Bees have been on decline in the western hemisphere for the last 10 or 15 years, says beekeeper hobbyist Jim Gould. This is due to reduction in habitat, invasive pests and an increase in pesticide use. On Sounds Good, Kate Lochte speaks with Gould about how beekeepers can bring populations back from the brink and how people interested in beekeeping can get started, ahead of the McCracken County Master Gardener's Toolbox program next Tuesday.
Jim Gould is a retired oncologist, farmer and decade-long hobby beekeeper. He has hives in Paducah and Southern Illinois and a population that varies between seasons and years, usually between 40,000 to 60,000 per box. He collects honey and propagates wildflowers and gives away surplus honey as Christmas gifts.
How do bees know which hive is theirs?
Bees are visual insects, Gould says. When a young bee leaves the box for the first time they'll fly from the front porch, circle around the box in what is called an "orientation flight" to learn about where they are in their environment. They'll then be directed by another bee to seek pollen or honey and will return to the box based on visual cues. If the box is moved from the original location, the field bees will return to that location looking for their house even if it's not there. This used to be a common way of dividing hives. Setting an empty house where the former house was, a bee might be initially confused, but will take up residence in that location.
30 or 40 years ago, one could multiply their number of boxes by moving them 10 or 12 feet. Eventually they'd generate their own queen. Today, with the number of negative influences on bee health, the strategy of multiplying the number of bees no longer works as it puts too many pressures on their wellbeing.
Bees on the decline
Worldwide decline has been happening for the past 10 to 15 years, due to pests, loss of habitat and pesticide. Gould says bee habitat is rural countryside gardens. Due to cropping in the Midwest and urban development, these spaces have been vanishing. He hopes initiatives designed to increase bee population will be successful. His bees are registered on the website DriftWatch. Some of his boxes are located near soybean farms, which bees like to visit in the early morning. Pesticide applicators check DriftWatch to be cognizant of where bees are located within a half mile or mile and will spray later in the day, after the bees are done collecting.
How bees make honey
Field worker bees fly from the bee box to the field and pick up nectar from a variety of flowers from early spring to first frost. Nectar is returned to the hive and regurgitated from the field bee to another beer in the hive through the process of 'sequential regurgitation.' In this process, the water content of the nectar is reduced. Sugar is converted to glucose and sucrose through a process involving their gut enzymes.
Honey is special because of the concentration of monosaccharides and the fact that it's relatively dehydrated. It's considered 'bacteriostatic' - bacteria and fungi wont grow in honey. Because of this, honey has been used in the past as an osmotic agent, drawing fluid out of a wound since bacteria can't grow on it. It's not necessarily sterile, but preventative of bacteria.
In the McCracken County Master Gardener's Toolbox program next Tuesday, Gould says the most important thing a new beekeeper can do is find a mentor. The program will also cover what is needed to get started, who to talk to, how much it costs, where you can grow and keep bees and hopes to introduce new people to beekeeping to get them interested. Hopefully, he says, local beekeepers can reverse the tide of loss of population.
