Lots of Information Here
About Honey Bees
Plus What We Know About Them
Throughout History
Honey bees are the most vital of living creatures there are. Bee history is indeed interesting, this article provides you with everything you would like to know about this facinating insect. Our whole eco system depends upon their survival because their survival will ensure our survival. They are the reason we have food on our plates and clothes on our backs. There are many campaigns which are on-going to help save them, however, the majority of people believe that there is nowhere near enough funding and they are disappearing fast! What Would You Like to Know
~ About Honey Bees?I’ll break this page into chunks because there may be one or two things in particular you are seeking. And below I’ll tell you all about our association with them and their History. Their Life-cycle although generally short, is filled with purpose and productivity.
Types of Bees These are the types Beekeepers use today although there are believed to be around 20,000 different bee species!
Those from Africa This bee was first imported to Brazil in 1957 with the hope they may adapt to the tropical climate
Killers !! are they Killer Bees? And do they deserve their reputation?
Run like the wind..... A guest article of an encounter, did he escape unharmed?
Bees in the Attic A guest article written by Michael who discovered honey bees in his attic!
Take a look at how they Dance Using their extraordinary ways of communication.
Feeding Them Useful information if you hope to become a Beekeeper.
Plant Pollination, In fact we depend mainly on their efforts.
Their Biology lends itself to a fascinating social structure that has been admired for centuries.
Disappearing....! Why are our bees disappearing?
Deaths.....! A few theories discussing the reason for their deaths.
Disease.... Like any living organisms susceptible to diseases, they can also be affected by disease of which there are several unfortunately.
Dr Reese Halter explains why he believes Neonictinoids are the reason our bees are missing!
Dr Sanford is the now retired Professor Emeritus at the University of Florida a position he held from 1981. Before this highly impressive position he was Assistant Professor at Ohio State University and a Temporary Lecturer at University of Georgia. You may like to read my interview with him.
What are the consequences for us if all our bees became Missing Bees? This is a must read, our total planet would change beyond all recognition!
Great Bee Pictures.....FREE
Learn about some Plants they like where you live.
You can help them by growing your very own Gardens No flowers without bees!
The Royal Queen She rules like no other!
Understand the reasons for a Swarm It is actually nothing for you to fear.
Have you ever wondered and asked yourself How they Make Honey?
And just Why do they Make Honey? I’m really pleased they do!
If you are unfortunate enough to be stung by a bee here Is How to Treat It You might hurt for a while, but they die!
Not to be confused with an accidental sting, people often seek out Bee Sting Treatment for Arthritis!
This little chap is a firm favourite with children, meet the Honey Nut Cheerios Bee
A few More Facts A quick breakdown. There are in fact only seven species of honey bee we recognize with a total of 44 subspecies. Interesting as there are in fact 20,000 types of bees!
A little more Further Information I thought you may like to read.
A Look at Honey Bees
Throughout HistoryThis article is a general timeline about bees and the way they have inspired many a collection of civilizations over many centuries. Let us please not forget, these insects are by far the most important plant pollinators we have, without them we will probably not survive. They actually evolved approximately 180 million years ago from the first primitive bee. This was in fact a solitary bee that originated in Southern Asia around 200 million years ago. We as humans began our life cycle in the same place. Slowly, as with most forms of evolution, the honey bee became a highly social creature and started their life’s work of producing honey whilst pollinating our beautiful earth. This delicious golden and nutritious end product called honey was and is of course their very own food source, however we do know through the famous cave drawings found in a cave known as the “Spider Cave” in Valencia that “honey hunting” became fashionable for us humans between 10,000 – 15,000 years ago. In Zimbabwe and South Africa there are rock formations with crude pictures of honey bees dating back some 15,000 – 20,000 years. The first believed keepers of honey bees are the ancient Egyptians. By 2,400BC this art was very well established along the River Nile and they are believed to be the first transporters of honey bees. The Chinese are also recognized as prolific keepers of honey bees. Interestingly this art is still an established business in China; the Chinese are our largest honey exporters. In the 1st Century AD Vergil’s Georgics tried to explain the social organization of honey bees. He did however get this wrong believing their leader to be a King” rather than the Queen we now know who is the truly dominant leader of the beehive.
In 1568 AD Nickel Jakob wrote an extensive journal describing how honey bees could raise a queen from eggs or very young larvae. Around 1586 AD after much research, discussion and observation by various people it was pretty much agreed upon and accepted that the head of the honey bees was in fact female and it was she, the queen bee who laid ALL the eggs. This was documented by Luis Mendez of Spain. And in 1609 AD And an Englishman named Charles Butler was able to prove that drone bees were in fact male.This was accepted as absolute fact when the author of “A Discource of Historic Bees” Richard Remnant showed that worker bees were female in 1637 AD. Interestingly, nothing was really known about the mating habits of a queen with a drone for about another 150 years, that is until Anton Janscha of Slovenia described the act in 1771 AD. I’m sure that by this time there are many who had discovered the art of making honey wine, perhaps this is the reason the Romans were such a merry bunch enjoying their lavish parties. Although it was in 300 – 600 AD in Europe the first manufactures of honey wine originated. By 1538AD the Spanish introduced the European honey bee to South America by transporting the first beehive. I’m sure they did not envisage then just how large scale this was to become. In the early 1600s AD Captain John Smith famous English explorer introduced honey bees to Jamestown in Virginia, North America. Honey was needed he thought to provide his New England settlers with sweet treats. The Native Americans called these bees “White Man’s Flies” They were introduced to Guadeloupe in 1688, Australia in 1839, and California in the early 1850's. In 1668 AD a Dutch microscopist called Swammerdam produced extremely detailed anatomical drawings of the queen, the worker and the drones (male). Honey bees do not like laziness and although highly social team-workers they kill of their drones because they are of no use in the hive. Their only purpose is to mate with the queen and once this has been completed they either die or are literally kicked out of the hive to starve to death. Now into 1685 AD some very detailed drawings were emerging of these amazing insects. The Accademia dei Linceria, an Italian Science Academy actually performed microscopic observations to enable these drawings! It was in the 1700s AD it was first realized that bees make honey, until then it was widely believed the bees collected it ready made from the flowers and plants they visited. A few years later, around 1744 AD, it was discovered that the young bees in the hive were responsible for producing beeswax. This honor is given to Hornbostel of Germany. Nectar, it was assumed fell from the sky until a Frenchman, Vaillant, showed in 1717 AD that nectar was produced in flowers. And in 1750 AD it was an Irishman by the name of Arthur Dobbs wrote a report stating the pollen collected by bees is the male seed needed by plants in order for them to pollinate. It was a further 43 years in 1793 AD when Sprengel clearly established the part played by bees in fertilizing flowers. And Francois Huber, who was a blind Swiss beekeeper, who published his observations a year before in 1792 AD. By 1750 AD further observations revealed that honey bees are flower-specific, preferring certain nectar sources and the pollen they collected were from flowers which were blue, yellow, purple and white, their favorite colors! In 1788 AD man discovered the intricate honey bee dances that take place in the hive. These are performed as a highly developed form of communication between the bees. The emblem of the bee and beehives has been adopted by many societies throughout history because most probably they have an air of mystery about them. It is interesting to note that in the 1700s AD these images were adopted by French Republic propagandists. The 1830s AD Thomas Nutt formed a group named “The Never Kill a Bee Movement”. The reason for this was the cruel and crude methods used at the time to kill honey bees in order to collect their honey. This was usually performed in a burning ritual. This is rather strange because Franciscan monks in the mid 1700s had developed a method of smoking the bees into a sleepy state by using Juniper wood which meant the bees came to no harm and their honey was extracted quite safely. Around 1848-1849 the Mormon movement migrated to Utah and named the place “Deseret” which translated means “Land of the Honeybee”. Introduced to New Zealand in 1842 AD and interestingly their parliament buildings in Wellington depicts and is named “Beehive” The first Honey Bees were introduced to Australia in 1862 aboard a steam ship which docked in Victoria from Italy; however it is thought they may have arrived earlier by other means in New South Wales. In 1847 AD a very Controversial German artist produced sculptures of honey bees amongst other bee related sculptures. In 1851 AD the Rev. Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth invented the first completely moveable honey bee hive which he constructed in Philadelphia. This has remained a firm favorite over many years although today there are many more variations. Langstroth was part of a group that imported the first Italian Queens to the America in 1860 AD. And F. Benton imported the first Carniolan bees to America from Germany in 1891 AD. Now into 1919 AD Lenin who was a bit of a visionary and very well aware of the importance of honey bees decided those beekeepers would be exempt from paying taxes and issued a decree for the “Protection of Bees”. This I understand still exists to this very day. By 1949 AD IBRA short for “International Bee Research Association” was founded in England. This group is thriving and work very hard for the protection of our honey bees. 1953 AD brings us to the Nobel Prize winner Karl von Frisch a German ethlogist who explained the dances of the honey bees and apian communication in his “The Dancing Bees” masterpiece. His prize was awarded in 1973 AD. By 1957 AD the escape of Africanized honey bees into the Brazilian rainforest caused all kinds of a stir. People were very frightened by this even believing that this was a particularly nasty “Killer Bee”! 1989 AD in a small town called Spitak, in Armenia close to the Georgian border; beekeepers noticed that bees had deserted their hives one hour before a huge earthquake. They realized this behavior by the Caucasian bee who lived in cracks in rocks could detect in advance that a calamity was about to arrive! In 1990 AD, Dr. Eva Crane published a paper named Bees and beekeeping: science, practice, and world resources. There are now extensive modern day writings outlining the importance of bees to our very survival. Alison Benjamin and her partner Brian McCallum wrote an amazing book in 2008 AD entitled “A World without Bees” this book gives far more detail than I can possibly list in this one article but is a highly recommended read. So here we are some 200 million years later surrounded by the beauty of our planet earth which includes our own honey bee gardens we love to grow and we are destroying it! Not slowly but rather quickly. Our bees are dying in their millions, our scientists and governments know this to be true. In fairness many millions of dollars and pounds sterling are being pumped into research programs that are investigating the cause or causes of our disappearing bees. Many factors have been recognized but no single cause has been identified, not at the time of writing this article. But what can we do to save our honey bees?Are you interested in Beekeeping? This art is really on the increase now and a brilliant way for us all to help.
Ask or Answer questions in our Beekeeping Forum. The Brilliant Phil Chandler, a true expert has answered many of your questions and gives excellent help and advice.
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Chapter 18: A BEE UNDER THE MITRE by BERNARD PRESTON
Note from Janette at www.health-benefits-of-honey.com
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