Honey It's Cold Outside! How Bees Survive the Winter.

For many animals and insects, winter is the time for them to find a nice cozy place to snuggle up and hibernate. But for honeybees, the winter is just another day in the hive. How in the world do they survive the cold, you might ask? Well, let’s find out!

Some people like to wrap their hives with black
tar paper so the heat from the sun warms
the hives. These hives have been left unwrapped

In northern states, honeybees go into what is called a dormant state in the winter. They aren’t hibernating, but they aren’t as active as they are in the summertime. During the spring and summer, worker bees are busy making extra honey and storing it away so they have food for the winter. When the cold arrives in October or November, the worker bees kick all the drone bees out and let them die. They do this because the drones didn’t help them make any of the honey, so why should they get to eat it? Then, the worker bees form a large cluster around the Queen bee to keep her warm. The bees on the outside work their way to the inside and the bees on the inside work their way to the outside. Honeybees even shiver to make heat! All the moving around keeps the inside of the hive at a constant temperature of about 92 degrees! They use all the honey they stored during the spring and summer as food during the winter.

Migratory Beekeepers haul their bees on large trucks to
where ever they are going. They also put nets over
the hives to prevent excess bee loss during travels

Some beekeepers who don’t want to leave their bees in the snow for the winter will move their bees to warm states like California, Texas and Florida. Beekeepers who do this are called migratory beekeepers. They transport their hives to warm places so they can do an extremely important job called pollination. Beekeepers are paid to have their bees pollinate crops such as almonds, oranges and grapefruits. If those types of crops don't have honeybees for pollination, they wouldn’t make any fruits or nuts. Can you believe that honeybees pollinate about 90 different crops? Not only do they provide delicious honey for us, honeybees are an invaluable resource to U.S. agriculture.

On these cold, winter days when all you feel like doing is sleeping, just remember that even honeybees stay busy in the wintertime! 

New American Honey Queen & Princess

The new American Honey Queen and Princess were selected at the American Beekeeping Federation convention in Hershey, Pennsylvania.  

2013 American Honey Queen: Caroline Adams, Texas
2013 American Honey Princess: Emily Campbell, Minnesota

They will be posting about their travels on behalf of the beekeeping industry.  Keep an eye out for new facts, beekeeping topics and videos throughout the year.

2013 American Honey Queen Caroline Adams &
2013 American Honey Princess Emily Campbell

Becoming a Beekeeper!

Beekeeping is a great activity for your
whole family! 

In the United States there are around 200,000 beekeepers! Most of these beekeepers are hobbyists, or small-scale beekeepers, with less than 25 hives. Other beekeepers are commercial, and they might have hundreds or even thousands of hives of bees. All of these beekeepers had to start somewhere; some of them grew up in a beekeeping family, while others may have heard about beekeeping through a friend, a club like 4-H, or even by reading about it. If you want to learn about beekeeping, here are some ways to find out more.

Beekeepers in a meeting learning about the industry!

The first step you can take to become a beekeeper is to join a local beekeeping organization. Beekeeping clubs usually involve a group of beekeepers coming together to share with each other the knowledge they have about keeping bees. Often these clubs meet every month, and even have speakers that present to the group, so everyone can learn more. There are even big conventions held in different places throughout the year. These conventions may be one day to a week long, and are great ways to learn more about keeping bees and meet other beekeepers. To find a club in your area, you may have to do a little research. Ask an adult to help you look online, in newspapers, or another source for information on clubs in your area. If you know a beekeeper, you can try asking him or her for information on local or state organizations.

This is a beekeeping supply store in Kentucky!

Many beekeeping clubs have ways of helping youth get involved with beekeeping through scholarships, or providing you with a mentor that will help you along. Some clubs may even give you your first package of bees and the equipment you need to get started. The club might also offer a class you can take that teaches you everything you need to know to start beekeeping. Once you have learned a lot about honeybees and beekeeping you can get started!

The equipment you will need depends on how many colonies of bees you start with. I recommend starting with two hives, which gives you the chance to compare one hive to another. You can buy equipment from a beekeeping supplier, which is a store that sells almost everything you need to start keeping honeybees!

Queen Alyssa and Princess Danielle are getting ready to head to a convention this month in Hershey, Pennsylvania, so even they can learn more about keeping bees!

Good luck!

Holiday Honeybee Gift-Giving!

Honey makes an amazing gift!

For many people, the holiday season is a time for exchanging gifts with friends and family members. For many beekeepers, the holiday season is a time for giving homemade gifts made from products of the hive. You can join in all the fun and give homemade honeybee-themed gifts, too!

Honey is the gift that keeps on giving. It is pretty inexpensive, but it can last forever because honey never spoils. For gifts for your family and friends this year, try buying honey from a local beekeeper and repackage it in smaller decorative jars. You can even ask your parents to help you buy a few varieties of honeys from different regions of the United States, packing it in tiny containers, and gifting a sampling of many unique honeys, as well. Or, for a more fun idea, use craft supplies such as felt or foam sheets to “dress up” your honey bears in festive holiday wear. Who wouldn’t love a honey bear wearing a scarf and hat, or one dressed like Santa Claus?

Winter is cough and cold season for many people. Luckily, honey is able to soothe a sore throat and can help reduce coughing, as well. A cheerful coffee mug filled with a variety of herbal tea bags, along with a honey bear would make a great gift! Your friends and family will be able to enjoy a hot cup of tea with honey to recover and relax.

Hand-crafted beeswax ornament.

Beeswax is another great product of the hive that has many uses. Beeswax candles burn bright and clean and make perfect gifts. With an adult’s help, you can quickly make molded beeswax candles of all shapes and sizes in many decorative designs. Beeswax also can be poured into shallow molds to make ornaments that you can decorate and personalize. In addition to candles and ornaments, you might consider using beeswax to make homemade lip balm or hand lotion. There’s nothing better than homemade beeswax hand lotion when it comes to moisturizing dry skin in the winter months. Here is a link to a great beeswax lotion recipe.

In recent years, honeybees have been mysteriously disappearing and scientists are not sure what is causing their decline. We all need honeybees to pollinate our food crops. Every person has the power to protect honeybees. This holiday season give your friends packets of pollinator-friendly wildflower seeds. Not only will they be able to grow beautiful flowers in their own yards, but they will also help to provide great sources of nectar and pollen for our honeybees.

Honeybees provide wonderful products of the hive that can be used to create a variety of gifts for the holiday season.

Diseases of the Hive – Honeybees get Sick just like we do!

I think everyone can remember a time when you were sick, and you had a parent, grandparent, or friend take care of you to help you get better. Beekeepers take care of their honeybees when they get sick, just like when someone took care of you! Today, I’m going to talk about different honeybee pests and diseases.

This hive as a jar of sugar syrup to make sure the bees
have enough food. 

One way honeybees get sick is when they get a virus. Viruses are a lot like a cold. There’s not much beekeepers can do to treat them; rather, they just try to keep their hives healthy to avoid them. Beekeepers can try to keep their honeybees healthy by making sure they have plenty of honey, pollen, and water, and they can make sure their hive is prepared for the cold winter months. Beekeepers keep a close eye on their bees for any signs of disease, but sometimes even beekeepers who have been keeping bees for many years still have beehives that get sick. One very common pest in the hive is called a mite.

This is a close up picture of a mite.
It's usually only the size of a tip of a
needle. 

The mite is a parasitic insect that is very tiny – only about the size of a tip of a sewing needle. The mite attaches itself to the honeybee and sucks its blood. Eventually, there are so many mites in every hive that they weaken the colony, and if it isn’t treated, the colony may die. When many of the bees have been attacked by mites, the adult bees in the hive become too weak to take care of the brood. Think of it this way: if your mom and dad were sick, it would be much harder for them to care of you. Thankfully, beekeepers can reduce the number of mites in a beehive by using medications or special equipment.

 A close up picture of a mite on the honeybee's back. 

There are many other diseases that affect honeybees. Beekeepers try to keep their honeybees healthy and avoid disease. It’s important to us, too. Since honeybees get sick, it’s important for us to help the beekeepers who care for the honeybees that pollinate so much of the food that we love. If you want to help honeybees you could plant some honeybee friendly flowers, buy local honey from a beekeeper, or even tell a friend how important they are for us.

Help the Honeybees!

Over 100 crops are pollinated by honeybees!

Honeybees are helpful insects. Sure, they make yummy honey for us to enjoy, but they also help to pollinate nearly 1/3 of the foods that we eat every single day. It is our job to make sure that honeybees are healthy so they can continue pollinating in the future. Every person has the power to protect the honeybee! Here are some ways that you can help!

Just like you need to eat a variety of foods to stay healthy and strong, honeybees need to gather nectar and pollen from a wide variety of flowers to maintain their healthy as well! You can help the honeybees by planting more flowers, especially pollinator-friendly kinds. Pollinator-friendly plants contain lots of pollen and nectar for all pollinators, not just honeybees. Once they bloom, you’ll see more honeybees, hummingbirds, and butterflies in your yard, too! Visit www.pollinator.org for a list of plants that can grow in your area. Here is a video showing how to plant a pollinator garden: 

 

Pledge to protect honeybees by joining the “Bee Buddies”. This online club is dedicated to teaching kids more about honeybees. By joining, you are promising to protect honeybees in your area. Learn important facts about honeybees and teach your family and friends why it honeybees needs to be helped.

You and your parents can buy local honey at a farmer's market!

The next time you visit your local farmer’s market, pick up a jar of local honey. Not only will you get a taste of all the floral sources in your area, but you’ll also be supporting a beekeeper in your area. You can also consider keeping honeybees yourself; talk to your parents about becoming beekeepers! Having honeybees is an exciting hobby that you will enjoy while knowing that you’re doing your part to help the honeybees in your area.

If this seems like too much work, there is one last thing that you can do. The next time you go to the store to buy ice cream, check out a brand called Häagen-Dazs. A lot of the ingredients in Häagen-Dazs ice cream are pollinated by honeybees. Each year, Häagen-Dazshas pledged to donate money to honeybee research programs to try to find a cure for the mysterious honeybee losses.

So what are you waiting for? Start helping the honeybees today!

From the Hive to the Bottle: Extraction!

One of my favorite things to eat for breakfast in the morning is a peanut butter and honey sandwich, and I love to bake with honey. Have you ever wondered how beekeepers get the honey from the honeybees and put it in a bottle? Beekeepers do that through a process called extraction!  Let’s take a look.

This bee brush is used to get the bees off from each frame!

Step 1: The first thing beekeepers have to do is take the honey supers, or boxes of extra honey, off the hive. To take the boxes off, beekeepers must first remove the bees from inside. There are many different ways they do this. They might use a special scent that the bees don’t like so they leave the box. Another way beekeepers get the bees out is by brushing them off each frame by using a bee brush, and there are even bee blowers that beekeepers can use to blow the bees of from each frame – kind of like a vacuum only it blows air out.

A beekeeper using a hot knife to get the wax cappings off. 

Step 2: Once the honey has been taken off the hive, and the majority of the bees are gone, the next step is to remove the wax cappings that cover the honeycomb on each frame. You see, when honeybees are making honey, they put the honey in beeswax cells and put a thin layer of beeswax over the top to keep the honey from coming out. To get the wax off, beekeepers might use a hot knife and cut them off or use a machine that will take them off.

This is a type of extractor that you crank!

Step 3: Next, each wooden frame is placed into a big cylinder, metal machine or piece of equipment called an extractor. Some beekeepers have big extractors that may hold hundreds of frames at one time, and others may have smaller ones that only hold a few.  

Step 4: Either by cranking or by a machine, the extractor then spins the frames in a circle at a high speed, which causes the honey to fly out of each frame like a centrifuge. The honey slides down the sides of the extractor, and can then be strained to take out anything that got in the honey like beeswax pieces or pollen.

Straining the honey!

Step 5: The honey may be put into a storage tank before the last step, which is to bottle the honey. Like you see in the picture, the honey flows right into each bottle.

Step 6: The honey is taken to be sold at a store or farmers market for you to enjoy!!

So, next time you eat some honey think about all the steps the beekeeper had to take so you could enjoy the liquid gold!