Merioneth Beekeepers' Association
Thursday 04 March 2010
CH writes: We went to put a ¼ pound of candy on each of our hive and found two problems. First, one hive that had become noticeably weak, with few flying bees, had died out. A sad sight with the marked queen clearly visible along with the other dead bees. I have sent a sample to the NBU (National Bee Unit) and it will be interesting to see what they have to say.
Second, another hive had been knocked off its stand by a sheep. It had been on its side for over a week with the brood frames fully exposed to the recent frosty nights. The bees, however, were fine with lots of pollen going straight in and on to the frames! All seemed well after we put the hive back on the stand.
Did you know ...
Bees have been producing honey for at least 150 million years.
The honeycomb is composed of hexagonal cells with walls that are only 2/1000 inch thick, but support 25 times their own weight.
In the course of her lifetime, a worker bee will produce 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey.
To make one pound of honey, workers in a hive fly 55,000 miles and tap two million flowers.
A queen can lay 3,000 eggs in a day.
Theoretically, the energy in one ounce of honey would provide one bee with enough energy to fly around the world.
Honey is nectar that bees have repeatedly regurgitated and dehydrated.
Bees cannot recognize the color red.