Thread: The birth of a bee

I just love Bumble Bees big ungainly buggers they are

They introduced into Hobart in early 90-1991 ish or so

Now they are all over the state but I love em

Read a report many years ago that they are so

Aerodynamic that they wont be able to fly dont ya

Just love scientists --- But they reckon a camel is

A horse designed by a Gov committee so that would be right

Some bee facts, Bob





　


 There are more than 16,000 species of bee. About 5% of these are social bees and will live in a colony, the rest tend to be solitary insects.


 Honey will never spoil.


 If there is a food shortage and supplies are low, honey bees have been known to eat their larvae and even their hive mates. Cannibalism, while gruesome, is an evolutionary control method for declining supply levels. The older population with the most value eat the younger larvae and eggs.


 The word honeymoon is actually derived from an ancient European custom where newlyweds would drink a cup of mead (a drink made from honey) every day for a month.


 The bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.


 Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water; and it's the only food that contains "pinocembrin", an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning.


 A hive of bees will fly 90,000 miles, the equivalent of three orbits around the earth to collect 1 kg of honey.


 Each honey bee colony has a unique odour for members' identification.


 Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel threatened and they die once they sting. Queens have a stinger, but they don't leave the hive to help defend it.


 It is estimated that 1100 honey bee stings are required to be fatal.


 Nosema apis is a microsporidian, a small, unicellular parasite recently reclassified as a fungus that mainly affects honey bees. It causes nosemosis, also called nosema, which is the most common and widespread of adult honey bee diseases.[1] The dormant stage of N. apis is a long-lived spore which is resistant to temperature extremes and dehydration, and cannot be killed by freezing the contaminated comb. Nosemosis is a listed disease with the Office International des Epizooties (OIE).








Bee

Got stung today. Went to look at the hive in the rain, water was collecting on the landing zone, had a thought, " I will stick a piece of batten under the back, to raise the back & drain the water off". I'd been down numerous times to check on them, and had no problem. Went to lift up the box, didn't lift on the bottom board, the bottom board dropped, the noise level went ballistic, and out they came. I moved slowly away, thought I had gotten away with it, but one sneaked up my shirt, got me. In our culture, that bee would be a hero. Gave her life defending her home. A learning curve for me. Bob

To Bob or anyone with good advice.
Last June we had a fair old blow come through (around 100 kph) & an old tree, which held an hive of native, stingless bees, snapped about a foot above the hive entry. The bees didn't seem too worried & seem happy enough in the hive since.
Today, during my weekly inspection, there were five European bees at the entrance moving small pieces of dead wood around. The native bees didn't seem too perturbed about them though.
My question is "If these Euro bees are feral, would they be looking at taking over the hive or would the natives put a stop to any invasion."
I don't need the introduced bee species as we have several species of native bees for fruit & veg pollination etc. plus, the introduced bee isn't designed to pollinate quite a lot of the indigenous flora on the property.
Steve

Don't know much about native bees, but doubt honey bees would try to take over their hive. More likely would try to rob their honey. Check this site out, will give you some knowledge on natives.

Supporting native bee populations | Bee Aware

Check this out




Aussie Bee & Australian Native Bee Research Centre

What you saw may not be honey bees

Teddy Bear Bee - Amegilla (Asaropoda)

Originally Posted by bob10

Check this out




Aussie Bee & Australian Native Bee Research Centre

Thanks Bob. This didn't come up when I googled today
Steve