Honey, Bees, and Us. The Ultimate Relationship
In the middle of the kitchen table was a small lazy susan containing bottles of vitamins and herbs, a set of matching salt and pepper shakers, and the ubiquitous smiling honey bear. Honey was there to sweeten our tea, dribble on cereal, ooze over biscuits, squirt atop ice cream, and occasionally mix with lemon juice to soothe sore throats. Honey was a staple sweet that I appreciated in the comfort of my home without any interaction with its tiny producers – until about seven years ago.
In 2001, I was directing a nature center in Crystal Lake and wanted to install an observation beehive, so I contacted beekeeper Harry Patterson of Patterson Bee Farm. He put me in touch with an observation hive builder, and the work progressed quickly. Patterson soon arrived with bees to install in the new box.
Donning thick leather hiking boots, thin white pants, a thin white overcoat, a white pith helmet draped with netting, and elbow-length leather and canvas gloves, I was prepared for my first hands-on encounter with bees. Then, Harry reached in a box and brought out a frame of bees for me to hold while he prepared to introduce the queen. I could feel an adrenaline rush as I was surrounded by the hum of countless stinging insects and ensconced in the realization that the thin clothing I was wearing would not keep me from getting stung if the bees got really mad.
Bees in the news
Recently, bees have been prominently in the news due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), which has threatened the health of beehives in Indiana, Iowa, and 23 other states.
Characterized by the complete disappearance of adult bees in colonies, CCD has posed a horrifying mystery, leaving hives with a capped brood and plenty of food but no workers. Symptoms of potential collapse include an insufficient population of worker bees, an overabundance of young adult bees, and a reluctance to consume provided feed, such as sugar syrup and protein supplement.
Scientists from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Pennsylvania State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service, the University of Arizona, and 454 Life Sciences (a company that develops genome sequencing applications) have found a significant connection between the Israeli Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV) and Colony Collapse Disorder in honeybees, but solutions are still needed, especially with nearly $15 billion worth of crops depending on these little pollinators. At present, it is not known how the problem will resolve itself. But bee keepers solider on.
Why keep bees?
“I keep bees because honeybees are fascinating to me,” says Barrington beekeeper Earl Billman. “They pollinate so many things.” Harry Patterson says. “The wind, bumblebees, and hummingbirds all pollinate, but none is as efficient as the honeybee,” he says. “If we didn’t have honeybees, 80 percent of our foods wouldn’t be as plentiful.” Honey is also associated with a host of health benefits.
“People have been keeping bees for thousands of years,” says Blazing Star Nursery owner Caron Wenzel of Woodstock reflecting for a moment on the spiritual nature of her work. “You have a relationship with them.”
“You have to be quiet and move slowly,” says My Honey Company co-owner Linda Samorez.
“The more gently you handle them, the more easy they are to handle,” adds Earl Billman. Beekeepers can still get stung, but, says Samorez, “you know what it feels like and you move on. It’s like when you cook and burn yourself. You hopefully don’t do it again.”
The truth about the bees and honey
Unlike what is portrayed in the recently released Bee Movie, the workers aren’t burly males, but tough little females. In fact, most of the hive is female. Fifty to 60 guard bees protect the front of the hive, while thousands more jet about gathering food, taking care of the queen, and nurturing offspring. A healthy hive can contain 30,000 to 80,000 honeybees. The male minority, also known as the hive’s drones, are bigger than workers but don’t guard, work, or sting, so they get chased out before winter.
As the first pollen of spring becomes available, workers start heading out into the field again. Harry Patterson says that the “big honey flow” is in late May, June, and July, and sometimes an additional flow for the asters in late August or September. Light clover honey is harvested in spring, while darker, stronger flavored wildflower honey is harvested in fall.
Wildflower and clover honey are most common in our area, but other types of honey can be found in other parts of the country and world.
“Cranberry honey tastes a little woody from the nectar of the cranberry flower rather than the cranberry fruit,” says Linda Samorez. Harry Patterson shares that Germany’s Black Forest honey “looks like oil and tastes very bitter.” Earl Billman recommends Florida’s tupelo honey because “it never crystalizes.”
If you pick up honey at the store, be sure to find out its source. Pure honey does not contain additives, preservatives, or even an expiration date. Most honey crystalizes over time but can be returned to a useable consistency when it is placed in water at 130°F.
How the bees make the goods
No matter where your honey comes from, it takes an average of 12 worker bees visiting 50 to 100 flowers per collection trip to produce each teaspoon of this natural confection. Forming a “beeline” to choice flowers, these intelligent insects follow the shortest route possible to the best nectar sources they can find and stay busy from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day. Sunlight (both ultraviolet and infrared light) allows them to see and keeps them warm from early spring through mid-fall. On overcast days, they make wax for their stores, feed the queen, take care of drones, and remove dead bees from the hive; on hot summer days, they may fan the hive to keep it cool and remove toxic fumes.
A bee’s life is tough, as skunks, mice, yellow jackets, and even other honeybees try to rob their stores, mites prey on their bodies, and CCD threatens their homes.
The 6 percent hive loss sustained by Linda and Peter Samorez last year seems negligible compared to the 70 percent to 80 percent loss sustained by one Wisconsin beekeeper and the 50 percent to 90 percent loss of bees nationwide. “We sold two semi-truckloads – over 800 hives – to California to pollinate almonds, because all the bees out there died,” says Linda Samorez. The hives were left in the fields when they sprayed, she says. Others blame CCD. Nevertheless, increasing concern about the declining population of bees has led May Berenbaum, an entomology professor at the University of Illinois, to engage citizen scientists in tracking bees via www.beespotter.mste.uiuc.edu.
So, take a closer look at what’s pollinating your flowers. Visit a nearby nature center to learn more about bees. Then, stop by a store or farm stand for a little local honey on your way home.
- - - - - - - -
April Anderson is a naturalist and writer who loves sharing nature with people of all ages through innovative, educational programs, interpretive materials, and articles like this one. For more information, please contact her at: teamnature@owc.net.
Read sidebars to this story >>
.................................................................................................