NEWSLETTER #21 (English) from Urs & Izzy: Here's the Honey!
- Izzy the busy bee....
- Jun 25, 2023
- 4 min read
May & June 2023 (Issue #21)
Yes! we have HONEY! Our lovely bees have been very busy, and have shared (not very willingly, to be honest) some of the honey that they have collected during the spring
And...surprise, surprise, it is NOT really your typical spring honey. You want to know more? Read on!
Are you enjoying the newsletter? Don't be shy, tell us at baerenhonig@gmx.ch , or whatsaupp us, if you prefer. We'd love to hear from you!
News from the Beehives
Spring is also swarm time - but this year the bees did not swarm.... much. Probably the bad weather, and the lack of resources (due to bad weather) impeded the colonies to reproduce at the rate and speed needed for the swarming. So we 'only' had 3 swarms (which were captured and conveniently relocated to a very confortable Swiss cottage bee-appartment), and missed one swarm. Well, we actually missed half of the bees inside one of the colonies, so we knew they left - the day after. We looked for them, but to no avail. We are sure they are doing great, wherever they are now!
Where is my Honey...?
Your honey is here! Yes! we harvested last weekend the (little) honey that the bees wanted to share with us. We woke up very early, and tried to catch them off-guard...but still, Urs got 8 stings. He made a mistake...he moved too quickly (and they don't like that). We did not collect a lot -- only 5 of our colonies gave us some of their honey. The other colonies were too small, or too weak, so we didn't bother them.
Remember, in the colonies that we harvest, we always leave 50% of the honey for the bees - and 50% for us.
This year, the bees surprised us - again!. Look at the picture here to the left. This photo compares the harvests from 2022, (spring, to the left, and summer/forest, in the middle), to the 2023 spring harvest (to the right).
Surprise! the SPRING honey from 2023 is darker and stronger than the SUMMER honey from 2022! How is this possible? The weather in Zurich was too wet, and too cold during spring (during April and May, it rained every single day), and then it became very hot and dry, suddenly - and very late (in June), so there were not many flowers to get nectar from. So our bees turned (earlier than scheduled) to the forest, so the ' spring' honey, contains, actually, a sizable amount of forest honey on it.
The good news? it is very tasty. The good news also? it will take much much longer to solidify. Ah! You like it solid? no problem, just store it on the refrigerator ;-) easy!
Facts & Figures
You could read above that only a few colonies gave us honey this spring. We also lost 2 colonies over winter. Is this normal?
Yes, it is normal - both in nature, and with the beehives that are at the care of the beekeepers. The winter loss statistics shown here to the right include the real winter losses of bee colonies in Switzerland and Liechtenstein. It includes dead colonies,
queen losses and damage caused by natural hazards.
About 15% of the colonies on average perish over winter. Up to another 20% are lost before wintering or are too weak to provide honey --even to sustain themselves. Thus, a total of roughly >30% of the colonies are missing for pollination in spring.
The loss figures according to cantons are very different. The mountain cantons Appenzell,
Glarus, Grisons, Nidwalden and Obwalden and Schwyz generally have lower losses in winter
Did you know that...?
Bees are important...even at the Cantonal Council! On 30.1.2023, the Zurich Cantonal Council debated the protection and promotion of the dark bee (mellifera mellifera). Several political parties called for the support and promotion of the Swiss (dark) native honey bee, which is threatened with extinction, in order to contribute to the preservation of species diversity and biodiversity. The dark bee stops breeding during foraging gaps, which means that it is less in competition with wild bees. The postulate was adopted by 116 votes to 54 after a half-hour debate. (For info, half of our bees are already ' Swiss dark bees' )
Swiss Bees
Did you know that Zurich airport has its own bee-hives? (it also has a massive presence of rabbits around the landing stripes -- you can see them roaming around freely during take-off and landing if you are sitting in the window seat).
So, why are there beehives in the airport ? where are they? There are several beehives at Zurich Airport. The bees are part of a project to promote biodiversity and raise awareness of the importance of bees for the environment. The hives are located on the roof of the Transit Hotel & Day Rooms at Zurich Airport.
In addition, they are used to control and understand the presence of contaminating agents (from the flight of planes), in the wax and in the honey.
Several Swiss studies, published in scholar articles, showcase that, even when there are pesticides on the environment of the beehive, the honey and the wax of the bees do NOT contain any of them. The bees, unfortunately, might die poisoned by the pesticides, but their work remains completely clean. , believe it or not (well, better believe it), there are NO contaminants on the honey produced!
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