Suited, gloved and veiled, Rebecca Lees steps into the practical world of beekeeping.
The time had come. We were suited, veiled, and anxiously waiting to open a hive for the first time. With two months of training behind us, we were raring to go. Once zips were fastened tightly, boots sealed and veils in order, we had the all clear.
Phil, our tutor, opened the first hive. ‘’You’re first Becs,’’ he said. So in I went, all fingers and thumbs as I wasn’t used to the thick, leather safety gloves or the sticky feel of the frames. I nudged a frame backwards, slid my hive tool under the top tab and gently lifted it out. Wow. Held in my hands were hundreds of bees of various ages – worker bees, larvae and capped brood (bee cells capped off with wax so the bees can pupate). It was a great experience, getting up close and personal with a creature I’d seen all my life, but never really understood. Although I was beginning to understand them more now. It wasn’t all fun and games during that first session; we had a problem.
Before pulling out the frame, we’d given the hive a puff of smoke and the bees headed down into the comb towards the honey and food stores, filling their bellies and calming themselves down. One of the most important things when working a hive is not to lose or squash the queen. Accidentally squish her and the colony may survive no more than a few weeks. Lose her on the grass and she may not find her way back. Queen bees only fly a few times when they’re young, to orientate themselves and mate, then they live in perpetual darkness within the hive.
Each time we had pulled out a frame, we would check for the queen, see what stores the colony had (pollen, nectar and honey) and whether there was any brood (eggs, larvae and pupae). If there’s no brood, there’s probably no laying queen. We searched for the queen, found her and watched for a little while. She fussed around a few cells and then backed her body into a cell and laid an egg. It was astounding to watch as she did it again and again. In the height of the season, the queen will lay around a thousand eggs a day.
With the queen and her brood safe, we continued our observations.
There was still something wrong: something was missing. There was nectar, the shiny sugary syrup stored in uncapped cells. We spotted drone brood – capped off cells that were slightly taller than the others. What was missing was the yellow, white, orange, sometimes pinky-coloured substance the bees store. Pollen. We could barely find any; I didn’t see a single cell with pollen in it. It was a great concern and an eye-opener for beginner beekeepers.
Pollen provides honeybees with protein and nectar provides the carbs. Without protein bees cannot grow or feed their young. Some say this year the lack of pollen is the worst they have ever seen it. During particular times of the year, pollen availability does become very limited, and at other times there is plenty.
Here in South Canterbury, there is a time called the ‘death zone’. Right before the ‘death zone’ the willow trees flower (early spring), providing a big increase in pollen and nectar availability, and stimulating the queen bee to ramp up egg production. However, when the willows stop flowering, food collection halts dramatically due to thr delay that occurs before the next round of flowers and blossoms appear in great numbers. The bees go from having an abundance of food and lots of bees in the hive, to very little food with lots of young to feed and raise, and there’s not enough food to go around. That is the ‘death zone’, which happens about now. Hives can starve in a few days, and beekeepers must keep a close eye on them. A strong hive one day might be dead the following week if low food stores have not been topped up by the beekeeper. From mid-November onwards, pollen and nectar sources should increase again, and the bees are a little safer.
Having seen no pollen in our hive, we added a pollen substitute – not the bees favoured meal and some won’t even touch it as they can be fussy creatures. We filled up their sugar syrup to give them an added boost, crossed our fingers and closed up the hives.
Beekeepers have an exclusive insight into how much pollen and nectar is available within about a 2km radius. Some beekeepers are acutely aware, you could even say ‘in tune’ , with the climate, flowering times, and rythyms of nature. I hope to become like them and to help me achieve this I’ve begun keeping a diary of flowering times, how much pollen is around, and the health of the bees – a beekeeper’s field notebook taken one step further.
Last summer in South Canterbury, we had a drought followed by a very cold winter and another drought is on the cards. Climatic stress directly impacts pollen and nectar production. When a plant is put under stress, with things such as lack of water and high temperatures, it can bolt to seed, resulting in a much shorter flowering time (less nectar and pollen), or the plant may even die as a result.
How many bees are in your garden? Do any of them have baskets full of pollen? I hope so. Sow seeds everywhere folks, whether you sprinkle borage in the cracks of your concrete steps or get guerilla gardening with seed bombs. Keep producing food for hungry wildlife and we’ll keep a close eye on our hives.
