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Page 19
As you can see, bees have to be experts in air conditioning and are able
to maintain the required temperature in the hive even when the outside
air temperature is significantly different. However, by providing a well
insulated hive (such as the Beehaus,) you are giving them a helping hand.
They do not need to expend as much energy, either cooling in summer or
heating in winter, which means that you are likely to be able to harvest
more honey.
TEMPERATURE
OUTSIDE
O
C
ACTIvITy
20
Queen cannot fly
16
Minimum temperature for opening hive
15
Drones do not fly
14
All bees will cluster inside the Beehaus to
keep warm
10
Queen will stop laying
TEMPERATURE
INSIDE
O
C
ACTIvITy
38+
Colony need water to cool the hive
33-36
Bees able to create wax
32-36
Nest temperature for hatching eggs and
raising brood
15-20
Winter cluster temperature
6
Bees will be inactive as muscles too cold
4
A single bee will die without colony
The chart below shows the key temperatures and relationship between
temperatures and the bees.
Honeybees are fantastic foragers and fly up to 3 miles away from their
hive to find food if they have to, although they will of course choose
closer supplies when possible. A typical worker bee will make 3000 visits
to flowers in a day and will keep visiting the same area until all the nectar
is finished.
The waggle dance
In a colony, over half the bees will spend their time foraging. Within
these foragers, there are a small number of elite ‘scout bees’. The
scouts spend their time looking for good sources of food. Once they
have found a source of quality nectar, they return to the hive and tell
the other bees where to find it. They do this by performing the famous
waggle dance.
The scout bee dances on the honey comb. As it’s quite dark in the beehive,
the other bees have to feel the dance with their antennae. The scout also
shares some of the nectar, to let the other bees know the quality that they
have found.
How do bees find food?
The bee dances on the surface of the comb at an angle to the vertical that
denotes the angle the bee should fly at when it leaves the hive relative to
the sun. The length of the dance on the comb denotes the distance.
The amount of water in the nectar is a measure of its quality and your
bees will actively source the flowers producing nectar with the lowest
percentage of water and the highest percentage of sugar. In a good
season the bees will actually become quite discerning about this and
foraging bees who return with watery nectar will have their load rejected
by the hive bees and sent out into the field to do better.
Plants that provide food for bees
You can help your bees and other wildlife by planting bee friendly plants
in your garden. Even window boxes and hanging baskets can be planted
to be useful food sources for your bees as well as you. For example a herb
garden with basil, thyme and rosemary will please the bees (and make
your cooking more interesting). A flower bed full of lavender will give
honey a delightful flavour and the dried flowers can be used to make
your drawers beautifully scented.
There are lots of plants that are fantastic for bees. As a general rule, you
should try to plant as wide a variety as possible so that the bees have
sources of food throughout the entire season (March-September). You
should aim to plant them in clumps to make it easier for the bees to find
and if possible choose local plants rather than exotic ones.
The bees waggle at an angle to
vertical. The longer the waggle the
further the nectar.
This is the same angle as the flowers
are to the sun.
Angle
Distance
Corn flower.
Honesty.
Allium.
Marigold.
Thyme.
Love-in-the-mist.
Annual poppy.
Fox glove.
