Urban beekeeping is a growing trend in many populated areas. It is a debated topic because many people fear bees, but also I have read articles suggesting that putting bees in cities is bad because there are not enough pollinating plants for the bees to survive off of. When I talked to Davey about this, his answer was quite simple. He explained that bees will eat whatever they need to survive. They really aren’t around to be pests, they are simply trying to get some free food (kind of like a lot of people I know!)

Now that pollination season is underway, there have already been reports of hive thefts. Beekeepers take their bees into orchards to pollinate crops and their hives go missing. Hive theft is a big problem that has gone on for years and unfortunately with the large bee losses that are occurring, it seems they might get even more common. Even hives that are clearly marked have been stolen. Some beekeepers have GPS chips in their hives to track them if they go missing, but that is another expense that beekeepers must consider. It seems like this might be the only way to recover lost bees.

Introducing a new queen can be a challenging task. Naturally, when a hive feels it needs a new queen, they simply create one. The “virgin queen bee” will kill the current queen and take her spot. A ‘hive-created’ queen bee will have less pheromones than an imported bee a beekeeper buys, making it simpler for the hive to adapt and accept her. When a beekeeper transplants a new queen bee in a hive, the beekeeper may separate her from the worker bees so that they gradually adapt to her foreign scent. Also, a beekeeper can use peppermint oil in the hive which helps to dilute the pheromones of the new queen so the hive will adapt to her better.

Did you know that the bee is the only living animal allowed to be shipped through the U.S. Postal service? Pretty cool! This is how many beekeepers receive their queens. If you are a beginning beekeeper, you can have a whole "swarm" sent to you with the queen. They are sent in little wood "cages." If the trip is 2 days or longer, the seller will probably include a small piece of candy and a few worker bees to help the queen with the trip. Of course they need a proper air supply and the temperatures can't be too hot or cold. Davey said that a year or two ago he had about 400 queens that died on the trip because the air circulation was cut off during transportation. One thing to know is that the mail carrier will not insure things like bees, so if they die during the trip, they will not be reimbursing the buyer or the seller. The loss has to be decided between the beekeeper and the bee seller. From everything I've heard, it seems the popular places to buy bees from are Hawaii and Georgia.

What happens to bees in winter? I guess you could call it a sort of hibernating that happens every winter in a beehive. Bees will cluster for warmth and snack on the honey that they have made during the warmer months. For a beehive, 40 degrees during winter is a good temperate to have the hive at and the bees will stabilize this as much as possible. The queen will actually "shut down" laying eggs in the winter and also a bee's metabolism will slow down and the reduced activity allows a bee to actually live a couple weeks longer than it would in summer time.

Just got off the phone with Davey Hackenberg! He's taking a short break in Florida now, but he has two loads of bees currently in California doing some much needed pollination! He said the blooms are about 35% open right now, so it sounds like another typical start for crops out there. This is the time of year where he is repairing equipment and working on splitting bees to create more hives. He tries to replace all the queens at least every spring (if not every 6-8 months). Although the worker bees have to adapt to/accept the new queen bee, the queens he buys have already mated so they can start laying broods within only a couple days of being in the hive. Who knew!?
Also, if there are any beekeepers reading this who may pollinate crops, Davey advises for you to keep the price of pollination up because keeping bees is expensive and especially with all the bee loss occurring, it is important not to give your services out for free. If you take your bees to a crop that has lots of pesticides on it, you may not have half of your bees left a few months down the road.