Bishop's Bees and Honey

08/02/2026

Attaching an old post from 2020 when I had my hip replaced. Topic is orientation flights of soon to bee😆, foragers.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1EsAF2faiA/?mibextid=wwXIfr

07/17/2026

Not bee related but something for sweet summertime treats. I have won several company dessert contests with this recipe and it gets rave reviews. Simple and tasty BlackBerry cobbler. Give it a try with some Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream.

This morning as I was catching up on some of my favorite reads in the blog world I found this – I Don’t Like Pie – by The Orange Bee – Linda – great recipes, great sto…

07/05/2026

Still not a good year for a honey harvest. One out of my three gives is acting strong and may put away enough during the Fall nectar flow primarily from the Goldenrod bloom. It makes a dark rich honey. So, fingers crossed.

The link below is an informative article that helps the reader understand division of labor in the hive with particular focus on guard bees. You will learn a little about the alarm pheromone and yes, I learned about it the hard way.

https://www.facebook.com/share/1GLJgkdTVe/?mibextid=wwXIfr

You have to read this.

I'll talk about the role of the alarm pheromone in bee colonies.

A comprehensive 2026 review article (written by Saša PRĐUN from the University of Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture) provides a brilliant breakdown of how bees utilize a sophisticated matrix of alarm pheromones to coordinate their colony defense mechanisms.

I believe that understanding the exact biology and mechanisms behind these warning signals is the best way for you to transition into a calm, confident beekeeper who can comfortably work without gloves and without fear.

The study highlights that colony defense is a highly organized social strategy where specialized guard bees patrol the entrance to monitor incoming workers and protect vital hive resources.

We've all seen that.

These guards are typically older worker bees around 3 weeks of age who perform this critical patrolling duty for just one to two days before transitioning into foragers.

Let's see why your own temperament and handling speed directly influence whether these guards remain peaceful or trigger a colony wide defensive reaction.

The research confirms that the defensive behavior of guard bees is highly responsive to specific external disturbances, particularly sudden movements, physical vibrations, dark colors, or foreign intense odors.

As I thought.

That's why we wear white suits, and we don't use deodorants while working.

Although I had some times when I worked with black pants, and nothing happened, but my bees were always blissful.

Let's continue with the study.

When a hasty or clumsy beekeeper works too fast, those sudden movements and rough vibrations directly mimic the actions of a large mammalian predator (humans fit into that description pretty well :)) )attacking the nest.

In response to this perceived danger, the worker bees inside the hive will quickly raise their abdomens and flutter their wings to actively fan the alarm pheromone throughout the colony.

That banana smells is unforgettable :).

The primary driver of this collective mobilization is a volatile compound called isopentyl acetate, which is secreted from specialized Koschevnikov's glands near the stinger and carries a distinctive banana like scent.

The data demonstrates that other compounds such as octyl acetate work synergistically to enhance this alarm effect, while specialized receptors on the antennae allow nearby bees to detect the signal and instantly prepare for a fight.

Now that is something to keep in mind because if your rough handling causes bees to deploy their tactics, you are unknowingly marking the target area with an invisible chemical bullseye.

The structural rupture that happens when a bee stings causes the individual bee to lose her life, but the detached sting apparatus contains autonomous muscles that continue to pump venom and release alarm pheromones for up to a full minute.

Although the heritability of defensive behavior is quite strong (meaning you can breed for calmer traits), a beekeeper's poor handling will easily ruin the peace of even the gentlest genetics. 🫣

Interestingly, the study concludes that bees also possess a secondary chemical tool called 2-heptanone, which is secreted directly from their mandibles.

When dealing with small pests like Varroa mites or wax moths that are too small to easily sting, the guard bees will bite them instead, releasing 2-heptanone to deliver a short term paralytic effect.

NOW THIS I DIDN'T KNOW!!!!!!!!

I'm pretty stunned.

This is the exact reason why I take the time to read everything I come across when it comes to bee literature.

I'm so happy right now 🧡

The clear takeaway from this article is that our bees are evolutionary masterpieces programmed to match the gentle energy we bring to the apiary.

Who would have thought :).

If you enjoyed this article, I invite you to read the first chapter of my book.

You can find it in my bio 🙏

Thank you for reading 📖

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this topic 🧡
Please leave a like if you've found this interesting 🐝

Happy beekeeping and full barrels 🐝🍯

Google this to find the study "The role of alarm pheromone in honey bee (Apis mellifera L.) colonies"

06/22/2026

Not a bee post but a neighbor friendly post. A young male cat found me and must have realized I am cat friendly. I get very few visitors up here in Timpson but a car pulled in today looking for a lost cat! He was here and came walking out. Holly is the mother of a daughter maybe 9 or so and I was able to see the happy reunion. He’d had wandered several miles. He is very cute and overly friendly so I knew he must have had a home nearby.

Holly, if there is a FB neighbor page please let me know.

Now some bee info…. I am down to
3 hives, two are doing ok and one is not expanding very quickly. Likelihood of excess honey put away is slim. Updates every couple of weeks.

06/06/2026

I am providing a sad update for the 2026 season. It is not likely that the bees will put away enough to alliw me to rob enough to sell. Fingers crossed for fall or at best 2927 season.

I promise to be better about updating all y’all,
Bishop

04/06/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1M66Sjuevo/?

02/25/2026

Some very interesting bee history.

https://www.facebook.com/share/18Ca8CHrCU/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Around the year 907, a Viking force of Danes and Norwegians descended on the walled city of Chester in what is now northwest England. The city's Roman-built walls had stood for eight centuries, and the Vikings quickly realised that a frontal assault wasn't going to work. So they adapted. They drove wooden hurdles into the ground at the base of the walls, creating covered corridors that shielded their men from above, and began tunnelling underneath the foundations. The defenders hurled boulders down onto the hurdles. The Vikings propped them up with timber columns.

The Saxons, advised by the lord Æthelred and his formidable wife Lady Æthelflaed, boiled every barrel of ale and water they could find in the city and poured it through the gaps, scalding the men below until their skin came away. The Vikings responded by laying animal hides across the top of the hurdles to seal them. Every move had a counter-move, and the tunnels kept advancing.

What happened next was recorded in the 11th-century Fragmentary Annals of Ireland, one of the most vivid accounts of early medieval siege warfare that survives. The Saxons had run out of obvious options. Boiling liquid had failed. Rocks had failed. So the defenders of Chester gathered every beehive in the city, carried them to the walls, and scattered them directly onto the besiegers below. The effect was immediate. According to the Annals, the bees prevented the Viking soldiers from moving their feet or their hands because of the sheer number of stings. Warriors who had withstood scalding beer, crushing boulders, and months of siege warfare were brought to a complete standstill by a swarm of insects. The Vikings abandoned the tunnels and withdrew from Chester. The city held.

What makes this more than just a strange footnote is that it wasn't a desperate improvisation that vanished from history. It was the beginning of a documented military tradition. Medieval castle builders across England, Scotland, and Wales began constructing specific recesses into their interior walls called bee boles, designed to permanently house beehive colonies. In peacetime the bees produced honey and wax. In wartime they were a standing weapon. By the 14th century, military engineers had developed a windmill-like device capable of launching straw hives from rapidly rotating arms in rapid succession, the closest thing the medieval world had to an automatic weapon. The Romans had already been so enthusiastic about bee bombs that historians have noted a documented decline in hive numbers across the late Roman Empire from battlefield demand alone.

Lady Æthelflaed, who advised the defence of Chester alongside her dying husband, went on to become one of the most effective military commanders in early medieval England, personally directing the construction of fortified towns across Mercia and leading campaigns against the Vikings for years after Æthelred's death. She is recorded in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as the Lady of the Mercians. The siege of Chester is one of dozens of engagements she helped win. History tends to remember the warriors who carried swords into battle. It is considerably less interested in the woman who figured out that, when every other option fails, you send in the bees.