March & April 2024 (Issue #25)
Dear honey lovers, Hello and happy Easter! Yes, it is again that time of the year, when temperatures warm up and spring and hormones burst with all their power... and also for the bees! It is when nature starts calling for growth and reproduction, And how do bee colonies grow and reproduce? By swarming! Swarming is the natural way to create new bee swarms. We know you already know the basics... but, read on, for more very interesting details!
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News from the Beehives
This year we paid the toll of Nature; not two, but three of our colonies died during February. They were small, and, even if they had enough honey reserves and were healthy, they did not have the 'critical mass' to warm up during the overwinter until spring. We have another very strong three colonies, so we will be waiting for them to swarm, and -hopefully- catch them, so we can offer them a nice new house! We would like to set some 'swarm traps and swarm baits' to make everybody's life easier, so we don't have to make crazy things to recover them (see photo above from last year). Unfortunately, during winter, the Zurich Forest team passed and made a razzia, cutting all of the trees where the bees swarmed in the last years. So we need your help to set 'swarm traps and 'swarm baits'. Please keep on reading, maybe you can help us! (see Swiss bees section)
Where is my Honey...?
Your honey will, during these months, be eaten by the bees, prior to swarming! Yes, swarming takes energy - a lot! so, when the Queen gives the last notice of swarming, by piping, everybody gets ready. The first notice is usually known by everybody much much earlier (one or two weeks in advance), but there is a count-down of 72 h within the beehive prior to the actual swarm. During these 72 h, all of the bees who are 'called' to swarm with the old queen, gorge in honey. They pig out and eat as much as possible, because they will spend now up to a week flying away, feeding the queen, posing themselves in strange locations, and focusing on keeping her warm and settling on a new nest, so they need reserves. Prior to a swarm, the colony eats (on average) 6 -7 kilos of honey...in 72h!!! (but don't worry, we still have some honey for you, if you need).
Facts & Figures
When a colony swarms, about half of the worker bees leave with the Queen. Out of the 60,000 bees, which ones leave, and which ones stay? How is it decided? How does each bee knows it? The entomologists do not know it for sure. They believe that the bees who leave with the queen are the foraging bees (>25 days old), and the ones staying in the hive to attend the new princess (to be born) are the younger bees. But nobody knows for sure. Each of them know in which team they are -stay or go- because they pig-out or not, and leave -or not, but we dont.... What we know for sure is that, during the 72h count-down time, the bees stop feeding the Queen, and start chasing her around, so she exercises and does not lay more eggs. Why? because the Queen, otherwise, is too fat and heavy to fly! She needs to leave the colony and fly away, so the working bees keep her on a strict diet. This is the reason why also the swarms 'rest' in strange locations before reaching their already chosen new home (see below) - the queen bee is still 'chubby', and cannot fly for long periods, so the whole swarm accommodates to what the Queen can fly! Isn't it incredible?
Did you know that...?
Bees, like humans, go house-hunting? When the Queenbee gives the notice 'hey girls, we are swarming', there is a task that is given to about 2 to 3 dozen bees -- they will not collect nectar, they scout the surrounding areas for suitable locations to build a new hive. And it may take a couple of weeks. They look for holes in trees, or in urban structures, with roughly a volume of 30 -50 liters. How do they measure the volume? They walk and fly inside the hole, calculating the volume based on the time they take. Smart girls! And, like humans, they are picky! they prefer those with East sun-exposure, landing ground and easy access (2 -3 meters cleared entrance), clean of other 'tenants', at least 2 m away from the floor, and at least 200m away from their current hive. Yep, they also want the relatives close, but not too close! When a bee-scout finds a suitable location, she calls the other scouts for a second visit, and they decide together if that is going to be their new home. If yes, they come back, announce it to the Queen, and then the date of the moving is decided. Isn't it amazing!
Swiss Bees
Today, we want to ask your help to improve the success rate of survival of the Witikon bees. In nature -and left to their own devices-, only 10% of swarms survive. We want to give them a better chance, so every year we establish some baits (locations where they can rest comfortably) and some traps (old hives that we place in the surroundings, so the scouts can find a 'new' house. We need your help! We noticed that good baits are made of wood. And that they are somehow 'protected'. And we found that empty wood wine boxes are ideal. Like the one on the photo, which baited our largest swarm to date (2.5 kg, we called it ' megalodon' ). So, this is our proposal to you: Do you live in Witikon? Do you have an old (empty) wood winebox (3 bottles or more)? Give it to us (we come to pick it up). We will 'ear-mark it' with your family name, create a bait, and send you (privately) the location. If we catch a swarm on your bait, you become the godparent of the hive, and we will provide you with information of its wellbeing ...and a free kilo of honey! Sounds like a good deal? (of course, you can always also set a bait in your own balcony!) Let us know if you want to help us!
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