Bees have been around much longer than you have. They are ancient. Bees have existed for millions of years but not just known as honey bees. They are scientifically known as Apis mellifera which means “Honey-carrying bee.” As Well as that it is the only insect that produces food eaten by man. Honey. Do you know how bees make honey or anything about bees? We didn’t until we learnt this.
All of the honey begins in a field, where worker honey bees extract nectar from the flowers. Next they store the honey in their honey sacs, then they returned to bee headquarters.The other worker bees chew the honey, breaking down the honeys complex sugars. The two sugars are called glucose and fructose. They deposit the nectar into the cells of the wax honey comb they’ve built. They fan it with their wings until most of the watery contents evaporates, in the warm air of the beehive. All that remains is thick and gooey honey.
If bees are taken by a jolt they will sting. The way a beekeeper overcomes this, is by spraying the hive with smoke from piping-hot burning pine needles. It’s a scented warning, to the bees, that foreigners are about to enter their colony. Inside, side by side, there are hanging frames each holding a honey comb. The beekeeper will now trick the colonies defenders, then replaces the hives cover with something that is called the “bee escape” that smells like cherries. But because this insect dosen’t like this smell most of them go to the bottom. It takes another warning spray then the beekeeper can escape with the honeycombs.
All descendants of the prolific grand of the pooba beedom the queen. 200 eggs, per day, will be laid by the queen bee creating the workforce needed to feed and protect the colony.Hundreds and thousands of bee could be in the hive at once.
Inside the factory of honey they put the honey comb frames on what's called an uncapping machine like a razor, It slashes wax caps off the honey filled cells of the combs.They scrape off the leftovers manually.Then they set the frames on another machine called the honey extractor it spins the honey combs until all the honey is forced out of the cells.Afterwards they filter the honey to remove any pieces of waxed capping that slip through.Then the honey ready for bottling
Certain beehives contain shorter frames designed to produce honey that isn’t extracted from the honeycomb. Workers have the frames removed with a heated knife and cut the honeycomb into pieces. They seal the wax and eat it wax and all.The lining of the beeswax can be made into other things like lipsticks, furniture, polish and other products.
Here are some questions we asked Di Rensen for some facts and about her experience with Bees.!
What is the most difficult part of being a beekeeper?
The heavy lifting! When the bees have gathered their honey they put it in the Honey Box (known as a super) and it can weigh up to 25kg... It's very hard work taking honey boxes off.
What is your favorite part of your job?
Being outside in the sun and hanging out with my bees.
How many times have you been stung?
Ooh... Lots and lots!! I don't have much of a reaction to stings..unlike my husband who swells up really badly!
How many bees do you see everyday?
Close to a million. There is roughly 60000 bees in a good hive.
Do you have a favorite fact about bees? If so what is it?
If the Queen dies, the bees can make a new Queen!
Around how much honey do you get a day?
The 'honey flow' is only about 6 weeks long.. But if it's a strong flow and a strong hive the bees can fill a super in a couple of days!
What about how you collect it?
We just take the honey boxes off the hive, make sure no bees are in them and bring them back to base to either go through the messy process of uncapping frames and spinning honey out or sending boxes away for someone else to do.
So as you see bees are incredible creatures. From worker bees that suck the nectar, to the Queen bee who makes the colony. So just remember that the excess honey that isn't scraped off by a machine is scraped off manually and that bees will sting if taken by surprise. We hope you know more about these creatures from the pooba beedom.
