Many people know very little about how honey bees have been apart of our history from colonial times. Why were honey bees important to the colonial beekeeper? How were the bees kept? Does beekeeping now, vary from what it was then? These are all questions that must be asked. The honey bee is a unique insect that has been apart of the history of our country for centuries. Beekeeping has changed over time yet many of the essential results of keeping honey bees are unchanged. Lets look at their similarities and differences. The honey bee is not native to North America. In Notes on Virginia1 Thomas Jefferson stated: “The honey-bee is not a native of our continent. Marcgrove, indeed, mentions a species of the honey-bee in Brazil. But this has no sting, and is therefore different from the one we have, which resembles perfectly that of Europe. The Indians concur with us in the tradition that it was brought from Europe; but when, and by whom, we know not. The bees have generally extended themselves into the country, a little in advance of the white settlers. The Indians, therefore, call them the white man’s fly, and consider their approach as indicating the approach of the settlements of the whites.” Records show that colonies of honey bees were shipped from England and landed in the Colony of Virginia in early 1622.2 From that time on honey bees were apart of colonial life. Definitive information on how the bees were shipped was hard to come upon but it is reasonable to assume that they were kept and transported in straw skeps. In later years wood boxes and log gums3 would be used. Possibly during the many weeks at sea a light, airy cloth was pinned over a small opening in the shape of a bag allowing the bees to fly, get som... ... middle of paper ... ...l; Retired, formerly apiculturist, U.S. Department of Agriculture. BEEKEEPING IN THE UNITED STATES; AGRICULTURE HANDBOOK NUMBER 335 Revised October 1980; Pages 2 – 9 3 Ibid. 4 Wayne Lemar, president of the La Crosse Area Beekeepers Association; beekeeper for 34 yrs. Former teacher at Western Wisconsin Technical Collage (now Western Technical Collage) 5 Oscar Carlson beekeeper for 40 yrs. Former president of the Wisconsin Honey Producers Association and teacher of entomology at UW-Stout for 26 years. 6 American Bee Journal July 1921, ‘Incidents in Massachusetts Colony Prior to 1654’ by George W. Adams 7 Robert Hoffman, beekeeper for 60 yrs. Former high school science teacher in Holmen, WI for 38 years and current member of the La Crosse Area Beekeepers Association. 8 History of American Beekeeping by Frank Chapman Pellett, copyright 1938 9 Ibid. 4 10 Ibid. 2
Kidd, Sue M. “The Secret Life of Bees.” Hunter, Jeffrey W. Twenty-First Century Novels: The First Decade. Vol. 3. Detroit, Gale, 2011. 983-987. Gale Cengage Learning. Print. 14 February 2014.
The organization of each honey bees job is fascinating, for each job is assigned to a bee in accordance to its age.
Over time, many bees have been disappearing and their population has been decreasing drastically. These ubiquitous species are mostly known to produce honey, however they do much more than that. Bees are an essential part of the environment and play a huge role in agriculture. They pollinate flowers and about ⅓ of the food we eat depends on bee pollination. Not only humans depend on bees too, but animals do too,and we depend on most of those animals.
A world without bumble bees is a world without most fruits, vegetables, and flowers, a world most people do not want to see. For the past two decades, the United States has seen an alarming drop in the bee population, prompting desperate research into the issue. It stunned people across the country when scientist discovered that many of the world’s bees were dying off due to human negligence. While there is still a chance to save the them, the United States should take steps to protect the bee population before it is too late for the species.
With devastation around the globe, it is no wonder that bees have only recently become an importance. Consequently, the bees’ current situation is now considered a global issue, risking the health of our ecosystem and health of the human race. There is a need for people to recognize just how significant the decline and possible extinction of bees will affect us, and the impact it will have on not only the ecosystem, but also the high demand of key crops, fruits, and vegetables. In the articles “Bees in Decline” by Reyes Tirado, Gergely Simon, and Paul Johnston, and “Bee-Ware Investigating Bee Colony Decline and its Ecological Effects on Human Health” by Daryl A. Mangosing, both authors have imperative evidence to support their main ideas.
Threats of bee extinction can come from urbanization, the extensive use of pesticides, and the spread of diseases (Sass, J. 2011). People do not realize that while they are trying to urbanize, they tear apart sources, such as flowers, for bees to retrieve pollen. Additionally, after a bee finishes almond pollination, it is important for them to feed on high quality protein. However, because of urbanization, a lot of these resources for the bees are being torn down, so they lose their source of pollen and their lives. Specifically, almond trees are becoming an increasing struggle for pollinating bees. These trees require 1.6 million honeybee hives to pollinate them, which is 60% of the honeybees in the country (Philpott 2014). This is an issue because almond trees do not contain the high quality protein and bees may need to relocate for protein due to urbanization and demolition of farmlands. Ironically, the farming industry is also leading to the decline of bees. Agricultural practices today rely heavily on the use of pesticides, to kill insects that are destroying their crops. However, it is crucial that farmers are aware of the fact that bee losses are an extremely common side effect of pesticides. Beekeepers are also unaware that when they use pesticides to keep out parasites and disease, they are actually significantly harming the bees. Lastly, Varroa mites spread
While arguments are out there that disagree, recent trend in honey bee die offs has shown
The Bombus genus is one of the largest genus for pollinators in the United States, with over 250 species known (Carvell, 2002). B. californicus is a species with a wide range, extending through all of California and even into parts of Nevada and Oregon (Soltz, 1987). This particular species is a generalist species; it feeds from many plants and inhabits the Oak Woodland Savanna (see Table 1) that is often found near grassland habitats. It is a ground nesting bee that lives in small colonies that have between 50 and 400 individuals (Cueva del Castillo et al., 2015).
The first time I ever learned that you could be a beekeeper I was five years old on my Great-Grandfather’s farm. He had been one for years and it seemed magical how the bees would greet him every morning as he brought
Honeybees or Apis Mellifera as they are known to the scientific world, are very unique animals. Unlike most pollinating insects, Honeybees are highly social, and tend to live in large nests in the wild. There are three types of Honeybees that live in these nests: The Queen Bee, the Worker Bees, and the Drone Bees. The Queen is the parent of the hive. There is usually one queen per colony. Her sole purpose is to lay eggs so the colony is continuously populated (Flottum 33). She is the only able-bodied bee to lay eggs. The Worker Bees are female bees that work to carry out daily hive functions. Their jobs depend on their age and they do not live for very long, their life expectancy averages about 6 weeks during the spring and summer and about 6 months during the winter. There is five main jobs worker bees do: Nursing, Comb builders, Hive maintenance, Guarding, and foraging. These jobs go in order of age. The younger bees will be the nurse bees that will tend to the young and feed them and as well as keep them warm. The comb builders are slightly older and build comb for storage of honey or pollen and the storage of more young the queen will produce. Beeswax comes from special wax glands located underneath the Worker bee’s abdomens (Flottum 37). Hive maintenance ...
Pollination is one of the most important roles played by insects in the natural world. One great contributor to this natural phenomenon is the everyday Honeybee. Honeybees survive off the honey made from plants nectar. They also help us humans survive by pollinating flowering plants, allowing them to produce 1/3 of the fruit and vegetable crops consumed. Honeybees are mysteriously declining in their numbers, there are many different theories or ideas as to why this is happening. Some experts say microwave radiation from our mobile devices and satellite towers. Others suspect the pesticides and herbicides. Most humans see the misunderstood bees as big stingers with wings, but do not take into consideration that the honey they put in their tea that morning came from the honeybee. Also, nonnative bee species such as the African honey bee threaten native species, humans and livestock when introduced. Bees are one of the biggest contributors to the survival of thousands of species of animals including humans, yet they are one of the smallest and fragile species in the animal king...
5) Volunteer in foundations and institution that are fighting to help preserve the bee population.
Albert Einstein once said, “The day bees vanish from earth… man will go not long after”. Not many people are aware, but honey bees are slowly disappearing all over the world. In 2016 the honey bees’ cousin, the Hawaiian yellow-faced bees were classified as endangered. It will not be long until the honey bee joins them at their current disappearing rate. Honey bees pollinate more than just flowers, they pollinate about a third of the world’s consumable crops. Without these tiny heroes the world would consist of a small amount of fruits and vegetables. There has not been common insight to the world about the disappearance, though many activists are fighting to save the bees. “There were nearly 3.5 million honeybee colonies in 1989…the number
Economically speaking if we were to lose honey bees then we would also lose businesses like Sioux Honey (the largest honey manufacturer in the US) , Burts Bees , and Cheerios. We would also lose 80% of our food on store shelves .
Honey Bees became of no relevance in the 1990s as many people gave up beekeeping due to economic reasons(Verlang-Springer 2010). Thus, insecurities came to exist in regards to Beekeeping and management, in relations to a further economic problems which people were not willing to take on at the same time. Moreover, more light was shed due on Honey Bee declines in regards to winter storms and losses (Verlang-Springer 2010). Not only have these been indentified factors in regards to Bee colony declines but also declines in Honey bees in general, as well as other animal