With swarm season quickly approaching in the state of Ohio, its time to review the bee behavior that leads to swarming.  In this two-part blog series we will cover many topics in regards to swarming. It is our opinion that swarming is the first obstacle for new beekeepers to overcome.  In most regions, within a month of buying a package of bees, beekeepers will find themselves in the middle of the swarm season. Lets talk about why and what to look for.

Whether the honey bee colony is found in a hollowed out tree in the woods or in a rectangular hive box in a beekeeper’s backyard, the goal of honey bees is the same: to produce colonies.  By contrast, the goal of the beekeeper is to produce bees.  So, when a colony gets to the point where they have outgrown their current residence, it’s time for them to split their forces and take a chance at expanding as a species. Depending on where the honey bees are located in the world, they will swarm during the first or second honey flows. They choose this time because this is when their food source is most plentiful and an abundant food source will provide the energy necessary to put in all the work to build comb and start a new colony.

The first thing that must happen for swarming to occur within the hive is for the worker bees to come to a consensus that the hive is overcrowded and there is no longer enough space to expand. This is an issue that needs to be remedied. At this point, worker bees will begin feeding eggs in certain cells (laid by the old queen) royal jelly in order to turn these eggs that were once destined to be a worker bee into a queen. These cells are known as swarm cells. They will most commonly be found on the bottom half of a frame and these cells can number in some cases more then ten throughout the hive.  After 16 days (with only 6 days capped with the cell completely enclosed) these swarm cells begin to hatch queens. These virgin queens will promptly travel throughout the hive, stinging rival queen cells aborting them. In the event that another virgin queen has hatched, they will fight to the death.

The surviving virgin queen will leave the hive on her own to mate with drones in an area far away from the hive called ‘Drone Congregation Areas’ (DCA). Upon her return she will begin her reign as queen bee. Once mated, the queen will be recognized the workers of the colony as their queen. At this point, anywhere from 10-60% of the hives workers will fill up on honey and prepare to swarm with the old queen.  They will create a ‘carpet’ of bees just outside the hive on the ground or on the face of the hive before taking off to a tree branch to form a cluster of bees roughly the size of a basketball where they will contemplate their next move.

In our next post we will talk about the process the swarm will take to arrive at a decision on a nesting site to settle in (Hint: it is a democratic process in its purest form!).

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            A clean water source is an essential part of any successful honey bee colony. Whether you have a single hive or an apiary of hundreds of beehives, a clean available water source in close proximity to your bees could be the difference between the success and death of a colony.  On a sunny summer day, a single colony may send up to 800 foraging bees to the water source more then 50 times to collect enough water to sustain the hive. Honey bees use water in three ways:

1.     On warmer summer days, honey bees will use the water inside the hive to thermo regulate the temperature within the hive by spreading the water across the top of the cells then fanning it with air, much like the way our air conditioners work in our own homes.

2.     Nurse bees also use water to produce the gelatinous substance known as brood bread, which is a mixture of pollen, honey, and water. Brood bread is then used to feed bee larvae, powering future generations of bees.

3.     The third way honey bees use water is to dilute older crystalized honey back into a liquid form that they are then able to ingest. This is particularly important for beekeepers that feed bee’s crystalized sugar. Those bees may require even more water then bees that are not fed with a honey substitute.

             While there is no evidence that chlorine is harmful to honey bees, its safe to say that none of your neighbors with pools want to see hundreds of bees on the edge of their pool having a drink. If your bees are in an area with access to swimming pools they will no doubt seek out that water source if not provided one of their own in closer proximity to the hive.

Bees actually prefer clean water in a mossy, algae filled environment, which leads us to the most hazardous of water sources. Agricultural water sources may hold pesticides that can directly harm the bee or be transferred to the nurse bees and finally to generations possibly contributing to colony collapse.

Here at Queen City Bee Co. we use an old food grade jug and a piece of untreated pine with the center routed out to allow the bees access to the constant drip of water flowing through the center. 

While there are many ideas for providing clean drinking water for your bees, the backyard hobbyist can simply fill a birdbath with enough gravel to allow the bees a platform to drink from and fill with water, as seen here:http://abqbeeks.org/forum/topics/water-for-your-bees  Every evening throughout the summer ensure your  ‘Bee Bath’ is full and keep your bees happy, cool, and hydrated.

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One of our favorite uses of honey is cooking and baking. Honey is so versatile that it can pair with virtually any dish AND it serves as a healthy sweetener substitution to sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Plus, honey’s flavor is so complex and there are so many different varietals of honey depending on the flower blossom that the honey bee gathers the nectar from (because honey is made from flower nectar), that honey can bring a new, exciting flavor to any dish!

This recipe was created when Sally was experimenting with her traditional granola recipe. To give it a superfood kick, and because she loves chocolate almost as much as honey, she came up this concoction. The BEST thing about making granola is that you can substitute in something you do have with something you don’t. So, if you don’t have things like goji berries or cacao nibs lying around, there are some simple (and cheaper!) substitutions you can make and still have a healthy granola.

Recipe:

3 cups of oats (whole, rolled)
½ cup coconut oil
½ cup honey
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. sea salt
½ cup goji berries (or sub ½ cup raisins or dried cherries)
½ cup cacao nibs (or sub 1 cup dark chocolate chips)
3 Tbsp. coconut flakes
1 ½ Tbsp. raw cacao powder (or sub 1 ½ Tbsp. cocoa)
2 Tbsp. chia seeds (or sub 2 Tbsp. sesame seeds)
1 tsp. cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Mix all of the ingredients together in a medium to large bowl. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper (don’t use aluminum foil, it’ll rip and give you a raging headache. Been there.). Bake the granola for about 15-20 minutes, stirring the granola halfway through (so the edges of your granola don’t burn). 

Two Hints:

1)      If your coconut oil is solid, place the ½ cup of oil in a pot over low heat or in an oven safe dish in the oven while the oven preheats to melt the oil. If you use the oven BE VERY CAREFUL when you remove the dish full of hot oil. Use an oven mitt that will get a good grip on the dish and don’t make any fast movements. You do not want to spill that hot oil!

2)      Measure out the oil in the measuring cup first and then do the honey. The oil will help the honey slide right off the measuring cup and you’ll leave less honey behind on the sides of the cup and have to do less scrapping.

Yuuuuuuuum. Enjoy!

It’s spring! Who doesn’t want to be outside enjoying the glorious warm weather after a long and cold winter? We know you do, and we know bees do too; and we know that every now in then you might have a run in with one of those little guys. So, we thought we’d give you some useful info on how to prevent and handle bee stings.

Honey bees are peaceful creatures who just want to go about their business pollinating and making strong honey bee colonies and are generally not on the lookout for someone to sting. But, every now and then we get in their way or do something to piss them off and before we know it BLAM! Bee Sting City. Bee stings hurt, no way around it. 

 Knowledge is power, so let’s start with the basics.

Why do bees sting?

Here’s a good way to prevent being stung- understand why bees sting. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service, bee’s sting when they feel threatened (i.e. swatted at) or alarmed. Bees aren’t flying around looking for someone to sting. Stinging is a bee’s last resort defense mechanism. They’re equipped with a barbed stinger and venom that is produced in a special venom sac. When the bee stings, the venom sac, along with muscles and part of their digestive tract, stays with the stinger, causing the bee to die. Sad.

Prevention 101

Preventing pain is always preferable to treating it. There are a few measures you can take to prevent a sting (from a bee, wasp, yellow jacket, or other stinging insects):

o   Cover sweet food and beverages when outside
o   Have hives or nests near your home or business removed! (We’ll do this for you!)
o   Careful walking around barefoot, sometimes stinging critters are on the ground, not in the air
o   Don’t dress like a flowerbed- avoid brightly colored clothes that bees might mistake for flowers
o   Avoid scented perfumes, soaps, etc.- you will smell super good to them
o   Avoid baggy clothing that they could get tangled up in
o   If a bee is flying around you, remain calm and slowly walk away- swatting will only tick them off 
     more

Remember!

Swatting, stepping on, or furiously waving away a bee is a good way to put yourself on the fast track to getting stung.

What to do when you get stung 

If you are unfortunate enough to get stung, there are a few things you can do to lessen the severity of the sting. 

o   DON’T PANIC! Slowly walk away from the area the bee 
     stung you in just in case other bees are around, you don’t 
     want to accidentally agitate them. 
o   Use a fingernail or credit card to swipe across the skin to 
     remove the stinger. Like we mentioned previously, the
     venom sack is attached to the stinger when it’s in you. 
     Squeezing the sack will only pump more venom into you, so 
     we don’t want you to try and grab at the stinger to remove it. 
     This way of removing the stinger will avoid pumping more 
                                                                        venom into you and hopefully lessen the pain you experience 
                                                                        in the long run.
o   As mentioned before, if the person who is stung is allergic to bees, immediately get them    
     professional medical help.

Treatment

Once the stinger is out, was the area with warm water and soap. Icing may help to reduce pain and swelling, so grab that bag of frozen peas. If the itching or swelling is a pain, grab some Benadryl or other antihistamine to help with symptoms. Other natural remedies that you can try to relieve the sting are:

o   Making a paste with 1 tablespoon baking soda and 1 teaspoon water, apply to stung area
o   Apply apple cider vinegar to the area with a cotton ball
o   Honey! This natural antiseptic will help alleviate symptoms

If you get stung, chin up kid you’re stronger because of it. And, maybe you learned something to prevent it from happening the next time.

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Welcome to the Queen City Bee Co. website! We are a Cincinnati-based apiary operating out of the Northside neighborhood. Queen City Bee Co., or QCBC as we like to call ourselves, is made up of a team of three people- George, Carlier, and Sally- and hundreds of thousands of honeybees. We want to help build sustainable honeybee hives that can contribute to pollinating the Earth while offering high quality, local honeybee products to our friends in Cincinnati and beyond.

Here’s a quick list of the services and products that we will are currently and will be offering:

o   Honeybee products, including honey and bee pollen (starting Spring 2015)
o   Pollination for organic farms and orchards;
o   Honeybee hive removals from home and businesses;
o   Beekeeping lessons for the amateur all the way up to the experienced beekeeper;
o   Rent-A-Hive for new or experienced beekeepers who want to keep a hive at their location to 
     pollinate up to five acres, includes the option of beekeeping lessons;
o   Sponsor-A-Hive for individuals and businesses who want to adopt their own honeybee hive(s).

Keep checking back on the Bee Blog for all kinds of interesting information on honeybees, honeybee research, honey recipes, and more!

We look forward to providing Cincinnati with high quality honeybee products and services. Feel free to browse our website, contact us, and follow us on social media for updates and information on all things honeybee! Find us on social media at:

o   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qcbcglenparker
o   Twitter: @QueenCityBeeCo
o   Instagram: @queencitybeeco