From the Editor, Jerry Hayes
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Los Posadas, Soyal, Kwanzaa or whatever you celebrate in this crazy world to bring honesty, respect and love to each other. Keep doing it!
Pollen… Bee Bread?
QUESTION
Jerry,
I really searched for information on this! Is some pollen stored as is, or is it ALL made into bee bread? Some sources mention that the bees add their mouth enzymes to the pollen, right away, to help preserve it, but not all sources called this “Bee Bread” – reserving that title for when the pollen was mixed with honey. I did find a research paper that said, “We found that bees preferentially consume fresh pollen stored for less than three days, (Anderson, et al., 2014, p. 23) from a study titled, Hive-stored pollen of honey bees: Many lines of evidence are consistent with pollen preservation, not nutrient conversion. In this article, it sounds like not all the pollen stored is yet bee bread.
Jeannie S.
ANSWER
There is no such thing as ‘fresh’ pollen stored in a honey bee colony. All pollen collected by the bees visiting flowers is groomed off the bees body hairs and liquids from midgut that contain, bacteria, yeast and fungus, and then enzymes are added so it can start to meet long term storage. It is now sticky and packed around their corbicula on large rear legs to begin the fermentation storage preservation process, even as the foragers fly back to the colony. This process makes the pollen not able to fertilize a seed embryo any longer. Once the cell that these multiple loads of now beebread are unloaded into, remember it’s not pollen anymore that can fertilize a seed embryo, is full of a thin layer of honey that may be added to the top as another preservation technique.
Queen Fecundity
QUESTION
I am a third year beekeeper. For the last two years after getting started, the ‘expensive’ queens I have purchased quit laying workers mid-Summer. They become drone layers. I have gotten mentor(s) from our local club to come out and take a look. They say “Yep, you got a drone layer, you need to buy another queen.” I do and it happens again. What is going on?
Richard H.
ANSWER
Glad you didn’t put me in an awkward spot. Lets take a look at DCA’s Drone Congregation Areas. These are locations where drones, honey bee males, get together from colonies in a couple mile radius and fly around waiting for a virgin queen to locate the area, fly into it and attract multiple drones to mate with. It may take a few separate trips to get 15-20 drones to contribute sperm to fill up her sperm holding organ called a spermatheca. If there are a few beekeepers in an area, or even a few feral colonies, then local beekeepers colonies will contribute enough drones for queens produced for swarming or supercedure or a few beekeeper queen rearing opportunities. Now, lets say there are multiple commercial queen producers in an area who produce thousands of queens to sell. Lets say that a Queen Producer in the peak season produces 1,000 queens per week (this is actually a low number). If we use the low number of 15 above, that means that they will require 15,000 Drones per week to sacrifice their lives and mate with 1,000 queens. And this is week after week. No way.
My suggestion to you is get your mentors to tell you who in the local area is a reputable and experienced small queen producer and give them a try.
Tools Guide – 8th Edition
QUESTION
I have listened to everyone that I know of about Varroa control. I have used all the products they have told me to use. I even bought one of those OA vaporizers. I saw Varroa on my bees last week. I need some better advice.
Bobby R.
ANSWER
Go to https://honeybeehealthcoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/HBHC-Guide_Varroa-Mgmt_8thEd-082422.pdf and there you will find the Brand New 8th Edition of Tools for Varroa Management Guide ready in time for Christmas. Print it out. If you can’t print it out, send me an email and I will send you a copy. It is all here. You don’t need to go on the web, listen to podcasts, or other people. Sampling, what to do at certain times of the year, products you can choose yourself, options etc., etc. are all there. I guarantee you if you follow this Honey Bee Health Coalition Guide for Varroa control consistently you will not lose colonies from Varroa. It may be other things but it won’t be Varroa.
Beekeeper Registration
QUESTION
We have registration through our Dept of Ag. for honey bee colonies. It costs hardly anything but why do they want this done and what value is in it for me?
Kamar M.
ANSWER
Long, long ago on a planet far, far away I was Chief of the Apiary Section of the Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services (FDACS). At the time, we had about 300,000 colonies and a couple thousand beekeepers. Nobody does anything if they can’t show value. FDACS was well aware of the value of managed honey bees to Florida agriculture and to its environment. Pollinator dependent agriculture is easy to see the value of all the fruits and vegetables Florida growers grew for consumer nutrition and value. But, they also knew of the value of those honey bees pollinating in the environment – plants, producing fruits, seeds, nuts, foliage that fed deer, squirrels, thousands of birds and help with carbon sequestration and water quality. But, only healthy, active and robust honey bees can give the most value. Our apiary inspectors were great. Our philosophy was that we were not the ‘Bee Police’, but rather part of Univ. of Florida, Dr Jamie Ellis’ Lab, sharing educational outreach. Of course, there were rules and regulations for beekeepers to follow with management of pests, parasites and disease, but building trust, confidence and consistency between apiary inspectors and beekeepers was how the industry improved. Hopefully most states follow this model.
Honey Crystallization
QUESTION
A friend told me that when honey crystallizes the solid part is all sucrose and the other part is all fructose. Is this true?
David S.
ANSWER
“It is natural for honey to crystallize since it is an over-saturated sugar solution. The two principal sugars in honey are fructose (fruit sugar) and glucose (grape sugar). The content of fructose and glucose in honey varies from one type of honey to the other. Generally, the fructose ranges from 30-44% and glucose from 25-40%. The balance of these two major sugars is the main reason that leads to crystallization of honey, and the relative percentage of each determines whether it crystallizes rapidly or slowly. What crystallizes is the glucose, due to its lower solubility. Fructose is more soluble in water than glucose and will remain fluid. When glucose crystallizes, it separates from water and takes the form of tiny crystals. As the crystallization progresses and more glucose crystallizes, those crystals spread throughout the honey. The solution changes to a stable saturated form, and ultimately the honey becomes thick or crystallized.” (See graph above) From https://bvbeeks.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Honey_Crystallization.pdf
