placing a hive outside a campus building. I offered them the details of modified Langstroth hives I maintain at the Children’s Museum of Memphis. Windows in the side of one hive expose frames of comb, and windows in the rear of another allow viewing between the frames. The hives are placed outside the building as opposed to inside arrangements that use a tube for the bees to enter and exit. With any observation hive it is most important that proper bee space is maintained. In my modified hives, Lexan windows fit flush with the inside surface of the hive bodies. Quite often I see observation hives with windows covered with comb or propolis. Maintain clean windows by providing 3/8 inch spacing between the inside surface of the window and the adjacent frame. Choosing a location for placing the hive is most important. Consider the direction of the sun in relation to the hive. If the sun strikes the observation hive’s glass, the hive will likely become a solar beeswax melter, and the bees will die. I placed my Children’s Museum hives in a North-facing alcove which blocks the afternoon sun. You may view the exhibit at http://www.cmom.com/?q=honeybees.

--Richard

Abandon the Old Nest

Honey bee colonies typically swarm once a year in the temperate regions. This method of reproduction on the colony-wide basis expands the number of colonies and moves bees into new areas. However, swarming is quite risky. Only about one in five swarms is successful in moving into a new cavity and establishing a colony that lives for several years. Why would a creature adopt a behavior unless it is beneficial in the long term? Perhaps swarming serves an important purpose other than colony increase and range expansion. Moving the colony to a new location, even if only occasionally successful, allows the bees to leave behind old nests. The old nests, built of beeswax honeycomb, are reservoirs of pesticides, chemicals, and toxins found in the environment. The old honeycombs may also hold the reproductive spores of a number of honey bee diseases, namely American foulbrood, Nosema, and chalkbrood. Another purpose is served by swarming and moving into a new cavity. Trees with cavities are often in decline and fall due to structural damage and decay.

When the honey bee colony divides itself and swarms, it takes along the old queen. A new queen, or more often a queen cell with a potential queen, is left behind with the remnant of the original colony. While this new queen may successfully mate and serve to provide reproduction in the original hive, this too is not always successful. Still, it appears that the swarming process serves as an effective reproductive strategy. Swarming is another behavior that the honey bee evolved to help ensure the survival of the colony. Other behaviors that the bees use to protect the colony include defending the hive with guard bees and removing dead bees from the hive. Unhealthy bees fly or crawl from the hive to die. At Peace Bee Farm, we regularly remove old honeycomb from our hives to reduce the build-up of environmental chemicals and eliminate spores of pathogens. Today’s photo: burning old brood nest honeycombs.

--Richard

GMOs and Neonicotinoids

Corn, or maize, is the most widely grown crop in the Americas. A beekeeper asked me if Bt corn and Roundup-Ready corn are dangerous to honey bees. This is among the commonly asked questions as beekeepers are facing annual colony losses of 30 percent. Beekeepers question the safety of chemicals used in the environment and changes in agricultural practices. Bt corn and Roundup-Ready corn are both Genetically Modified Organisms. In Bt corn, a gene is borrowed from the Bacillus thuringiensus bacteria. This modification allows the corn plant to produce its own Bt insecticidal protein. This technology allows for corn production with lesser application of insecticides, as the plant is producing its own insect killer. The effect of Bt corn on honey bees was tested in Germany from 2001 through 2004. Michael Schacker reports in A Spring Without Bees: How Colony Collapse Disorder Has Endangered Our Food Supply, 2008, that Bt crops and GMOs are not correlated with Colony Collapse Disorder. There may possibly be some benefits for bees and other pollinators from the use of Bt technology in corn, as this may lead to a reduction in the use of crop insecticides. Roundup-Ready corn can withstand the herbicide glyphosate. Herbicides, like Roundup, are being tested now; however, results have not been published.

Following the appearance of Colony Collapse Disorder in 2007, the effect on honey bee health is questioned for all chemicals used around bee hives. A relatively new class of insecticides, the neonicotinoids, is highly suspected by many beekeepers as being involved in CCD and honey bee health problems. Among these systemic insecticides are imidacloprid and clothianidin. Of particular concern is the effect upon the bees of a less than lethal dose of a neonicotinoid insecticide when combined with certain honey bee viruses or the newly detected strain of Nosema disease. Honey bee colony collapses often occur in the winter. This winter has seen greater than normal snowfalls in the Arkansas Delta. Today’s photo: common starlings weather the snow.

--Richard

Short Course Forty-Six

Much of the practical training of beekeepers is provided by local beekeeping associations. These groups provide initial introductory courses in beekeeping as well as ongoing training and mentoring of beekeepers. The Memphis Area Beekeepers Association serves beekeepers across West Tennessee, North Mississippi, and East Arkansas. On Saturday, the association will conduct its forty-sixth annual Short Course in Beekeeping. The short course serves as an overview of a broad range of beekeeping topics. The program starts with a description of the equipment and protective clothing used by beekeepers. New beekeepers get to assemble bee hives to get an idea of how to put together these puzzles. Folks are introduced to the honey bee’s life cycle. We discuss where to locate the bee hives and carefully cover how to install the bees in the new hive. The course briefly mentions how we harvest and extract honey. Like other timely topics, this will be covered in greater depth during a monthly meeting prior to harvest.

I will address the new beekeepers on honey bee health issues. Since honey bees may be attacked by pests from bears to other insects as well as from bacteria, viruses, and fungi, it is important for new beekeepers to be aware of what the hives face. I will mention the pests introduced into our hives, mostly through world trade, since the mid-1980s: tracheal mites, Varroa mites, small hive beetles, and a new strain of Nosema. I’ll briefly describe Africanized honey bees and Colony Collapse Disorder. The majority of the presentation will be a suggestion for the beekeepers to adopt an integrated pest management approach to beekeeping, relying first on biological, cultural, and mechanical controls of pests. Chemical control measures will be held as last resorts. I will encourage everyone to avoid using insecticides and nerve toxins in the hives and to treat American foulbrood with the only sure cure: burning the hives. Peace Farm lakes are frozen now; wild ducks circle to maintain small areas of open water.

--Richard