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Honeybees pollinate more than 100 crops, from apples to zucchini. The world has watched honeybees dying in the millions since 2006. Though there have been news reports concerning this crisis for the last 12 years, a majority of people still aren’t tuned in to the actual scope of the situation. It’s a sophisticated problem, and experts haven’t agreed upon the primary justification for it. Whether it’s Colony Collapse Disorder, other diseases, or possibly two varieties of mites killing entire colonies, even the professionals don’t understand precisely what’s going on.
Honeybees Dying From Pesticides?
Here’s an astonishing piece of information for you: researchers have found that common pesticides can disrupt bees’ brains. Bees that cannot learn won’t be able to find food. If bees can’t find food, they will die. It’s as simple as that. An estimated one-third of crops worldwide would disappear if honeybees disappeared. Do you think this couldn’t happen? Probably nobody considered that the passenger pigeon would ever be extinct, but the last one on this planet was shot about one hundred years ago. The thing is, it will happen. But here’s the good news: we can take measures to protect against honeybees dying by taking action immediately. There are plenty of things we can do to aid the honeybee’s chances of survival. Here’s one: you can get started with your own personal hive of honeybees.
Many people still manage their own beehives, although it has come to be increasingly more problematic to try to keep their bees alive and healthy. It pretty much goes without saying that honey is a substance that most people love quite dearly. So many of us utilize it as a precious commodity every day, in one delightful way or another. I’m glad that scientists are studying the problem, understanding that folks are educating themselves about what flowers and plants they can grow to aid the honeybees. It’s great that you can easily find increased fascination nowadays with buying local honey. This focus, in turn, intensifies support for the local beekeepers. All the attention is a great thing in the end. I’ve always taken great enjoyment in rooting for the little guy. So let’s do something about the honeybees dying.
A hive of honeybees throughout the homestead is a useful thing to have right now. Not only do honeybees produce the sweet miracle that is raw honey, they additionally take up a beautiful responsibility in pollinating berry bushes, orchards, flowers, and vegetable gardens, and (this last reason I have come to recognize more and more) they perform it all without much help from us. Bees are astonishing little creatures, and the more I learn about them, the more I’m amazed by them along with the marvelous and astounding God who created them!
Think about this: inside one hive are a large number of worker bees and drones in conjunction with a queen bee. All of them are working together to create a perfect environment for producing honey. At the moment when the moisture content of the honey becomes excellent, the bees seal the cellular structures of liquid honey with wax, and the honey is there for you to harvest it! Awesome!
You can find just a single queen bee in every colony. She lays up to 2,000 eggs on a daily basis, and she may even decide if the eggs will be fertile or infertile. The fertile eggs will turn into worker bees while the infertile eggs produce drones. The worker bees labor tirelessly, but during their lifetimes (about six weeks during summer months) they do a line of specific chores: housekeeper, nursemaid, construction worker, undertaker, guard, and finally forager. It’s not difficult to begin managing a hive of bees in your own backyard, and it will be the perfect way to initiate a first-hand approach in saving the bees!
8 Steps To Take When Starting Your Honeybee Colony
Step #1
Learn about bees. There are some excellent books and blogs about how exactly you can go about keeping bees. Another invaluable method involves learning directly from local beekeepers. They are a benevolent bunch, and you’ll acquire a great deal of information from them.
Step #2
Get your equipment and hive prepared. It’s not cheap to get new hives and equipment, but use caution if you pick up used stuff from a yard sale. Clean up well. It’s crucial you do this to lessen the chance that the bees might catch a fatal disease called foulbrood. Equipment that you’ll need will include a bee veil and/or jacket, leather gloves, a frame lifter, bee brush, pliers, a smoker, and hive tools.
Step #3
Purchase your bees. Order bees during the winter months, as quality places that sell bees will run out. There will only be a certain number of bees to go around! You may very well be able to order packages of bees through local bee shops also. If you don’t know where a local bee shop is, your state university or extension office can advise you.
Step #4
Set your hive up. Once you’ve done due diligence, you’ll understand the best spot to create your hive. Choose carefully, since it will continue to be in your home for a considerable amount of time! It’s not easy (or advisable!) to maneuver a hive once it’s filled with bees.
Step #5
Familiarize the bees with their new home. Make sure that your particular queen is alive and healthy first because a hive without a queen will undoubtedly fail. Your queen goes in first of course. The queen’s 10,000 friends and relations get dumped in next. They inspect her first before getting engaged in their work. It’s an exciting thing to watch.
Step #6
Now you’ll watch and wait. In the event that the bees are lively and active, you could have the pleasure of enjoying a productive hive of honeybees for quite a while. The colony will provide you with the highest caliber and freshest raw honey you can think of, as well as excellent pollination for your crops and flowers.
Step #7
Provide food for your bees. Employ a sugar water solution for a number of days after forming a hive, especially if it’s at the beginning of the year when there aren’t many flowers yet. When you know that the bees typically are not feeding on the sugar, discontinue feeding them. The bees are foraging for themselves!
Step #8
From time to time, put the bees to good use for yourself. Open your unique hive every week or two to examine the bees’ progress. One thing to watch for is an entirely new brood. If the queen is indeed laying eggs, then you know that she is completely content in her place. If she is happy, then everyone else will be happy too!
Pretty exciting, right? So now you may begin to realize that keeping your own hive of bees is typically a crazy yet worthwhile thing to do. It increases your local bee population, which is a valuable component to the fertility of your garden. Plus, you’re consistently providing a little assistance to the honeybees while in this current critical situation. It can, without a doubt, be a great thing to experience! Let’s work together to put an end to honeybees dying.
