We always find attending a SEMBA (SouthEast Michigan Beekeeping Association) conference exciting as we listen to presentations, examine the new bee books and other wares from vendors, catch up on gossip with now-familiar faces, and just immerse ourselves for a day in all things honeybee. The most recent one was particularly enjoyable as we attended with our niece, who will be getting her first bees later this year, and her enthusiasm generated an additional second-hand excitement in us. The downside of all this excitement is that it is tiring, especially for a pair of old introverts, and we never have energy to write about the conference without a longish rest during which we forget all about it. Here then a few weeks late are a few items that stuck with us.
|
Foraging for water is more dangerous than foraging for nectar. |
|
Crystallizing in honey can be a problem. |
|
Paint hive bodies to prevent damage by woodpeckers. This may not be as general a principle as we have stated it but it is supported by the experience of Rich Wieske of Green Toe Gardens. Always a delightful speaker, he gave a fascinating history of beekeeping in Detroit from its rural beginnings to his own current urban experiences. One of those he illustrated with a picture of a row of Langstroth hives with each unpainted one bearing a large hole through the handhold where the wood is thinnest while the painted ones were untouched. |
In either case the fluid is held by the forager in her crop, a pouch between her mouth and stomach. Although her mission is to keep her payload there until, arriving back at the hive, she regurgitates it to receiver bees for handling, she can instead send it the other way to her stomach. Filled with nectar if she starts feeling faint on the flight home, perhaps because the temperature suddenly dropped, she can just help herself to a nip and keep on. But filled with water the wee sip will do her no good at all. It is rather like running out of gas/petrol while hauling a load of jerrycans home. If the cans are full of more fuel then you arrive home with a slightly smaller payload. If full of water then you are stuck by the roadside, although unlike the bee you might have a mobile phone to call for help. Our unfortunate water forager will simply expire.
We have often been asked if crystallized honey had somehow gone bad and reassuringly replied that, no, it was fine and a little gentle heating would put things aright. Our response is still true as far as it goes but the concentration of sugar in the honey matters. As sugar crystallizes out of the honey, the remaining fluid grows more dilute. If it was not very concentrated at the start then it may even grow dilute enough for mold to form and yeasts to ferment it. There are better ways to try making mead.In more recent news, yesterday was our first day without snow on the ground. A few days before that, with the snow reduced to patches, crocus finally appeared.
The Prospect of Bees 
2014 April 12 at 16:19
Very interesting info, thanks! Wonder why the woodpeckers ignore the painted hives.
Happy for you that crocuses are finally out, what a late spring you’re having.
2014 April 13 at 10:35
Thank you. It is a great joy to see bits of color among the brown and yet-dull green now that the white is gone for a time.
The woodpeckers are a mystery. Certainly a coat of paint does not prevent them from making holes in human houses.
2014 April 12 at 21:00
I was looking at beekeeping resources here in Colorado, and oh, the then-upcoming local conference sounded good. But it cost about $150 IIRC. Too much for one without bees.
2014 April 13 at 10:32
Oh, my! Our conferences tend to cost about a tenth of that. Might you have been looking at a price that included a night in a hotel? Or are Colorado beekeepers that much wealthier than we in Michigan?
2014 April 14 at 23:45
My wife and I had to laugh about your description of “a pair of old introverts.” She is definitely an introvert and gets tired from talking to people. I’m less that way, but definitely not an extravert. Entertaining people, going to events wear us both out, so we can definitely relate to what you’re talking about.
Finding about the water situation lends importance to keeping a water source close to the hives. Last year I never saw any bees go to my five gallon bucket with a wooden float. I don’t know where they were getting their water from. Do you have any good ideas for keeping water nearby?
2014 April 15 at 04:33
Fodder for another post but the short answer sadly is ‘no’. For a while we tried a chicken waterer with pebbles in the dish not far from the hive(s). You can see it in this picture: https://theprospectofbees.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/hivesrearview.jpg
But we never saw the little ingrates making much use of it. We do see them at our bird bath but otherwise assume they tank up at the wetlands nearby.
Now for a lie-down after all this human interaction. š
2014 April 17 at 23:02
Interesting info about the water. We have a couple of birdbaths in the garden and have seen bees drinking from them. We clean them very often but my concern is the birds also take a bath and defacate in it as well. Will that have any effect on the bees?
2014 April 18 at 14:13
Bees are not at all fussy about water quality and we have never come across any information about them suffering from drinking at birdbaths, swimming pools, muddy ditches, or the like. Some beekeepers report that they seem to prefer dirty water, possibly for the minerals it can provide or perhaps a dirty source is just easier to find since it has a smell to track.
In this specific case we would guess there are no bird pathogens that could jump species all the way to honeybees. Less pleasant to contemplate is anything nasty ending up in the honey but that also seems unlikely since honey is not a hospitable environment for such things.