What’s Happening?
Bee News for Winter 2017

I talked to John Wright this evening to see if we had any Bee News. So, here’s a report from John on what’s going on at the bee farm:

We’re experiencing the usually die off that happens every fall.

What does this mean? Fall die off of drones is a natural phenomena. There’s a great article on this topic on the Honey Bees Online Website. Here’s what they say:

When the weather is nice I enjoy walking around my hives and just watching my bees. Every fall I notice dead bees on the bottom board entrance. Sometimes you see this the day after you inspect a hive. In the fall they get rid of the drones, the male bee.  Drones are useful during the spring and summer to mate with virgin queens. But in the fall queen rearing is over. It is too late in the year to raise new queens so they get rid of their male population.

Occasionally a few drones may overwinter, but usually a colony doesn’t overwinter with drones because drones are not workers and are heavy consumers of precious winter stores of food. A colony must be very protective of their winter pollen and honey or they might starve in March or sooner.

CLICK HERE for the rest of the article.

Bee News: How Do Bees Carry Pollen?

There’s a new study that shows how honey bees carry pollen back to the hive. Science writer, Katherine Kornei, reports:

Bees don’t just transport pollen between plants, they also bring balls of it back to the hive for food. These “pollen pellets,” which also include nectar and can account for 30% of a bee’s weight, hang off their hind legs like overstuffed saddlebags (pictured).

CLICK HERE for the rest of the article.

Late Fall/Winter Resting Phase

When you work with Nature, like we do on the bee farm, late fall and early winter is a resting phase. Dormancy gives the plants, animals, and soil time to gather resources for spring. When our grandparents farmed, this was the time to stay inside by the winter fire, conserving energy so that we were ready to plant crops in late winter/early spring.

Gratitude to Science and Heidi and Hans-Juergen Koch/Minden Pictures for the photograph that goes with the article on Bees Carrying Pollen in Saddle Bags.