There are many sources on the internet that say bees cannot not fly in rain and that bees will not fly in temperatures under 50 degrees F. This is not the case. Bees are able to fly in these conditions, but many times prefer not to. Just like people, bees will acclimate to the climate they are in after a while. 

Yesterday afternoon brought big news in the honey world. ICE and CBP charged two large American honey processors (Honey Solutions of TX and Groeb Farms of Michigan) with evading customs duties and knowingly buying and selling illegal Chinese honey to American consumers. The schemes not only cost the US government at least $180 million in duties and fees, but it could have directly affected you as well. Some of the honey even had illegal antibiotics in it. These companies sell honey to large food manufacturers who use honey as ingredients in their products. A lot of people say they don't really eat honey when in fact they do. Honey is used as an ingredient in many food products found in the regular grocery store. Studies have shown that the average American consumes somewhere around one pound of honey per year. You could have consumed illegal antibiotics in your honey cereal without even knowing.

Queen Bees are unique in that there is only one per hive. The queen is fed Royal Jelly which is a sugary paste made by worker bees. The royal jelly allows the queen to become reproductive and queens can lay about 1,000-2,000 eggs per day. That's a lot of work! If you look closely in a hive, you can distinguish a queen bee by the large abdomen she will have. All worker bees are female also, but they have underdeveloped reproductive capabilities. You can distinguish a worker bee by looking for the pollen sacs on her legs.

Before talking to Davey, I didn't realize all the things a person has to think about when moving bees. When a truck of honey bees goes out to California, the safety of the bees is a large concern. You can't let the bees get too hot or too cold or they will die. In hot weather, the driver needs to get out of the cabin periodically to water down the hives to keep the temperature cool. Also, one must try to accurately guess how many bee hives to take and how much honey will be produced. If you take too many bees to the pollination site, then there might not be enough room or it may be too heavy for the truck to take back! I definitely recommend many years of beekeeping experience before trying anything like that!

Davey Hackenberg has been working with bees since he was about 5 years old, and grew up spending some of the school year in Florida to keep bees while still going to school.  After high school he went to school to become a diesel mechanic, but soon found his way back to beekeeping. With his family in PA, he still travels quite a lot to Florida to make sure all the bees are taken care of. Beekeeping has meant spending periods of time away from his family during the year, but this is one sacrifice that is necessary to keep bees in multiple states. He admits the job is not the most glamourous job- working in all weather conditions and stress take a toll especially when bee losses are usually completely out of the hand of the beekeeper. He said keeping bees is kind of like babysitting. You have to make sure they are fed, get proper nutrition, watch for mites (they carry viruses), keep their hives maintained and tuck all 50,000 of them in bed every night (just kidding, bees never sleep!). There are so many things to consider!
Unfortunately, the Hackenbergs have lost about 85% of their bees this winter. This is a pretty staggering number. What's to blame? Colony Colapse Disorder, or CCD, causes bees to leave the hive and not be able to find their way back. The bee's lifespan is growing shorter and younger bees are being forced to leave the hive earlier because they need food to survive. This has been a growing trend for at least the last decade all around the world. This is very concerning because bees are responsible for pollinating 80% of the food we eat. Dutch Gold and others have been contributing to bee research, but there is still a great deal of work that needs to be done to scientifically figure out what exactly is going on. There is a large consensus around the world including Davey that attribute the cause of CCD to pesticide and insecticide use. The memory of bees has been shown to be effected but just the tiniest amounts of pesticide. This causes bees to not remember how to get home. Hypothetically, this could be similar to 85% of the human population suddenly developing Alzheimer's.
Most people that see bees just try to kill them because they can seem to be a nuisance during your summer picnic. But bees are an important part of the food chain for other animals. Areas where bees have declined have also seen a decline of other animals and birds that depend of them for survival. So please, next time you see a bee, just let it bee.

Recently I was fortunate enough to meet some beekeepers from right here in Pennsylvania! Dave Hackenberg and his son Davey Hackenberg have been kind enough to let me get all the latest "buzz" from them about the world of beekeeping! They manage their time between PA and FL and have many hives that help pollinate many different crops around the U.S. I will be asking basic questions and getting 'swarms' of information on beekeeping to share with you! There are so many aspects of beekeeping that I will have to jump around some, but I plan to start off with the basics!