Post by beenatural101 on Jun 6, 2010 11:39:26 GMT -6
The honeybee hive itself is an amazing construction built by the bees for the bees, within a suitable cavity or very sheltered area. Built primarily of wax honeycomb which is strengthened by propolis, the bees use these 6 sided chambers for everything. First of all we shall mention honey.
Honey is truly a marvel. Is is basically concentrated nectar with trace amounts of pollens, worked by the bees with enzymes to break it down into it's simplest forms, and made sterile, and permanently storable. Nectar is the sweet juice found in flowers, there as a "reward" well more incentive for bees and other critters to pollinate the flowers for the plants. Nectar is sugars produced by the plants using photosynthesis. Energy transformed... into a really palatable commodity. So a hive is like a big solar energy collector in a way, storing away sunshine energy for later. And we can tap it for food great.
Pollen. Bees also store pollen in the cells, mixed with a little cured honey to keep it from turning rancid. Bee Bread is the correct term. It takes one cell full of bee bread and one cell full of honey to raise an egg to a bee, as well as a cell for the bee to develop in.
Brood.
The queen, ushered around by her royal attendants in court, moves throughout the hive inspecting cells as she goes. When she finds a clean one she will lay an egg in times of plenty. In harsher times her laying should slow to conserve energy. An egg 3 days later a larvae about 9 days a pupae at 20 or 21 days, depending on cell size a worker bee will emerge. It takes 24 for drones and only 16 for queens as they have a different diet.
The hive is one of the most sterile environment found in nature, due to the bees collecting resins from plants, working those with enzymes and a little wax, they make propolis or bee glue. Very anti microbial stuff has been used a long time to kill germs, before they even knew what germs were.
Bees this is the important part, You have to have the colony itself to make a hive. Bees are very simple, they need shelter, forage, water. Beyond that and watching over them for problems you probably cant help them. They are not tame.
A hive has it's own mind, not subject to the will of the queen but rather the workers. The workers, through pheromone level within the hive know exactly what is needed. The oldest foragers are the ones who initiate swarming right before a new queen hatches, they know best having the most experience outside the hive. It is very logical this hive mind, a combination of the awareness of 60000 or more individuals. All this communication done in the dark hive and the bees know exactly what is needed. Take the queen away in a split and the next day they will be building queencells. They know what they need to survive.
The hive is aware on a vast scale, it knows me personally i feel and knows I am no threat. Same for my daughter. The hive knows we have only been getting enough rain weekly to knock the dust out of the air maybe, and the world is a bone dry nectarless place now. They know when the rains are coming, all or most will make it home before a nasty downpour in the summer. They are amazing critters and I am fortunate to be their shepherd.
Honey is truly a marvel. Is is basically concentrated nectar with trace amounts of pollens, worked by the bees with enzymes to break it down into it's simplest forms, and made sterile, and permanently storable. Nectar is the sweet juice found in flowers, there as a "reward" well more incentive for bees and other critters to pollinate the flowers for the plants. Nectar is sugars produced by the plants using photosynthesis. Energy transformed... into a really palatable commodity. So a hive is like a big solar energy collector in a way, storing away sunshine energy for later. And we can tap it for food great.
Pollen. Bees also store pollen in the cells, mixed with a little cured honey to keep it from turning rancid. Bee Bread is the correct term. It takes one cell full of bee bread and one cell full of honey to raise an egg to a bee, as well as a cell for the bee to develop in.
Brood.
The queen, ushered around by her royal attendants in court, moves throughout the hive inspecting cells as she goes. When she finds a clean one she will lay an egg in times of plenty. In harsher times her laying should slow to conserve energy. An egg 3 days later a larvae about 9 days a pupae at 20 or 21 days, depending on cell size a worker bee will emerge. It takes 24 for drones and only 16 for queens as they have a different diet.
The hive is one of the most sterile environment found in nature, due to the bees collecting resins from plants, working those with enzymes and a little wax, they make propolis or bee glue. Very anti microbial stuff has been used a long time to kill germs, before they even knew what germs were.
Bees this is the important part, You have to have the colony itself to make a hive. Bees are very simple, they need shelter, forage, water. Beyond that and watching over them for problems you probably cant help them. They are not tame.
A hive has it's own mind, not subject to the will of the queen but rather the workers. The workers, through pheromone level within the hive know exactly what is needed. The oldest foragers are the ones who initiate swarming right before a new queen hatches, they know best having the most experience outside the hive. It is very logical this hive mind, a combination of the awareness of 60000 or more individuals. All this communication done in the dark hive and the bees know exactly what is needed. Take the queen away in a split and the next day they will be building queencells. They know what they need to survive.
The hive is aware on a vast scale, it knows me personally i feel and knows I am no threat. Same for my daughter. The hive knows we have only been getting enough rain weekly to knock the dust out of the air maybe, and the world is a bone dry nectarless place now. They know when the rains are coming, all or most will make it home before a nasty downpour in the summer. They are amazing critters and I am fortunate to be their shepherd.
