Professional beekeeper “The Bee Farmer” David McDowell gave a fascinating talk to Ticknall Garden Club on beekeeping and the life cycle of bees on 9 April, 2024.
In the UK there are 4 main types of bees – honey bees, bumble bees, solitary bees and wasps. Sadly the number of DEFRA-registered hives in the UK has significantly reduced since World War Two, mainly due to changes in lifestyle and farming methods. David mentioned how flexible bees are and through interbreeding of different species, they have been able to adapt to changes in the climate and their natural habitat. To tell the different species of bees apart in the UK, he recommends looking at the size and colour of the bees’ bodies and if possible, their habitat.
David went on to talk about the life cycle of a honey bee/hive. The bees go through four distinct stages and will change from an egg into a larva, pupa, and finally an adult bee within a few weeks. The time each stage will take is controlled by the specific role the bee will have in the hive i.e. queen, forager, worker, guarding bee. Their role in the hive is predetermined from the egg stage! He brought the life cycle of a hive to life by comparing a hive to a warehouse where each worker has distinct roles and responsibilities. The forager bees collect the nectar and water and pass them on to other bees in the hive to distribute; the housekeeping bees are responsible for keeping the hive clean and cooling it down (it’s very warm) and the guard bees as their name suggests are responsible for safeguarding the hive and keeping out interlopers. A forager bee can fly for about 40 minutes (about a 3-mile radius from the hive) and their eyesight is so poor that professional hives are painted different colours so that the forager bees can recognise their hive. The guard bees recognise the forager bees by their smell!
When the hive gets too big or food is scarce, the queen will swarm with some of the older worker bees to find a new home leaving the new queen to be looked after in the existing hive.
David then went on to explain how honey is produced. It starts as nectar collected by the forager bees, then gets broken down into sugars stored inside the honeycomb. The bees fan their wings to cause the water to evaporate creating the honey. The colour and flavour of the honey depends on the type of nectar collected. The worker bees convert the sugar in the honey into beeswax.
David finished his talk with tips on how to attract bees into our gardens. He suggested having plants that flower at different times of the year to provide food, where possible not to cut plants back and during warm sunny spells to leave out water for the bees to drink and take back to the hive. He also encouraged leaving part of a garden wild so that the habitat for solitary bees is not disturbed. He also advised feeding a tired bumble bee with syrup!
The talk finished with a lively Q & A session with questions ranging from the medicinal properties of honey, crop spraying and honey food miles. David’s vast knowledge of beekeeping and his love of bees was obvious throughout the evening.
