A-1 Honey

08/06/2023

Did you know microplastics have been found in honey bees?

Microplastics (in the form of fragments or fibers) have been found in honey bees & honey samples. In a paper published in January this year, researchers showed that exposure to MP’s may not affect their survival, but does impact on the rate at which honey bees feed, and their body weight - which may have long-term consequences for their overall health and that of the colony.

You would not have thought that microplastics and honey bees were in any way connected, and yet, they are. This perfectly demonstrates how we need to ensure we have a unified and integrated approach to achieving sustainability for humans, animals, and our ecosystems.

This year World Environment Day focuses our attention on the reduction of single-use plastic. Join us and commit to more sustainable alternatives.
Beating plastic pollution will support the health of honey bees and the role they play in protecting our 125 million-year-old legacy.

Please donate to a charity that works to clean up our oceans and rivers, or plant a tree for a honey bee in our reforestation projects with Greenpop – forests that play a role in cleaning our water and maintaining healthy habitats for all those that depend on them: https://www.givengain.com/cc/trees-for-bees-pledge-fund/

for honey bees and healthy honey!

Read more on the research here: https://bee-effect.co.za/did-you-know-microplastics-have-been-found-in-honey-bees/

today with Greenpop

08/06/2023

Is she collecting nectar after she's already filled up with pollen? This was taken about a year ago on hike up table mountain.

14/04/2023

The first attempts to give bees outlines of cells as a basis for comb building were made in Germany.

The top bars of the frames were coated on the underside with beeswax, and a strip of wood having the outlines of bees’ cells cut on it was then pressed against this wax so as to form a guide which should , lead the bees to build their combs within the frames.

This was only a comb guide, but was succeeded by small strips of wax having the outlines of bees’ cells pressed on them by hand, a block of wood being engraved for this purpose.

The general use of comb foundation, especially of the full sheets, was only made possible through the improved means of manufacturing, it developed in the United States. The slow process of hand stamping was succeeded by its rapid production on machines, the essential feature of which is two engraved cylinders between which the warm sheet of wax is made to pass (fig. 43).

Such machines are now made in numerous patterns costing from $15 up.

Foundation is made with flat bottomed cells and also with the same form as that given by the bees to combs constructed wholly by them selves.

Both sorts are readily accepted by the bees and built out.

Both these kinds are also made in various qualities and weights. Only a good quality of perfectly pure beeswax should be accepted.

Brood foundation is made in light, medium, and heavy weights. For use in section boxes thin surplus and extra thin surplus are made of light-colored wax.

When full sheets are used in sections it is better to have it extra thin lest there should be a noticeable toughness of the midrib, technically known as u fishbone.” For unwired frames the medium or heavy brood- comb foundation should be employed.

Until used it is best to keep comb foundation between sheets of paper and well wrapped, since if long exposed to the air the surface of the wax hardens somewhat, but if well packed it may be used years after it was made with almost the same advantage as when first rolled out.

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Source - THE HONEY BEE:
A MANUAL OF INSTRUCTION IN APICULTURE. BY FRANK BENTON.

14/04/2023

08/04/2023

The safest and best rule in making or selecting hives and implements for the apiary is, have them simple and accurate in construction. A plain box with frames and as few other loose parts as possible will yield in the hands of a skillful beemaster far better results than the most elaborately constructed bee palace manipulated by one who does not understand the nature and requirements of bees; in fact, the most experienced generally prefer the former.

The important point to decide in connection with any proposed modification or adjunct of the hive is whether its adoption will more than compensate for the resultant loss of simplicity. While zealously endeavoring to preserve simplicity of construction, however, complete adaptability to the purpose designed must be kept in view, and should not be sacrificed because of a slight added expense. The bee keeper needs but few implements.

With even a limited number of hives, a smoker, a wax extractor, and a few queen- introducing cages are the most necessary, and one or two bee veils had better be added to the equipment, the total cost of which need not exceed $5 to $6.

Source - Source - The honey bee : a manual of instruction in apiculture
by Benton, Frank, 1852-1919

08/04/2023

Learn how to create a beautiful and eco-friendly garden that attracts bees. Get step-by-step tips on choosing the right plants, setting up a water source, an...

07/04/2023

Like the first flying humans, honeybees use linear landmarks to navigate

New research suggests that honeybees memorize linear landmarks like canals and streams to find their way home.

BY LAURA BAISAS | PUBLISHED MAR 6, 2023

Source - https://www.popsci.com/environment/honeybees-landmarks/?amp

When humans first took to the skies in airplanes–long before GPS–they used roads, railways, buildings, and other linear landmarks on the ground to navigate. The method appears in nature as well. Honeybees use dominant elements in the landscape to find their way home, according to the results of a study published March 6 in the journal Frontiers in Behavioral Neuroscience.

As expert travelers, honeybees are known to use the sun☀️, their sense of smell, and changes in polarized light in the sky to navigate as they fly. They even use the tiny hairs on their bodies to sense a flowers’ electric field. This new study takes a deeper look at the role that memory of specific visual cues plays in their navigation.

Here we show that honeybees use a ‘navigation memory’, a kind of mental map of the area that they know, to guide their search flights when they look for their hive starting in a new, unexplored area,” Randolf Menzel, a neurobiologist from Free University of Berlin in Germany and study co-author, said in a statement. “Linear landscape elements, such as water channels, roads, and field edges, appear to be important components of this navigation memory"



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