Bees work to exhaustion to produce their sweet honey
NEW HAMBURG — Bees work so hard to make honey that they eventually collapse and die.
A single worker bee lives for about 45 days and dies because it is “simply exhausted,” said Jodi Roth, store manager of the Nith Valley Apiaries in New Hamburg.
Bees collect nectar in their “honey stomachs,” and their enzymes break down the sugars. A bee regurgitates the nectar to another working bee until most of the water is evaporated, making it thick.
To make one pound of honey at the local apiary, 80,000 bees in one hive fly a distance equal to twice around the world, visiting about two million flowers in Perth and Waterloo counties.
On Saturday, Roth was leading talks at her brother’s honey business on the bees that are native to the area, the flowers that encourage pollination and how hard bees must work to make the honey we enjoy.
The business opened its doors and invited guests to celebrate the Centennial Honey Festival. It’s the third year that Mike and Erika Roth, owners of Nith Valley Apiaries, have held the event, but Saturday’s festival was the biggest yet.
A steady stream of people lined up to taste the four flavours of honey, which were paired with local cheeses, chicken or blueberries.
“Our goal is to promote pollinator stewardship,” Jodi Roth said. “We want people to learn about bees and not to be scared of them.”
Mike Roth bought the business, which has been in operation for 100 years, about six years ago and lives in the house that is still on the original property on Christner Road.
He has 300 hives with 80,000 bees per hive in Perth, Oxford and Waterloo counties.
“It’s good we don’t need (workers’ compensation),” he chuckles, referring to the hundreds of thousands of bees he has working for him.
During her talk, Jodi Roth reminded visitors about the kinds of flowers and plants they may want to have in their garden to encourage bee pollination.
They include dandelions, crocus, snowdrops and buttercups in the spring; cosmos, lavender, rose bushes and creeping thyme in the summer; and goldenrod, chrysanthemum and herbs in the fall.
If bees are buzzing around you, calmly walk away and gently blow in their direction, Roth said. They aren’t aggressive like hornets and wasps.
“Waving your arms alarms them,” she said.
Like humans, bees need shelter, sunshine, food and water. Roth suggested gardeners include rocks in their bird baths so bees can land and not drown as they sip water.
When you see a swarm of bees, she said, it likely means they’re leaving the hive and looking for a larger home.
The bees are “swarming” around the queen bee to protect her while the scout bees search for a home. Swarming can last from a couple of hours to a full day.
This is when they are least likely to sting, Roth said.
Anne Morgan, an entomologist and retired biology professor at the University of Waterloo, has nesting grounds in her gardens to attract bees.
“I use leaves to line the nesting holes,” she said.
Ashley Drudge brought her three children to the festival because the entire family loves honey.
“The kids gobbled it up,” she said, referring to the four honey samples.
“We buy it by the bucket,” said Drudge, who adds honey to granola and ice cream, and drizzles it on popcorn.
She also encourages pollination at their Baden home with specific flowers that bees like, such as creeping thyme.
“It’s coded with bees,” she said.