Hobbies bring life to a person. It gives them something cool to talk about; it makes life interesting. Being a horticulturist, my hobbies revolve around this industry. I enjoy gardening, planting vegetables, and bees. Why bees? My reason for enrolling into a Honey Bee Biology class was to learn not to be afraid of them, because the first step to respect is knowledge. I could not be that young lady who still ran away from bees, that's absurd. After two years of beekeeping, I can now proudly say I don't even flinch when I see a bee now. Instead, I look to see if the bee has any pollen or I even put a drop of my coke down so the bee can bring some sugar back to the hive. I say 'fun facts' to any person that is standing by me when I see a bee and I am going to start my own hive after graduation. The girl who was once a foe to bees is now a friend.
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Before any beekeeping I first had to learn the biology of a honey bee and how to distinguish it from other bees and mimic flies. After lectures, we moved to microscopes. In the photos to the left and right are us classifying the components on the outside and then the insides after dissection. We would identify the corbicula-- the space behind the hind legs where the bee will store the pollen it collects, the tarsal claws-- the hook behind the first set of legs that cleans the antennae and the pollen off the body, and the honey crop-- inside the bee before the midgut where the sugar needed for honey is stored for regurgitation into the comb. I would also locate the scales on the abdomen where pheromones will be released that communicate to other bees in the hive. In class, I was also taught the components of a hive and what makes a healthy colony. Honey bees a lot smarter than people think and they deserve respect. Honey production takes a full spring/summer season and beekeepers have to know how much to harvest but still leave enough for the bees to survive winter.
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My first beehive! To the left is a package of bees, approximately 10,000 with one queen. On top of the package is sugar water. The queen is kept in a separate little box but close to the package. This is so the queen pheromones can be accepted by the worker bees. If the queen is not accepted, the workers will rear their own queen and kill the existing one. To the right is the package being transitioned to the hive box with five frames.
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New Adventures Await |
My hive box that I received for my birthday! It is made from styrofoam to better insulate the bees in the winter. The hive box contains 10 frames and I will buy a super, where the bees store honey, to go on top. On the lid are a hive tool and a smoker. The hive tool helps knock off any unwanted queen cells and burr comb. The smoker is used to mask the pheromones that the bees produce while working on the hive. I have my veil and gloves on to protect my hands and face from unexpected bee stings. I am so excited to be a beekeeper!
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