NEWSLETTER #32 (English) from Urs & Izzy: What the heck....???
- Izzy the busy bee....
- May 24
- 6 min read
May & June 2025 (Issue #32)
Dear honey lovers, It is high season for the bees! Weather is a little bit crazy, but they are happy - as we are, with the longer days, and the large amount of flowers and nectar available. We have not been very succesful rearing queens this year, and we had a very strange and unpleasant visitor to our apiaries....and how of both things related. Look for the story here below! A short and interesting read for a lazy weekend...
Are you enjoying the newsletter? Don't be shy, tell us at baerenhonig@gmx.ch , or WhatsApp us, if you prefer. We'd love to hear from you!
News from the Beehives
If you follow our Newsletters, you will know that we lost most of our bees over the last winter -- the cement honey (=melezitose) from last year is a probiotic for humans, but bees do not digest it so well. So we were very keen on catching swarms... but we didn't have any. Well, Izzy scouted the sourroundings, and found a couple of swarms from fellow beekeepers, so we got a couple of young colonies. We decided to try to breed some queens, so we could create new hives. What you can see on the photo, is a 'small' hive, where we prepare the "princesess-cells", which will hopefully become Queens. We were preparing some of these little hives (see left photo); it contains about 1000 bees, a couple of small frames, and one frame with the queen cells. We noticed that there was a man; white, blond, mid 20s, looking at us, from behind the hedge. He stood there for 40 minutes, without saying anything. Then suddenly, he said in english " do you eat that'? I answered "no, we are trying to make queen bees". He left.
The day after (Sunday), I visited the beehouse, and I noticed that the bees were extremely aggressive. And then, I realized that one of the two queen rearing-boxes (actually, the one on the photo), had disappeared. I thought immediately on this man. Then I pondered that he could not be very far - the box is not practical to transport, and is full of bees! I searched for 20 minutes the forest.
Then I saw him from the back, washing his face and hands at the fountain at the entrance of the forest. I got closer and asked " hey, did you take our bees?". He turned around, answered 'no', and run away. As he turned, I noticed his face was massively red of stings. He had clearly stolen the box, and opened it. I kept looking for the box, and finally we found it. He had opened it, eaten the little comb honey that it contained, and trashed everything. I cannot imagine the number of stings that he received in the face and hands- probably more than 50, if not hundred. He was hoist with his own petard. We didn't see him again - and I hope he doesn't come back!
Where is my Honey...?
Your honey is on the making - we don't have many colonies, but surely they will be very productive. In any case, we still have some honey from last year - (only spring honey, in 500g pots) - it is by now crystallized, The good news? It is full of practical possibilities: it doesn’t slip off your warm toast but still dissolves effortlessly in your hot tea. Crystallization is simply a natural process where the fructose molecules arrange themselves into crystals, just like rock candy.
On the world of marketing, when every year the people try to reinvent the wheel, a new type of honey has been 'created' (and you can find it in British shops)-- "Crystallized honey". Rebranding crystallized honey as "crunchy honey" sheds a whole new light on a 100% natural product that otherwise, is treated (heated to 60C) to transform it into creamy honey.
So, if you are missing our 100% raw spring honey, call it crystallized or crunchy, you don't have to wait until mid June!
Remember, we deliver the honey to your doorstep (or more like, your mailbox), in a very ecological manner -- and we also pick up your empty glasses, if you have, so they can be carefully cleaned and recycled. Our labels are special -- they can be easily peeled-off, leaving no glue residues - so you can also use the pots, in case you want to make preserves.
Facts & Figures
Bees have 5 segments on each leg, whereas we humans have only 3 - they are very articulated!
Bees have 3 pairs of legs which they use to walk, dance and safely land. Each leg pair (front, mid, back) looks different, because they have different functions!
The front legs are the 'shortest' ones, but they are the ones with most functions - bees can smell and taste through these legs. They come also with an 'antenna cleaner' a ' tongue cleaner' and a 'face cleaner' built-in, a complicated keratin and hair structure in one of their joints that they use as a brush, a toothbrush, and a towel.
The middle legs are mainly used to stabilize themselves, s much roaming around wobbly flower petals, as walking in the dark in the beehive - a treacherous place full of holes, as when they are fighting with other bees, as they stand on their back four legs, and raise their front body.
The back legs are the most voluminous, as they are basically, two large shopping bags, where they store pollen to bring back to the hive. Their functionality is truly remarkable -- as they flex the legs to walk, the pollen gets pressed into a cake, so they can carry more efficiently larger quantities.
Sometimes you wonder why engineers don't look more closely to mother nature....
Did you know that...?
....sometimes, bees have a mind on their own --and you simply cannot second guess them. In some occasions, a complete colony absconds - i.e. they just leave. Without leaving a trace. Like that joke " just going down to buy tobacco". From one day to the next. No, it is not swarming. They ALL leave, together, at once. It occurs very rarely, but mainly, when the beekeeper has 'housed' a swarm. In 10 years, it has happened once to us. And it was very disconcerting! The bees are buzzy the first day, then the second day calmer, and when you go and check out the third day, the 15,000 bees are gone. Why? How? Well, they didn't leave a note, but most likely is because the bees did not like the 'housing' that you provided, and send scouts immediately to find a better house for them! There are a lot of hypotheses, as of why they might not feel welcome -- when the wood of the hive is too new, or they feel threatened, or the place is not calm, or the location is not optimal... they are picky as a we are!
Swiss Bees
We need to talk, unfortunately, not of bees, but of wasps & hornets. Every year, a invader species, this time coming from Asia, takes more and more territories in Europe: The Asiatic Wasp. It colonized Spain, France and Italy already years ago, and, despite the Alps have slower down their advance, they managed to go through some pass... and has reached now our footsteps. Two sights already this year in the area of Zurich, as you can see here. The Asiatic Wasp is a very aggressive species that can kill a full hive of bees (60,000 individuals), in about 3 hours. And they do. You can see an english short video about them here. Warning: explicit images! The Japanese bees know how to respond to the attacker, but the European ones have not learnt the trick. How do you teach tricks to bees....? still trying to figure this out.
Meanwhile, the Swiss beekeepers associations have 'watcher' groups, as well as specialized teams to track and trace any verifiable observation, to try to discover where the nest of the hornet is (sometimes as large as 2 meters, and containing hundreds of 'queens'), so it can be humanely eliminated. If you see one suspicious, large, anime -looking hornet, as the described on the photo (left) - call the closest beekeepers association!
.
.
Comments