Honey Bees Galore!

By Anonymous -
A group of students, backyard, a patio, a grill, a garden, and a hundred thousand bees… “Wait, what? That doesn’t sound right or safe” is what you may be thinking. A couple of weeks ago as a class we stopped by a local beekeepers house named Mindy. I was shocked to find that the hives were in the middle of the small town of Warr Acres, Oklahoma.The area is very familiar to me and I had never noticed bees there before. 
We began our adventure by entering the backyard and getting a quick summary of what Mindy did year round to sustain her bee population. We were then given full body protection in the form of bee suits, making us feel safe (suit). What I didn’t realize is that there is much more that goes into it than just giving the bees a home. Beekeepers must be able to make constant adjustments based on how the bees are acting. 
Mindy’s yard consisted of around 5 “hives” that looked like this image. At first, a few bees were seen hovering around the hives, coming and going as they pleased. Mindy opened one box and allowed us to take an in depth view of a functioning hive. The first thing I noticed was how much was crammed inside of a single hive. The hives had panels running up and down similar to this image. 
A beekeeper will figure out a schedule and pattern with the bees and know when collecting honey is needed, removing or separating a queen, and many other factors that tie in to running a successful hive.  
This website provides a more in depth look at beekeeping and allows for a more specific reading(beekeeping website). Mindy basically gave our class the rundown of her annual cycle when it comes to beekeeping. By the end of our session, many of the hives were alert and there were hundreds if not thousands of bees circling the yard. I was worried I would be swarmed!
When asked how many times she has been stung, she laughed and said, “more times than I can count” which does not surprise me one bit. She had a clear passion for beekeeping and was happy to show us the ropes. 
Obviously, the first step to caring for bees as a beekeeper is to have a space for them to live. Man-made beehives are important because they allow you to more easily care for bee and collect honey from them (<a href=”https://www.thespruce.com/beginners-guide-to-beekeeping-3016857”>). You may be surprised to hear that bees have an incredibly interesting social make up within their hives. Bee hives kept by beekeepers contain a complex system and hierarchy of bees that rivals even that of our own society. We are surrounded by specific social and economic tendencies and customs. There are workers that help to build structures like schools, towers, and homes, there are nurses to care for the sick or newborns, and there are even people in charge such as governors or presidents. Would it surprise you if I said that bees also have an intricate social system? In this caste system, different bees have different responsibilities. There are three types of bees within a hive: the queen, drones, and workers. 
The queen is the only bee that lays eggs within the hive. A bizarre fact about this is that the queen will only mate once in her entire life (<a href=”https://beebuilt.com/pages/beekeeping-for-beginners”>Click Here)! That’s right! She can go the rest of her life without mating with another bee and yet can continually lay eggs for the remainder of her life (<a href=”https://beebuilt.com/pages/beekeeping-for-beginners”>Click Here). How on earth can this happen? Well, she must first find available mates. To do this, she flies around looking for drones (male bees), and mates with up to 80 of them. The queen then stores the rest of her life to lay more eggs (<a href=”https://beebuilt.com/pages/beekeeping-for-beginners”>Click Here).
As stated, drones are male bees produced from unfertilized eggs laid by the queen. They are responsible for the genetic diversity of a hive because they mate with queens from other hives. This is how a colony’s genetic diversity is spread (<a href=”https://beebuilt.com/pages/beekeeping-for-beginners”>Click Here). Finally, there are worker bees. They essentially do everything else within the hive. They care for the young, collect pollen and nectar, and run the hive. You wanna know the most inspiring part of it though? They’re all females (<a href=”https://beebuilt.com/pages/beekeeping-for-beginners”>Click Here)! Go women!
Sources:
https://www.perfectbee.com/learn-about-bees/the-life-of-bees/inside-and-out-of-the-beehive

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