Jul 4, 20224 min read

Bee friendly

“ Each bee carries within it the mechanism of the universe: each one summarizes the secret of the world. “

(Michel Onfray)

According to Einstein, if bees died humans would only have four years of life left on Earth. How is this possible? Well, it's actually simple: bees are responsible for about 70 percent of the pollination of all living plant species on the planet, and consequently 35 percent of global food production.

Pietro Ventura is one of the beekeepers who care for bees and strive to respect their natural life cycle.

Do you know what happens during the life of a bee?

In the hive, the queen bee lays thousands of eggs, day and night, which are incubated for 21 days. At the end of the 21 days, the worker bee takes on different roles both inside the hive (or apiary) and outside, depending on the development of different organs:

At first, she becomes a scavenger bee, responsible for cleaning cells intended for brood or honey, processing propolis, and removing dead bees and other insects from the nest.

The bee then becomes a nurse when it begins to produce royal jelly and feeds the larvae of the brood (here we make the first distinction between the bees that will become workers and the bee that is destined to be the future queen bee: the latter will continue to be fed royal jelly, while the others will be weaned on other foods).

From the sixteenth day of life, precisely when it begins to secrete wax from the wax glands located under the abdomen, the bee becomes a waxer: its task is then to "whitewash”, that is, to build new parts of the hive with the wax (white in color, hence the name) that they produce to follow the growth of the family in the warm season that provides plenty of nourishment

The beekeeper, noting the downward white constructions, must provide more space for the bees by adding frames inside the hive

Finally, the bee can get out of the hive and become an explorer: letting themselves be guided by the smell and color of the flowers thanks to their antennae (which are tactile and sensory organs at the same time!) they fly up to 3km away from the hive to discover new foraging areas, i.e., areas of constant blooms that allow them to obtain nectar in relevant quantity and frequency.

Once back at the hive, the explorer bees communicate through an aerial dance the exact location of their discovery to the forager bees, which will collect nectar or other nourishment in the foraging area.

All these roles can also be taken on at different times in their lives, and not necessarily in that order, depending on the needs of the queen bee and the other bees.

Fascinating their dance, isn't it?

Through it, in fact, the explorers not only communicate the location of the discovered area, but also the quality and especially the energy cost for foragers in terms of favorable or unfavorable wind to fly: their wings in fact wear out very quickly due to friction with the wind, and this determines their short life span in the warm months (i.e., the period when they fly the most).

The beekeeper, to facilitate this life cycle, works to care for and move the hives from the time the bees awaken in spring until they return to hibernation.

It is precisely during the months of bee operation that honey is produced, do you know how?

Pietro explained to us that honey can be harvested just as bees have produced it along with the honeycomb inside (which is edible!) or it can be obtained from the honey extraction of sealed and carefully chosen combs-so that an abundant number remain to ensure that the bees are fed during the winter months. First remove the bees and move the selected combs to a dedicated space where bees and other insects cannot enter. Using a heated knife, wax is removed from the frames, taking great care. At this point the frames are placed back into the honey extractor, a machine that uses centrifugal force to extract pure honey to be rested to remove any air bubbles and then potted.

The jars are then sent to laboratories to have them analyzed and figure out their composition: for example, if a jar contains at least 51 percent acacia flowers, then that honey will be acacia flower honey.

Speaking of flowers, we too can do our part to help bees: plants and fruit trees, flowers, and more go a long way in providing bees with different kinds of nectar

With different types of nectar, different kinds of honey can be made. For example, Pietro makes dandelion, acacia, chestnut, wildflower, linden, high mountain wildflower, honeydew, rhododendron and raspberry honey, depending on where he places his hives.

In addition to honey, he also makes beeswax for candles, propolis, pollen and royal jelly from his hives.

It is important to know and respect bees in order to understand that they are crucial to our lives and the Earth's environment, that one tiny little creature with wings determines the fate of an entire planet and all its inhabitants.