contents Introduction 6
Getting to know bees 8
What are bees? 10 Environmental activities 12 Honey bee look-alikes 14 Flight patterns 16 Waggle dance 18 Flight range 20 Longevity 22 Bee and wasp stings 24
Bee-keeping equipment 54
Early equipment 56 Modern equipment 58
Talking to bees and swarms 60 Telling the bees 62 Claiming a swarm 64 Preventing swarming 66 Selling bees 68 Valuing a swarm 70
Attr acting bees 26
Flowers bees love 28 Fruit 30 Herbs bees love 32 Vegetables 34 Clover 36 Heather 38 Colours 40
Where do BEES live? 42
In the wild 44 Early hives 46 Early observation hives 48 Early house-apiaries 50 Modern hives 52
Proverbs, sayings and quotations 72 Rhymes, Limericks and literature 88
Weather rhymes 90 Popular songs 92 Index 94
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waggle da n c e The waggle dance is the flight pattern of bees exploring and seeking flowers offering nectar and pollen. It also indicates Source
to fellow bees the direction and distance of patches of flowers yielding this food, and where water and new housing locations can be found.
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Earlier it was thought that bees performed two distinct flight dances – round dances and waggle dances. Round dances were considered to indicate nearby food sources and waggle dances to reveal distant sources. However, this is now thought to be incorrect, with a round dance basically being a waggle dance with a short waggle.
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Confused me ssages
How doth the little busy bee
Evolutionary development
Improve each shining hour,
Ancestors of modern honey bees are claimed also to have given primitive messages in their flight patterns, which included zigzagging, shaking, buzzing and bumping into fellow bees. These movements can be seen in today’s wasps, stingless bees and bumble bees. Evolution, however, has now given modern honey bees greater communication skills and improved foraging success.
And gather honey all the day, From every opening flower! I s a a c Wa t t s ( 1 6 7 4 – 1 7 4 8 )
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Complex movements
The direction and duration of these message-revealing waggle runs reveal the direction and distance of groups of flowers ready to be foraged. Flowers located directly in line with the sun are indicated by waggle runs in an upward direction: directions to the left or right are given through sideways movements.
The waggle dance of a honey bee has a figure-of-eight pattern (as shown in the diagram above), which often appears confused because of the rapid side-to-side motions of bees. Indeed, such movement usually appears blurred. 19
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FLOWERS B E E S LOV E Providing bees with nectar and pollen is vital, both for them and for the long-term pollination of flowering plants and consequently the healthy future of this planet. Bees require nectar primarily as a source of energy, and pollen as protein; most pollen is used as food for their grub-like larvae.
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Dr i n k i ng wat e r
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Where the bee sucks, there suck I:
Fresh drinking water is just as essential to bees as a diet of nectar and pollen. A nearby pond, active with fish and other water creatures that prevent stagnation, is one way of providing it. A fountain surrounded by stones on which bees can alight makes another welcome source of water.
In a cowslip’s bell I lie; There I couch when owls do cry. On the bat’s back I do fly, After summer merrily. Merrily, merrily shall I live now Under the blossom that hangs on the bough. William Shakespeare T h e Te m p e s t
Thyme
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B e e -friendly ga rdens
Healthy bees demand plants which have not been sprayed with pesticides or herbicides, many of which are toxic to them. It is better to control pests and diseases by ‘green’ methods, such as encouraging beneficial insects, regular crop rotation and ‘companion planting’.
Successful bee-keeping relies on nectar-rich and pollen-packed flowers. These can be native wild flowers as well as those in flower beds and borders; fruit trees and bushes, vegetables and herbs also have an important role. 28
Chives
Sage Lavender
Mint 29
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early hi v e s Honey bees are gregarious and live together in large numbers. Before hives were available, they took advantage of holes in trees, recesses in walls and discarded pots. Then they thrived in early forms of hive, which protected them from wet weather and extreme cold and heat.
Abyssinian sewn hives
Coiled straw skeps
Hollowed trunks
Early b ee-k eeping
groups. Mattioli was a doctor and naturalist. Apart from his botanical and naturalist investigations, he is claimed to be the first doctor to have described allergies to cats, from which he suffered.
Dried trunks from small trees, as well as large cacti (above), were hollowed and raised on stout, forked supports to keep them dry and free from vermin. Sometimes, Abyssinian sewn hives were supported horizontally.
Coiled skeps took many forms, including later ones with removable tops (above). A person who made coiled and woven skeps was known as a ‘Skepper’. This surname, in several forms, still exists today.
Old French skeps
Early French skeps (above) were formed of seasoned straw vertically secured to a simple frame and with a rain-proof, knotted and twisted, top. A small, single, ramped entrance at the base of the skep enabled bees to come and go. These early skeps were widely known in northern and western Europe and later replaced by coiled skeps.
These hives were made from rolled bark wrapped in straw before being tied and sewn (above). There were also hives formed by hollowing trunks of kolkual cactus trees.
Willowtwi g skeps
Woven from flexible willow stems, with a detachable top (right), they were firm and durable, with an angled, stable base.
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This illustration (above) from Pietro Andrea Mattioli’s Commentaires, first published in Italian in 1544, shows early hollowed-log hives positioned vertically and in 47
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claiming a s wa r m Swarms of bees are valuable and in earlier times the owner of the hive from which the bees swarmed would chase them, waving and tapping a warming pan, frying pan or kettle in an attempt to claim them for his own. This was known as ‘tanging’ and produced a loud ringing or clanging noise. Valuing a swarm
In earlier years, when honey was the main source of sweetness, bees were especially prized and protected. The earlier in the season a swarm appeared, the greater was its value. This led to the saying, “A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay. A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon.”
Preventing swarms Bees especially swarm in summer when the temperature is high. One way to calm them is to spray the area around the hive with water – not soaking the hive but slightly cooling it. Traditionally, aromatic herbs such as Bee Balm (Monarda didyma), Thyme or Lavender were rubbed on hives to calm and settle bees to prevent them swarming.
There was an Old Man in a tree, Who was horribly bored by a bee; When they said “Does it buzz?” He replied “Yes it does, It’s a regular brute of a bee!” E d wa r d L e a r ( 1 8 1 2 – 1 8 8 8 ) B ook of Nonsense
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BUYing bees
Once safely in a hive in a garden, bees were treated with respect, as if part of a family. They were told of forthcoming births and weddings. White ribbons were tied around hives on wedding days, with a piece of wedding cake placed at the hive’s front. Deaths had to be told before the sun rose on the following day.
In earlier centuries, apart from bartering with corn or a small pig, gold coins were usually offered to buy a swarm. This prompted the saying, “If you would wish your bees to thrive, Gold must be paid for every hive; For when they’re bought with other money, There will be neither swarm nor honey.” 65