3 ms·

This sounds very interesting and fun. Are there any resources you could recommend on the inputs / behavior?

Qworg 13y ago
Resources? That's hard to say - I'm not sure others address keeping bees like I do. I can offer a few examples. Varrora Destructor is a mite that afflicts colonies - it is voracious and a pain to get rid of. One of the best non-chemical ways to treat a colony is to dust it with powdered sugar or lay petroleum jelly in dishes out. The bees, once dusted, trigger their cleaning behaviour - they begin grooming themselves to get rid of the sugar. This also dislodges the mites. The jelly works the same trigger, except requires the bees normally clean themselves, spreading the jelly all over themselves, which makes the mites unable to stick. Both of these behaviours can be enhanced by breeding "hygienic bees" - bees that groom themselves more often and quickly rid the hive of dead/dying bees and larvae. Bees, when hungry, will eat sugar syrup to survive. You can feed your bees to get them through the winter or other dearths in nectar supply. However, bees will automatically stop taking syrup when the nectar returns - you can always tell when things are blooming enough because they'll ignore your offered syrup. You can also add essential oils to your syrup to increase uptake - lemongrass and peppermint. People think the queen controls the hive - in truth, nobody is in control. If the workers think the queen is failing, they'll start raising a new queen, then kill the old queen (or let the new queen do it). Bees that are placed in a hive that is not their own will "switch sides" to the new hive within a few hours to days after being placed nearby - the pheromones the queen gives off links them together.
Qworg 13y ago
Another that I forgot about. Scientists are making progress on hacking bees' pheromones directly: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22606797 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22606797 An 84.3% increase in honey production. That said, I don't think there's any research on long term impacts.

Qworg 13y ago

Resources? That's hard to say - I'm not sure others address keeping bees like I do. I can offer a few examples. Varrora Destructor is a mite that afflicts colonies - it is voracious and a pain to get rid of. One of the best non-chemical ways to treat a colony is to dust it with powdered sugar or lay petroleum jelly in dishes out. The bees, once dusted, trigger their cleaning behaviour - they begin grooming themselves to get rid of the sugar. This also dislodges the mites. The jelly works the same trigger, except requires the bees normally clean themselves, spreading the jelly all over themselves, which makes the mites unable to stick. Both of these behaviours can be enhanced by breeding "hygienic bees" - bees that groom themselves more often and quickly rid the hive of dead/dying bees and larvae. Bees, when hungry, will eat sugar syrup to survive. You can feed your bees to get them through the winter or other dearths in nectar supply. However, bees will automatically stop taking syrup when the nectar returns - you can always tell when things are blooming enough because they'll ignore your offered syrup. You can also add essential oils to your syrup to increase uptake - lemongrass and peppermint. People think the queen controls the hive - in truth, nobody is in control. If the workers think the queen is failing, they'll start raising a new queen, then kill the old queen (or let the new queen do it). Bees that are placed in a hive that is not their own will "switch sides" to the new hive within a few hours to days after being placed nearby - the pheromones the queen gives off links them together.

Qworg 13y ago

Another that I forgot about. Scientists are making progress on hacking bees' pheromones directly: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22606797 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22606797 An 84.3% increase in honey production. That said, I don't think there's any research on long term impacts.