Bee bread or bee pollen is the main source of food for most honey bees and their larvae. It is fed to all larvae except those that are destined to become queens; the queen larvae are fed royal jelly instead. Bee bread consists of honey and pollens which are gathered by the worker bees. A recent study of bee bread showed it contained 188 kinds of fungi and 29 kinds of bacteria. Bee bread is sometimes referred to as Ambrosia. Bee bread is used in naturopathic medicine traditions and as a nutritional supplement, although exposure may trigger allergic or anaphylactic reactions in sensitive people.
Archive for the ‘Bee Present’ Category
Bee Bread = Bee Pollen = Ambrosia
Posted in Bee Lore, Bee Present, Bee-ology, Beekeeping, Beetwixt & Beetween on December 13, 2007| 3 Comments »
The Value of a Swarm of Bees
Posted in Bee Lore, Bee Present, Beekeeping, Bylaugh on December 13, 2007| 1 Comment »
I was surprised that the beekeeper was so willing to come to our house so quickly. Later I discovered that collecting a swarm of bees is not like sending for a rat catcher. It is not even like mole catching. A swarm of bees has a value – and if you want to take them from a resting place like the one they had chosen that afternoon in our garden, then you only have until the next morning before they will be on the move again.
The old English saying goes:
“A swarm of bees in May is worth a load of hay
A swarm of bees in June is worth a silver spoon
A swarm of bees in July is not worth a fly!”
Honey for Sale!
Posted in Bee Present, Beekeeping, Bylaugh on December 13, 2007| 2 Comments »
Anyway, by this stage it was half past four and Mum said that we should find someone to take the bees away. She suggested that I ring the local butchers shop as they sold local honey. Not my first thought of action, but a sensible one. Mum always had sensible ideas in an emergency. The butcher gave us the name of a local beekeeper who answered their phone straight away. It was a quietly spoken woman. I explained what the situation was and she said: “I’ll be over right away. It should take me about 20 minutes”.
Bee Stings on the Back
Posted in Bee Present, Bylaugh on December 13, 2007| Leave a Comment »
The only previous experience I had had with bees (at least I think they had been bees) was when we were living in Scotland about ten years previously. My brother and I had been out on a long walk in the countryside. About half a mile from home we had been larking around (as small boys do) when my brother had pushed me backwards. I fell directly onto my back and felt about a dozen stings press into the skin on my back like tiny short needles. As I stood up, I saw the insects were in a tiny hole in the ground. The pain was jabbing – but soon wore off as I walked the last stretch home. Mum had put camomile lotion (I think that is what she called it). She said it was good to sooth the pain. That is all I remember, really. Interestingly, after the incident I did not feel fearful about bees or wasps. Just a few little pin-pricks. I had had much worse pain walking through stinging nettles with bare legs!
Ex Africa semper aliquid novi
Posted in Bee Lore, Bee Present, Beetwixt & Beetween on December 7, 2007| Leave a Comment »
(There is always something new out of Africa.)
from Pliny the Elder (AD 23-79)
Last year, scientists worked out that all honey bees originally came from Africa. By looking at variations in genetic markers from 341 bees, researchers found that the common honey bee, Apis mellifera, originated in Africa and migrated to Europe at least twice.
“The migrations resulted in two European populations that are geographically close, but genetically quite different,” said lead study author Charles Whitfield from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. “In fact, the two European populations are more related to honey bees in Africa than to each other.”
Entomologist Charles A. Whitfield lead the research team that says”every honey bee alive today had a common ancestor in Africa.” (Photo courtesy Institute for Genomic Biology)
From: http://www.news.uiuc.edu/news/06/1025whitfield.html
and: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/10/061025181534.htm
Breaking the Law of Aerodynamics
Posted in Bee Law, Bee Lore, Bee Present, Bee-ology on November 11, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Aerodynamically, the bumble bee shouldn’t be able to fly, but the bumble bee doesn’t know (the laws of aerodynamics), so it goes on flying anyway!
After Mary Kay Ash American businesswoman who founded Mary Kay Cosmetics (1963). b.1915
She Labours for Others
Posted in Bee Lore, Bee Present on November 11, 2007| Leave a Comment »
The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labours, but because she labours for others.
Saint John Chrysostom. Archbishop of Constantinople, 347-407
Was You Ever Bit by a Dead Bee?
Posted in Bee Lore, Bee Present, Bee-ology, Beekeeping, Beetwixt & Beetween on November 9, 2007| 1 Comment »
Eddie: Say, was you ever bit by a dead bee?
Beauclerc: I have no memory of ever being bitten by any kind of bee.
Slim: Were you?
Eddie: You’re all right lady. You and Harry’s the only one that ever—
Harry: Don’t forget Frenchy.
Eddie: That’s right. You and Harry and Frenchy. You know you gotta be careful of dead bees, if you go around barefooted. Cause if you step on ‘em they can sting ya just as bad as if they was alive, especially is they was kinda mad when they got killed. I bet I been bit a hundred times that way.
Slim: You have. Why don’t you bite them back?
Eddie: That’s what Harry always says. But I ain’t got no stinger.
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From: “To Have and Have Not” (1944).
By: Jules Furthman (1888–1960), U.S. screenwriter, William Faulkner (1897–1962), U.S. author, screenwriter, and Howard Hawks.
With: Eddie (Walter Brennan), Beauclerc (Paul Marion), Slim/Marie Brown (Lauren Bacall), Harry Morgan (Humphrey Bogart)
By answering Eddie’s nonsensical question correctly, Slim earns entree into Harry’s and Eddie’s tight-knit group.
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I once met a beekeeper who said it was possible to inject sufferers of arthritis with stings from dead bees to help ease the ailment. However, I have never tried it! Odd as it seems, dead bees can sting you – particularly if , like Eddie, you tread on hundreds of them with bare feet!
Along the Garden Wall
Posted in Bee Present, Bee-ology on November 9, 2007| Leave a Comment »
Along the garden-wall the bees
With hairy bellies pass between
The staminate and pistillate,
Blest office of the epicene.
T.S.Eliot (1888-1965)
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I love this short poem by Eliot.
It articulates the relationship between bees and flowers in such elegant, simple and poetic language.
The End of a Bee’s Life
Posted in Bee Law, Bee Lore, Bee Present, Bee-ology, Beekeeping, Beetwixt & Beetween on October 19, 2007| Leave a Comment »
“Most of the bees come to their end in the open fields. With wings frayed from the winds the summer workers reach the limit of their strength and expire. Bees that die within the hive are carried outside by the workers – yet this is a rare occurrence. As many observers have reported, dying bees will use their last remaining strength to creep beyond the landing board. A Law of the insect city apparently leads the exhausted bees to leave the interior of the hive and so save their fellow workers the task of removing their bodies. The queen seems to be guided by the same instinct, leaving the hive when her end is near. For cleanliness is one of the unwritten laws of the insect city. It is inherent in the bees. ”
From: ‘The Golden Throng’ by Edwin Way Teale – republished by Alpha Books of Dorset in 1968.
Bee Lore 