The ABCs of bees
Book on nature’s hard-working insects has trivia worth buzzing about
There has been a lot of buzzing about bees in the last while. Seems everyone has an opinion about the potential banning of a certain classification of pesticides called “neonics” which, arguably, may be responsible for the drastic reduction in bee populations over recent years. Whether you eat honey, raise bees or are indifferent to them, everyone has an interest in the welfare of bees.
It is timely, then, that a small tome should cross my desk from Conari Press, an American publisher of the new book Bees Make the Best Pets (not ‘pests’!). It is written by an experienced apiarist, Jack Mingo, who uses a friendly, sometime humorous approach to the topic.
Here is my take on a book worth putting on your Christmas list if you have even the slightest interest in bees, their future and our future (to the extent that our futures are linked together).
First, some useful trivia and facts about bees:
Worker bees are all female. Males are used for sex and then shoved out of the hive to fend for themselves or simply put to death and disposed of.
Bees use their wings to air-condition the hive on a hot day, heat it on a cold day and vent it when things get a little stale inside the hive (they are fastidious housekeepers). A queen bee can be several months to several years old.
A worker bee generally lives for up to six weeks and then drops dead (likely from exhaustion). Yes, it is possible for a bee to work itself to death. All for the common good of the hive, however.
The rumours are true: Bees perform a dance to communicate the location of pollen-producing flowers so that other workers in the hive can find them. It is important not to move a hive once established for this reason.
A foraging bee can fly with 40 grams of nectar back to the hive, which is roughly 30 per cent its body weight.
Once the nectar has been delivered, another worker bee (they have very specific job descriptions) can carry 100 grams, or more than 80 per cent of its body weight, into the bowels of the hive (now, you try that).
Bees find the most nectar-rich flowers by their scent, not their sight. For this reason they return to the hive with the wind at their back, or, put another way, on most days they travel west to forage and east to get home. They can travel up to 10 kilometres to find food.
In addition to pollen, worker bees forage for water and propolis, a sticky substance exuded by evergreen trees and used to patch up the colony.
Bees are much needed in the world of agriculture and horticulture as primary pollinators. Their fur, which covers most of their body, has an electrostatic charge, like you get when you rub a balloon against your hair. This charge causes pollen to be attracted to their whole body while attending flowers, covering them head to toe in the stuff.
The life of bees can be mysterious and complicated but the book Bees Make the Best Pets is sweet with useful information and anecdotes. It is as informative as it is humorous.
The book will not help us answer the questions about whether or not we should ban neonics, but it will make you sound smart and informed next time you gather with co-workers around the water cooler.