Introduction to

Honey Bees and Beekeeping

Robert Kluson, Ph.D. Ag/NR Extension Agent III UF/IFAS Sarasota County Extension OUTLINE

Backyard Regulations

History

Importance

Biology

Management

Honey Backyard Regulations Summary

• Compliance agreement signed • Follow best management practices • 15’ from property line • Six foot flyover • Fenced in yard • ¼ acre or less three hives • Special permit for parks http://www.freshfromflorida.com/content/download/33027/812312/08492_sample_be ekeeper_CA_for_EAB.pdf BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES EUROPEAN COLONIES MAINTENANCE

1. This is a voluntary program designed to minimize the threat of Africanized Honey Bees (AHB) in Florida and to dilute any feral AHB populations that may become established in Florida as our gentle managed colonies are our best line of defense against AHB.

2. Beekeepers participating in this program must sign a compliance agreement with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

3. Beekeepers will maintain a valid registration with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services/Division of Plant Industry (FDACS/DPI), and be current with any and all special inspection fees.

4. A Florida apiary may be deemed as EHB (European Honey Bee) with a minimum 10% random survey of colonies using the FABIS (Fast African Bee Identification System) and/or the computer-assisted morphometric procedure, ie. universal system for the detection of Africanized Honey Bees (AHB) (USDA-ID), or other approved methods by FDACS on a yearly basis or as requested.

5. Honey bee colony divisions or splits should be queened with production queens or queen cells from EHB breeder queens following Florida’s Best Management Practices.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in874 BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES EUROPEAN HONEY BEE COLONIES MAINTENANCE

6. Florida beekeepers are discouraged from collecting swarms that cannot be immediately re-queened from EHB queen producers.

7. Florida Beekeepers should practice good swarm prevention techniques to prevent an abundance of virgin queens and their ready mating with available AHB drones that carry the defensive trait.

8. Maintain all EHB colonies in a strong, healthy, populous condition to discourage usurpation (take over) swarms of AHB.

9. Do not allow any weak or empty colonies to exist in an Apiary, as they may be attractive to AHB swarms.

10. Recommend re-queening with European stock every six months unless using marked or clipped queens and having in possession a bill of sale from a EHB Queen Producer.

11. Immediately re-queen with a European Queen if previously installed clipped or marked queen is found missing.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in874 BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES EUROPEAN HONEY BEE COLONIES MAINTENANCE

12. Maintain one European drone source colony (250 square inches of drone comb) for every 10 colonies in order to reduce supercedure queens mating with AHB drones.

13. To protect public safety and reduce beekeeping liability do not site apiaries in proximity of tethered or confined , students, the elderly, general public, drivers on public roadways, or visitors where this may have a higher likelihood of occurring.

14. Treat all honey bees with respect.

http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in874 Evolution History

• Bees’ ancestors evolved 207 to 220 million years ago

• Now: 22,000 species of bees • 9 species of honeybee Honey Bees

• Kingdom: Animalia • Subgenus Micrapis: • Phylum: Arthropoda Apis andreniformis • Class: Insecta • Order: • Subgenus Megapis: • Family: • Subgenus Apis: • Subfamily: • Tribe: Apini Apis mellifera • : Apis Apis nigrocincta World Distribution of HoneyBee Species

Apis andreniformis Apis koschevnikovi

Apis cerana Apis nigrocincta

Apis dorsata Apis mellifera Apis florea http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_bee Aphis mellifera Honey Bees

• Called “Western/European Honey Bee

• Originated in eastern tropical Africa and spread from there to Northern Europe and then globally

• There are many subspecies that have adapted to the local geographic and climatic environments Coevolution: Pollinators & Flowering Plants

100 M Yrs BP

Fossil record that diversity increased dramatically following the origin of the flowering plants 100 M Yrs BP (in the Cretaceous period). Benefits to the Plants. Benefits to the Pollinators. • Benefits – • rich food source

– • average ~ 40% sugar Bee Ophrys – – No benefit? - diagram Trickery from Charles • pseudocopulation Darwin

www.biol.wwu.edu/.../Coevolution/ Human History of Honey Bees

• Ancient times: cave paintings of honey gathering

• Hunter-gatherers today (or at least during the late 1900s) • !Kung: a “sacramental adventure” • Mbuti: hunting season as Mesolithic rock painting showing honey collection from a wild nest at Valencia, a time of festivity and Spain

magic http://www.mdbee.com/articles/cavepainting.html Cultural History of Honey Bees SACRED BEES  Honey bees and honey are present in the creation myths, cosmologies and sacred places of many diverse ancient cultures.

 Honey bees were considered a symbol of the soul, of death and of rebirth

 The hive of honey bees symbolized a functional society.

 Honey was regarded as a magical, sacred substance.

 Honey has had many uses:  foods and beverages  heal wounds and cure diseases  placed in tombs and used for embalming

http://beehaven.heroku.com/history-of-bee-worship SACRED BEES

 In the mythology of ancient Greece the Omphalos was the or stone at the center of reality. It served as the portal to their gods.

 Omphalos stones were erected in several areas surrounding the Mediterranean Sea; the most famous of those was at the oracle in Delphi.

Persephone with the Omphalos (i.e., Beehive) on her head at the Eleusis Museum in Athens http://sacredpathofthebee.tumblr.com/ SACRED BEES

 Ancient bee goddesses included Aprodite, Artemis, Cybele, Demeter, Persephone, and Neith.

 The ancient priestesses of the Bee Goddesses were known as the Melissaes in Greek and the Deborahs in Hebrew.

The Melissae represent the sacred feminine tradition.

Jewelry depicting a bee goddess, Greek c. 700 BCE

http://sacredpathofthebee.tumblr.com/ SACRED BEES

Mayan Bee God Mok Chi Mayan Bee god Ah Muzen Cab  The ancient Maya revered honey for its medicinal and ritualistic uses.  In contrast, their honeybee species called “stingless bees”,or simply meliponines, is in the tribe Meliponini of family Apidae Unlike other eusocial bees, they do not sting but will defend by biting if their nest is disturbed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingless_bee SACRED BEES Scenes from Slovenia Today

Beeshed with small front boards over the gullet with Slovenian Melissae different little pictures from long history of depicting Saints, people beekeeping. and animals and especially from everyday life. http://www.thezaurus.com/gallery/112 Agriculture Importance Importance of • More than 75% of flowering plants depend on pollinators • In U.S., over 100 crop plants depend on animal pollinators (value >$15 Billion) • Most natural ecosystems would collapse without animal pollinators • Some plants are endangered because of diminished pollination 22 Pollination Impacts • About 130 US crops are pollinated by bees • List of crops that benefit but do not require bee visitation http://gears.tucson.ars.a g.gov/beeclass/Pollinatio n.pdf 1 23 Pollination Impacts • List of crops that require bee visitation http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/beeclass/Pollination.pdf

1 24 • List of crops that require bee visitation Pollination Impacts 25 The Honey Bee Colony – Caste Development and Differentiation Bee honey is composed of fructose, We know that bees have glucose, and water, in varying been producing honey as proportions. It also contains several they do today for at least enzymes and oils. The color and 150 million years. Bees flavor depend on the age of the produce honey as food honey and on the source of the stores for the hive during nectar. the long months of winter when flowers aren't blooming and therefore little or no nectar is available to them.

Honey bees are herbivores; they eat nectar and honey. The Honey Bee Colony – Caste Development and Differentiation

The queen reigns over the • At the individual level, nest, surrounded by honey bees have not attendants and fed the rich one but three types of food she requires to colony members: perform her few but crucial queens, drones and workers, each with tasks in the colony. The their own queen produces powerful specializations and pheromones, chemical place in honey bee signals to recipient workers society. which control many of their

behaviors and provide part of the 'social glue' which holds honey bee life together. The Honey Bee Colony – Caste Development and Differentiation

• The queen is the only sexually developed female in the hive. She is the largest bee in the colony.

• A two-day-old is selected by the workers to be reared as the queen. She will emerge from her cell 11 days later to mate in flight with approximately 18 drone (male) bees. During this mating, she receives several million sperm cells, which last her entire life span of nearly two years.

• The queen starts to lay eggs about 10 days after mating. A productive queen can lay 3,000 eggs in a single day.

Bee!

This is a baby bee hatching. She must chew the cap off her cell to hatch. Bee House Chores

Nurse bees feed the baby larvae and vibrate their wing muscles to keep them warm New baby larvae and the queen eat which the bees make from a gland in the worker’s head. Bee House Chores – Turning Nectar into Honey

Workers fan their wings to dry up the runny nectar and turn it into thicker honey. Then other workers come and make wax tops to seal up the Bee House Chores

•A young bees’ first chore is to clean the cell they hatched from to prepare it for the queen to lay an egg •Bees have 8 glands on their abdomens which create wax. As the wax cools it turns clear and looks like tiny scales •Undertaker bees carry out the bodies of dead workers and drop them outside the hive •They vibrate their wing muscles to warm the hive •They help to pack the food (honey & pollen) in their combs •In summer they fan their wings to cool the hive or to make honey More Bee House Chores • are built with 2 sides and the cells are slanted upwards. This stops the honey from running out •Guard bees release homing pheromones or warning scents to send messages to the other workers •A guard bee strikes a Karate-like pose as she protects the hive from intruders. Bee House Chores – Queen Attendants

How is a queen made? A young larva is chosen by the bees and fed only royal jelly. They make her an extra large cell because she’s bigger. She will hatch in 16 days and then leave the hive to mate with multiple drones. Mating takes place in the air. She will then return to the hive and stay there the rest of her life laying eggs. She lays between 1500 and 2000 eggs a day (an egg about every 45 seconds). She does not take time to even leave the hive to poop. Her attendant bees (young worker bees) feed her, carry away her poop, groom her and take care of her. Queens live about 3 years. Outside the Hive: A Field Bee So You Think You Can Dance?

When workers find a good source of pollen or nectar they return to tell the other workers so they can go there too.

They dance to give the workers directions on where the food source is. Sometimes they get very excited about finding good food. Bee Field Chores

Can you guess what they are collecting here? It’s a yellow coloured powder… The Boys - Drones

They have one job in the hive – to mate with a queen.

Workers must feed the drones. They do not collect pollen or nectar or do any hive work.

Drones are the biggest honey bee, with large Can you find the drone in this eyes and they have no picture? stinger. Drones Life Cycle

They have one job in the hive – to mate with a queen.

Workers must feed the drones. They do not collect pollen or nectar or do any hive work.

Drones are the biggest honey bee, with large Can you find the drone in this eyes and they have no picture? stinger. Bee Pests: Diseases and Mites

• 1980s: bee mite parasites • mite • Foul brood Healthy Honeycomb American Foul Brood European Foul Brood

http://wallpaperstock.net/honeycomb-wallpapers_w4679.html http://www.honeybeekeeping.co.uk/cms/beekeeping-news/american-foulbrood-hits-scotland/

Africanized Honey Bee Apis mellifera scutellata

 Africanized Honey Bee (Apis mellifera scutellata) is an insect pest. It is a native of Africa and was first detected in Brazil in 1957.  An aggressive bee, it migrated from Brazil and arrived in Texas in 1990. It continues to migrate into the southern states.

 Special management of hives is required to control Africanized honey bees – see http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/mg113

Parts of the Hive

•White – Called a Deep is the food and nursery area for the bees

•Pink, Purple & Yellow boxes are called honey supers and they hold the honey for the beekeeper

•There’s a bottom board under the hive

•A wooden inner cover sits on top

•A big outer cover rests on top of everything The Beekeeper

• Clothing & Tools: – Hat – Veil – Hive Tool – Smoker

Frames in a Hive

• One frame has been lifted out to make room.

• Most hives have 10 frames

• A metal hive tool helps to pry out sticky frames

This is a Fame of Honey How does honey get its different flavours?

From the plants that are in bloom. Such as: Golden Rod Summer Flowers Buckwheat Basswood Blueberry That’s where it gets its colour from too.

Wild Combs look like Waffles

Wild bees like to build their combs in hollow trees (remember Winnie the Pooh?)

Wild combs hang down and look like a cross between a pancake and a waffle.

This wax and honeycomb can be eaten. Yummy! Honey Extraction

The caps of the honey are sliced off with a hot knife – these wax caps are saved and are used to make candles, lip balm, and furniture polish, etc.

The frames are put in a tank called an Extractor that has holders. Then the frames are spun around. The centrifugal force makes the honey drain out.

The sticky frames are given back to the bees to refill.

Only the extra honey produced by the bees is taken by the beekeeper. Spinning the Honey out of Combs As the frames spin in the extractor the honey runs out and drips down into the bottom.

Later a small tap is turned at the bottom and the honey pours out into a pail.

Get your spoon ready for a taste! Additional Resouces

• UF/IFAS Honey Bee Research & Extension • Bee College (usually in March) • Master Beekeeper Program • see http://entnemdept.ufl.edu/honeybee/

• Suncoast Beekeepers Association • see http://www.suncoastbeekeepers.com/ • meetings - the third Thursday of each month at 7pm in the Northern Trust Community Room in Lakewood Ranch Additional Resouces

http://pollinator.org/beesmartapp.htm Thank You

This is Chris from Clovermead Apiaries. He’s dressed up wearing a bee beard of thousands of bees. Girls can wear beards too. This is Melanie who won a bee beard competition in 2009. References

• Lindquist, R. Beekeeping/Apiculture - see www.morris.umn.edu/academic/.../BEEKEEPING.LINDQUIST.ppt