THE BEE’S LIFE
Honeybees
really do have it tough these days.
Working bees with commercial beekeepers do get pushed to the limit to
produce honey -- if they are lucky. If a
bit less lucky, their service as “pollinators” is rented out to farms and
orchards.
The
“pollinators” are transported sometimes hundreds of miles from large farm to
large farm. The roads can be rough and
life in the fields rougher.
The farms
and orchards needing pollinators are big operations. So, the bees’ services are carefully
coordinated. Not only do the bees have to be in the right place at the right
time to pollinate the blossoms to the maximum effect, but their release is,
sometimes, carefully timed around pesticide and herbicide applications. Even small mistakes can be . . . costly.
The number
of “pollinators” released into the fields is much larger than the number of
blossoms available. The logic is
simple. If you want the maximum number
of blossoms pollinated, make sure that there are fewer nectar bearing blossoms
than the bees want or need. The
competition for a meal assures that every blossom gets a visit. To give the whole process an extra boost, the
bees are placed on an enforced fast for a while before they are released into
the fields.
This all
makes for an army of successful insect pollinators. I, also, suspect it makes for a lot of stressed-out
honeybees.
ANOTHER KIND OF
HONEY?
I wondered
how these poor insects bore up under the strain. Then, I read an interesting article. Did you know that honey ferments? That process produces a light alcoholic . . .
“refreshment.” So, you can harvest honey
from a hive and let it ferment to produce a kind of “fortified” honey? Well, yes, you can, but the bees don’t have
to.
I was
surprised to discover that the bees, themselves, leave the caps off of honey
cells in some of their honeycombs. What
happens when the bees engage in this puzzling behavior? The honey ferments to produce a weak liquor.
Oh, excuse
me. This behavior isn’t puzzling at all. I’ve
read that the poor bees are “forced” to do this because of their reaction to
temperature variations as winter approaches.
Translation: When the weather
begins to get colder, the bees start producing a kind of honey that makes them
feel warmer. Imagine that?
Of course,
I read about this together with stern warnings about “protecting” the bees from
“exposure” to the alcoholic honey.
Several prudent advisers warned that alcohol is toxic to all living creatures. And I, like most, have . . . ah . . .
“inadvertently” experienced this terrible toxicity . . . on an occasion or two.
Of course,
I was concerned. Bees may be different
than humans and, maybe, the consumption of even minute amounts of alcohol by a
honeybee might have serious negative effects.
But the same advisers, so concerned about the evils of alcoholic honey,
cautioned that it may not be healthy
for the bees to consume the spirited honey.
The problem, they pointed out, is that the bees do consume it – if it’s
available.
It Starts With Just a Sip or Two . . .
Another
stern warning was given to beekeepers advising them to try to remove these
altogether too refreshing honeycombs if possible. Presumably, this will keep the hive’s bees on
“the straight and narrow” . . . and off “the road to perdition.”
Generally,
beekeepers leave some of these “too refreshing” honeycombs in a single hive –
allowing the bees to take an occasional “nip of the sweet stuff.” I was curious to find out just how much of
this “hive honey dew” the bees were “sampling” in a typical hive. I was surprised to find out that beekeepers
often allow 10% to 33% of the honeycombs in a single hive to ferment. That’s really quite a stash.
I’ve heard
that some hives are “happier” than others. But, until now, I never understood
why. Now, I have an idea.
The adviser
warned that, sometimes, bee colonies really “go to town” leaving many, many
uncapped honeycombs. And, sometimes, beekeepers
remove some of these “too refreshing” combs and harvest the contents, which can
accumulate until the keeper is left with barrels
of the stuff on hand. What happens if
the barrels are left open and the bees can get to this much “medicinal” honey?
. . . And Ends Up Here!
The adviser
concluded the temperance lecture . . . er . . . I mean . . . "article" by
cautioning beekeepers not to give their bees access to barrels of alcoholic
honey . . . because, apparently, if it there, the bees will refresh themselves again and again. Although no one is actually aware
of any ill-effects, consumption of that much “happy-honey” just couldn’t be
good for the, probably, already-besotted insects.
Mark Grossmann of Hazelwood,
Missouri & Belleville, Illinois
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