Beekeeping

Beekeeping is a profession that goes a long way back in history. By definition, beekeeping is the "management and maintenance of colonies of honeybees" (Morse, 2009).The hive products are useful in many ways. Honey is used as a sweetener, in preparing beverages by fermentation, and in medicine. Moreover, particular cultures use honey in conducting their religious rituals. Even beeswax appeared to be an efficient waterproof material. Beeswax in ancient civilizations was also an alternative for plastic. Furthermore, the honeybee brood (larvae and pupae of bees in the hive) were considered as food for some Asian and African groups.

Wilson, T. V. How Bees Work. (n.d.) HowStuffworks, retrieved Friday July 10th 2009 from http://www.howstuffworks.com/

Morse, R.A. Beekeeping (2009). AccessScience Encyclopedia. Retrieved Friday July 10th 2009 from www.accessscience.com

Image:

[Beekeeping]. (n.d.). Village Earth. Retrieved Saturday July 11th 2009 from http://www.villageearth.org/

How is Honey Produced?

Honeybees produce honey from nectar, which is a sweet substance that “special glands in flowers produce” (Morse, 2009). Flowers produce this liquid to attract pollinators (the honeybee is one of them). Nectar has a high water content (50-90%), while sugar (basically sucrose) constitutes 10-50% of it. Honeybees reduce the water content of nectar to 10-14% and split sucrose molecules into two smaller sugar molecules (levulose and dextrose). Honeybees also add glucose oxidase to the mixture, which is an enzyme that breaks down dextrose (in diluted honey) into gluconic acid and hydrogen peroxide which hinders bacterial growth in honey. After all these modifications of nectar, we obtain honey.

Wilson, T. V. How Bees Work. (n.d.) HowStuffworks, retrieved Friday July 10th 2009 from http://www.howstuffworks.com/

Morse, R.A. Beekeeping (2009).AccessScience Encyclopedia, retrieved Friday July 10th 2009 from http://www.accessscience.com/
Image:
[Each cell can hold honey or a single developing bee].(n.d.) Howstuffworks. Retrieved Saturday July 11th 2009 from www.howstuffworks.com

Honey Uses in Medicine

Honey is pretty good at covering bitter tastes of medications. This capability is due to levulose which constitutes 50% of the sugar found in honey. Levulose is one of the strongest sweeteners among common sugars. For this reason, honey has been mixed with medications to cover their unpleasant tastes since thousands of years.Honey was also found effective as a “wound dressing” (Morse, 2009). This is because bacteria cannot live in honey due to the action of glucose oxidase (described above), nor can bacteria pass through honey into the wound. Honey has been used by Egyptian physicians as a component of more than half of Egyptian medicine and cures 3000 years B.C.

Wilson, T. V. How Bees Work. (n.d.) HowStuffworks, retrieved Friday July 10th 2009 from http://www.howstuffworks.com

Morse, R.A. Beekeeping (2009). AccessScience Encyclopedia. Retrieved Friday July 10th 2009 from www.accessscience.com

Organization of Work in the Hive

Sterile female Bees collect nectar and pollen all summer to be able to survive the winter. Pollen is a source of proteins to the bee, while nectar is a source of sugar. Pollen and nectar constitute the whole food diet of bees. Sterile female bees are the workers of the hive. Workers collect food, protect the hive from intruders, and provide food to the queen and larvae. The sole function of male bees is mating, since they lack the body structures necessary to produce wax or carry pollen. The queen is the bee that lays eggs. It is the only fertile female in the hive. When winter arrives or when the food becomes scarcely available, female honeybees force the male bees outside the hive.

Wilson, T. V. How Bees Work. (n.d.) HowStuffworks, retrieved Friday July 10th 2009 from http://www.howstuffworks.com

How does a queen bee develop?

Bees pass in 4 stages throughout their development. At the beginning, the queen bee lays an egg in each cell. Then the egg hatches into a larva. At this stage, bees are fed by workers. Later, the bee spins a cocoon around itself to become pupa. In the last stage, pupa changes to become an adult bee. Only adult bees are active. Usually, a queen bee secretes ‘queen substance’, which is a substance that targets worker bees to prevent the development of another queen. However, when the hive becomes overcrowded, the queen bee leaves the hive with almost half of the worker bees to build another hive. Once the worker bees stop receiving queen substance, they realize that they must raise a new queen. Then, they will feed a larva ‘royal jelly’ (which is a substance they release from a gland on their head) throughout its development to become a queen, while other worker bees are fed royal jelly only in the first two days of their larval stage.

In the image, you can see the queen bee in the middle surrounded by worker bees rearing her.

Wilson, T. V. How Bees Work. (n.d.) HowStuffworks, retrieved Friday July 10th 2009 from http://www.howstuffworks.com/

Image:

[Queen bee Rearing]. (n.d.) ITJungle. Retrieved Saturday July 11th 2009 from http://www.itjungle.com/.

Do all Bees Produce Honey?

The answer is no. Bees are divided into 2 major categories: solitary and social. Under these categories, we have numerous species of bees. Only some species of social bees produce honey and beeswax, the products the people use. Solitary bees make nests that can hold their eggs. You may observe solitary bees building their nests adjacent to one another; however, the social interaction between them is limited to mating and group defense of the nests (when needed). Solitary bees do not produce extra honey either.

Wilson, T. V. How Bees Work. (n.d.) HowStuffworks, retrieved Friday July 10th 2009 from http://www.howstuffworks.com/

Image: [A honeybee colony in the wild]. (n.d.).Howstuffworks. Retrieved Saturday July 11th 2009 from www.howstuffworks.com

Killer Bees

Killer bees are actually a result of mating between African Honeybees and European Honeybees. Mating between these two strains occurred in Brazil year 1957, when people imported African honeybees from Africa to Brazil and released them in the wild. ‘Africanized honeybees’ is another name for killer bees. These bees produce honey and pollinate plants as well. However, they defend their nests aggressively. Killer bees have spread in wide territories, including central and South America, and southern areas of United States such as Florida, Arizona, and California. People and animals are in danger if they approach their nests.

Wilson, T. V. How Bees Work. (n.d.) HowStuffworks, retrieved Friday July 10th 2009 from http://www.howstuffworks.com