History of Beekeeping The history of beekeeping is long. We have no direct evidence of when man began to keep bees. We do however, find many references to bees in the Bible, and in early writings by such scholars as Virgil who lived from bc 70 to 19 and earlier Egyptian paintings representing beekeeping. But we know that honey was gathered much before that. Possibility as long
Included among these records are cave drawings that are commonly seen in bee books pointing to the past. This is an era of honey hunting rather than beekeeping. Honey hunting continues to this day not only in Asia with individuals gathering honey from the Giant Honey Bee of India (Apis dorsata) to the individual in search of a bee tree (Apis mel-
ago as ten thousand years, ancient hunters were leaving a record on cave walls of hunts for animals and food.
lifera) for its honey in the United States.
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Next I’ll speak about the celestial gift of honey from the air... —Virgil, Georgics, Book IV
...Some time later, when he went back to marry her, he turned aside to look at the lion’s carcass, and in it he saw a swarm of bees and some honey. He scooped out the honey with his hands and ate as he went along. When he rejoined his parents, he gave them some, and they too ate it. But he did not tell them that he had taken the honey from the lion’s carcass. Judges 14:6-9 (niv)
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At some point in the history of mankind, he relied less on hunting and more on farming. This required that he establish a more permanent place to live. He most likely did not have to go find the bees — they came to him. Honey bees swarm as a means of propagation. Man most likely discovered that bees could be transferred into vessels of some sort and would remain — establish a colony pro-
The type of container used to keep bees in varied from region to region. Regardless, they all had something in common. They were for the most part natural hives. The comb could not be manipulated to examine activity inside the nest. Removing the honey also meant killing the bees. Due to the nature of annual swarms, the beekeeper could restock his hives from season to
ducing honey.
season and with some eye on the future, keep a few hives for the next season.
The ancient Egyptians put the bees on a deistic pedestal. Here is an image of Thriai, the winged bee goddess. 4
Evolution of Hive Designs
Jumping ahead several thousand years, Lorenzo L. Langstroth is born Christmas Day, 1810. L.L Langstroth is considered the Father of American Beekeeping. On October 5, 1852, Langstroth received a patent on the first movable frame beehive in America. A Philadelphia cabinetmaker, Henry Bourquin, a fellow bee enthusiast, made Langstroth’s first hives for him and by 1852 Langstroth had more than a hundred of these hives and began selling them where he could. Langstroth spent many years attempting to defend his patent without success. He never earned any royalties because the patent was easily and widely infringed. Langstroth hives are still in common use today.
At the time of Langstroth’s contributions, honey was the chief sweetener in American diets, so Langsrtoth’s new beekeeping techniques were of great importance. His discoveries and inventions allowed beekeeping to be done more cost-effectively on a large scale. Since four to twelve pounds of honey, and many hours of bee time, are consumed by bees in the production of one pound of beeswax, honey production was increased from reuse of the comb. Also, being able to remove surplus honey without having to kill the bees meant that many more bees were available the following spring to gather honey.
Next page: The Beekeepers by Pieter Bruegel the Elder, c. 1568 5
Hive Designs Fixed comb hives are antiquated. Because of their anatomy, they cannot be moved or deconstructed without damaging the comb permanently. The hive is often built into a tree or manmade structure (made of clay, hollowed log or skep) to house the bees. The outlaw of these hives is becoming more common in light of inspection concerns. Fixed comb hives can still be found in Aukštaitija National Park in the historic village of Stripeikiai, Lithuania. The moveable frame hive, as mentioned earlier, is the most popular and most common hive , designed by Lorenzo Langstroth. This hive initialy resembles a cube (sometimes stacked) and allows for its lid to be and panels within to be removed. This optimizes the bees in the hive, their space and the honey they produce.
Next page: A moveable hive frame. 8
Top-bar hives are simple and often do not allow for greatest honey production by the bees. These hives offer the bees home and allow for pollination of local plants. The general construction is a basic frame with a horizontal bar that allows for the bees to create their hives vertically, descending from the bar. Because of their lack of optimum honey production, these hives are not the most common.
Accessories Knowledge is the first step to proper beekeeping and safety. With awareness and understanding a beekeeper can be quick and concise when approaching a hive, able to be involved without hurting the hive. Smokers are a common defensive mechanism used by professional beekeepers. The smoke initiates a feeding response in the bees and masks the pheromones released when alarmed. The smoke does not harm the bees and allows the beekeeper to investigate the hive or extract honey as needed.
Protective clothing might be the most obvious means of saftey. The veil is the most common, to protect the beekeepers’ face. The suit itself is recommended. The suit absorbs the venom of stings and prevents other bees from detecting the venom and aggrevating. The gloves are occassionally left off to allow freedom of hands and fingers. Notice the gentleman in the photo to the left is wearing the full garb —except the gloves.
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so work the honey-bees, creatures “ For that by a rule in nature teach the act of order to a peopled kingdom.” — William Shakespeare
Other Stylels of Beekeeping In more recent years some groups have leaned towards a more natural means of keeping their bees. This form of natural beekeeping is giving the bees themselves the control of their hive, very little external interaction. Advocates of natural beekeeping only expect honey when the bees themselves have been taken care of first—feeding on their own sugar before extracting honey from the hive.
Another form of keeping bees simliar to that of natural beekeeping, is urban or backyard beekeeping. Practitioners of backyard beekeeping have small-scale hives for purely local motives, possibly exclusively to accompany a garden. Urban beekeeping might be more commonly found in larger cities where hives are rooftop. It is supposed that bees found in urban hives are healthier and produce a greater quality honey due to the lack of pesticides and greater biodiversity.
John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. Matthew 3:4 (niv) 14
Products of Beekeeping Honey is the most obvious product that a beehive will yeild. Honey is the primary source of food of the honeybee and is produced from the nectar of flowers. Beekeeping practices encourage overproduction of honey so the excess can be taken from the colony. Beeswax is the natural wax produced by honeybees in their hive. Beeswax is the walls of the hive and when extracted can be used for numerous reasons. Commonly, Burt’s Bees use beeswax as a lip balm and other natural skin-care purposes. Beeswax also yeilds excellent candles and can replace almost any synthetic wax for a more natural alternative.
Propolis is similar to beeswax in that it is an element of the honeybees’ hive construction. Propolis is composed of tree buds and sap flows. Propolis, however, is used to seal the hive from natural elements: wind, temperature & rain. More recently, propolis is now believed to reduce vibration in the hive, increase structural integrity of the hive and to prevent any intruders into the hive. Royal Jelly is a secretion of honeybees used in the nutrition of their larvae. When worker bees see the need to develop a new queen (to replace a dying or dead queen), they feed certain larvae excess royal jelly to trigger queen morphology, allowing the larvae to develop into an adult queen bee. Royal jelly can be collected and sold by beekeepers as a dietary suppliment for humans. It is an excellent source of vitamins, proteins and amino acids.
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Information For additional information on beekeeping, whether for educational resources or interest in starting your own hive, please contact us—we would love to help. Write to us, call or visit us online. Museum of Bees 117 West Duval St. Jacksonville, fl 32202 (904) 630-1396 museumofbees.com
We would also like to thank Dana Stahlman for her knowledge and assistance Samuel Levine for his contributions of photography. 16