Honeybees produce wax and use it to create clever constructions inside the hive, called comb. Let’s take a closer look at beeswax and how it is used by bees (and humans).
1) How do bees make wax?
2) How do bees construct comb, what is it used for, and what features does it have?
3) What do people use beeswax for?
Have a wonderful holiday season and fantastic new year!! Be sure to check back in and compare facts!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Bee Knowledgeable Answers: Honeybee Gardening!
We know that bees and flowers are symbiotic. Almost any garden will attract and nourish honeybees. Does your school have a garden? Do you have a garden at home? This is the time of year to plan next year’s garden and prepare the soil for Spring planting!
Whether you already have a garden or are planning to have one, consider a Honeybee Garden. You can plan a whole garden to help your local native and honey bees thrive, or devote a part of your garden to plants that bees love. You can pick native plants and flowers that will thrive in your area and require very little water and maintenance.
1) What can you do now, in the winter, for your garden this spring?
Winter is for soil preparation and planning. Spread compost and till it into the soil often. Turning the soil aerates and helps keep weeds sparse. If you do not already compost all or part of your garbage, consider it. Compost provides an organic and well-balanced fertilizer that can be used all year.
After the fall harvest and while the earth recovers for spring planting, plan your garden. Which plants have you decided you’d like and where will they go?
2) Define xeriscaping.
Xeriscaping refers to landscaping while reducing or eliminating supplemental irrigation. "Xeri" comes from Greek meaning “dry”. Using native plants is and excellent way to xeriscape or xerigarden. Once established, native plants take very little to no water beyond what they get from the local weather.
Xeriscaping refers to landscaping while reducing or eliminating supplemental irrigation. "Xeri" comes from Greek meaning “dry”. Using native plants is and excellent way to xeriscape or xerigarden. Once established, native plants take very little to no water beyond what they get from the local weather.
3) What are some native plants to your area that will attract and feed honeybees? Can you find any interesting facts about some of those plants?
We are located in a chaparral plant community here at the Boojum Institute, in the mountains of southern California. Adjacent plant communities are coastal sage scrub and pinyon-juniper woodland. The Boojum Bees feast on several native plant species. White Sage and California Buckwheat are two of the main local suppliers of sustenance to our bee colonies.
White Sage, Salvia apiana, is also called grandfather sage and bee sage. The bees make an especially delightful honey from the nectar of this plant’s delicate flowers. This is one of the sacred plants to the indigenous people. They burn the leaves as a type of incense to purify the air. Tribal hunters rubbed the leaves on themselves to mask their own smell from animals. The leaves are anti-septic and anti-fungal among a long list of other properties.
 |
| photo: Robyn Young |
 |
| photo: Robyn Young |
California Buckwheat, Eriogonum fasciculatum, is also very popular for bees. The multi-flowered umbels provide a heavy load of nutrients for bees. They bloom from summer into late fall, their flower heads like white cotton balls in the bushes along the road. As the bloom ages it turns pink and finally to a rich, rusty red brown. It was used medicinally by indigenous people for headache, wound treatment, and heart problems. Bees make a rich, robust honey from Buckwheat that is especially nutrient dense.
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| photo: Stan Shebs |
Friday, December 10, 2010
Bee Knowledgeable Questions: Honeybee Gardening!
We know that bees and flowers are symbiotic. Almost any garden will attract and nourish honeybees. Does your school have a garden? Do you have a garden at home? This is the time of year to plan next year’s garden and prepare the soil for Spring planting!
Whether you already have a garden or are planning to have one, consider a Honeybee Garden. You can plan a whole garden to help your local native and honey bees thrive, or devote a part of your garden to plants that bees love. You can pick native plants and flowers that will thrive in your area and require very little water and maintenance.
1) What can you do now, in the winter, for your garden this spring?
2) Define xeriscaping.
3) What are some native plants to your area that will attract and feed honeybees? Can you find any interesting facts about some of those plants?
Whether you already have a garden or are planning to have one, consider a Honeybee Garden. You can plan a whole garden to help your local native and honey bees thrive, or devote a part of your garden to plants that bees love. You can pick native plants and flowers that will thrive in your area and require very little water and maintenance.
1) What can you do now, in the winter, for your garden this spring?
2) Define xeriscaping.
3) What are some native plants to your area that will attract and feed honeybees? Can you find any interesting facts about some of those plants?
Friday, December 3, 2010
Bee Knowledgeable Answers: Honeybee Adaptation
There are many varieties of adaptation in the animal kingdom. An adaptation is an evolutionary process by which a species develops traits that help better survive and fit the habitat or environment.
The distinctive coloration of honeybees is an adaptation. The yellow and black stripes on a bees body helps make bees harder for predators to see. It is a camouflage when they are gathering nectar and pollen from flowers.
Bee stingers are also an adaptation. It is actually an organ in their body called an ovipositor. The ovipositor is used by insects to lay their eggs precisely where they want them. Honeybees adapted this organ to be sharp enough to penetrate an attacker’s flesh and venom sacs were developed to make the sting very powerful. This is another defensive adaptation.
The hair on a honeybee’s body is another adaptation. As a bee flies, the incredibly fast beating of their wings generates static electricity. The static builds up in their fur. When a bee lands on a flower to drink nectar, the flower’s fine, dust-like pollen cling’s to the bee’s fur due to the static charge. The bee can then use their feet to “comb” themselves, gathering the pollen and storing it on the pollen baskets on their back legs.
Did you come up with other honeybee adaptations? What were they?
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| photo: Muhammad Mahdi Karim |
The distinctive coloration of honeybees is an adaptation. The yellow and black stripes on a bees body helps make bees harder for predators to see. It is a camouflage when they are gathering nectar and pollen from flowers.
Bee stingers are also an adaptation. It is actually an organ in their body called an ovipositor. The ovipositor is used by insects to lay their eggs precisely where they want them. Honeybees adapted this organ to be sharp enough to penetrate an attacker’s flesh and venom sacs were developed to make the sting very powerful. This is another defensive adaptation.
The hair on a honeybee’s body is another adaptation. As a bee flies, the incredibly fast beating of their wings generates static electricity. The static builds up in their fur. When a bee lands on a flower to drink nectar, the flower’s fine, dust-like pollen cling’s to the bee’s fur due to the static charge. The bee can then use their feet to “comb” themselves, gathering the pollen and storing it on the pollen baskets on their back legs.
 |
| photo: Jon Sullivan |
Did you come up with other honeybee adaptations? What were they?
Friday, November 26, 2010
Bee Knowledgeable Questions: Honeybee Adaptation
There are many varieties of adaptation in the animal kingdom. An adaptation is an evolutionary process by which a species develops traits that help better survive and fit the habitat or environment.
What kind of adaptations do you think the honeybee has developed? Do your research and try to come up with at least three honeybee adaptations.
What kind of adaptations do you think the honeybee has developed? Do your research and try to come up with at least three honeybee adaptations.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Bee Knowledgeable Answers: Honeybees and Water
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| photo: Luc Viatour |
Honeybees use water for a few different purposes. The most obvious use of water is for drinking, and bees also use water to dilute the honey they feed their young. Another use that honeybees have for water to cool the inside of the hive. They will place droplets of water all over inside the hive when the weather is hot. They fan their wings and circulate the air past the droplets of water. This cools the air as it passes by the droplets, creating a swamp cooler type effect inside the hive.
Honeybees will find the closest source of water to their hives that they can. They will often decide on a water source and use it exclusively, sometimes ignoring other sources. In hot weather, a healthy colony can use a quart of water a day! To gather that much water, over 800 bees each had to make 50 trips to the water source!
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| Guttation on a Strawberry leaf by Noah Elhardt |
Water is a necessity to bees just as it is to every form of life on earth. Water can also be very dangerous these days. Pesticides, herbicides, and other chemicals can drift into water supplies, especially ground water. Bees that collect water directly from chemically treated plants can be gathering highly concentrated doses of lethal poisons. Even if the dose of chemical isn’t enough to kill the individual bee, it can still have devastating effects. The bees carry tainted water back to the hive and share it among workers, weakening the immune system of the individuals that drink it. Contaminated water that may not kill a grown bee could certainly kill honeybee larva, destroying the colony.
This is yet another reason why it important to avoid the use of chemicals in your garden, on your lawn, or anywhere. The effect of chemical use on our environment is serious and far reaching.
Friday, November 12, 2010
Bee Knowledgeable Questions: Honeybees and Water
photo: Bartosz Kosiorek
Do you know that honeybees drink water too? Where do you think they get it? What other uses for water might bees have?
Stay tuned next week for some fascinating answers about honeybees and water!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
The Boojum Beeyard: Honey Harvest! Part 2
One of the most exciting aspects of keeping bees is well underway at the Boojum Institute: The honey harvest!!
Just like any agriculture, bees are “farmed”. Egg farms have chickens that lay eggs, vegetable farms have acres of produce that they grow, and dairies have cows that are milked. Beekeepers keep bees for a couple of agricultural purposes. Bees are transported to orchards and farms to help pollinate the crop and increase yields. Another agricultural use for bees is probably the first thing that comes to most people’s minds: honey!
Honey is the rich, sweet liquid gold that honeybees produce. It is amazing in both taste and healthful properties. To learn more about honey, see Bee Knowledgeable Answers: Honey! and Bee Knowledgeable: Bee Savvy! for more honey facts!
We pulled the honey from the Boojum Bees in September. If you missed it, you can catch up: The Boojum Beeyard: Honey Harvest! Part 1 This week we extracted the honey from all those frames we pulled! Here’s how it went:
First we set up our uncapping tank. This is a long, deep, rectangular, stainless steel basin that has a drain.
A large screen fits inside the tank onto which the wax and honey will fall during the uncapping process. The screen catches the wax and any honey that escapes the combs can drip through to the bottom of the tank. A drain and valve on the bottom allows the gathered honey to drain out into a bucket. A bar is also fitted horizontally across the top of the tank. This acts as a rest for the frame while uncapping.
The first super of honeycomb fames to be uncapped:
The frames full of capped over honey cells are hung in the uncapping tank to one side of the bar. We use a hot knife to slice off the wax caps that seal the honey cells. This knife is electrically heated and easily cuts through the wax.
This was my first experience in extracting honey and I learned a lot. Here I focus on learning to master the hot knife.
The caps that were missed by the hot knife are scratched open using a scratcher, a tool that looks like a sharp, metal comb.
After the frames are uncapped, we place them on the other side of the bar. They are ready to be extracted. The wax caps fall onto the screen in the uncapping tank and any dripping honey drains down. That way, as little honey as possible is lost in the process.
Here is our four frame extractor:
The large, steel cylinder holds a four-sided cage. The uncapped frames are fitted inside the cage.
When the extractor is turned on, the cage inside the cylinder spins. The honey is flung from the open cells by centrifugal force, splattering the inside walls of the cylinder. Look closely at the following photos, can you see the honey being spun out from the frames? These shots were taken while the extractor was in motion; the camera’s shutter speed was able to capture this without much blurring:
We extract one side of four frames, and then turn them around to extract the other side.
If the frames are not fairly even in weight, it will unbalance the extractor. Then it must be held down to keep it from jumping off the bench:
The honey then runs down the inside of the extractor and collects in the bottom. A valve lets the honey pour out:
We strain the last bits of wax from the honey as it drains from the extractor into the bucket.
Down to the last set of frames! The whole room is redolent with the rich, heady aroma of honey. Yum!
Almost 200 pounds of honey was harvested from the Boojum Bees! How cool is that? And if you happened to have been visited by the Boojum Bees in your classroom, this yummy honey is the product of those very same bees!
And all that wonderful White Sage and Buckwheat honey may soon be available to you! Support the Boojum Institute for Experiential Education and the incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experiences they offer. Support the Boojum Bees. Watch this blog to find out how to get your very own Boojum Honey as soon as it is available!!
Just like any agriculture, bees are “farmed”. Egg farms have chickens that lay eggs, vegetable farms have acres of produce that they grow, and dairies have cows that are milked. Beekeepers keep bees for a couple of agricultural purposes. Bees are transported to orchards and farms to help pollinate the crop and increase yields. Another agricultural use for bees is probably the first thing that comes to most people’s minds: honey!
Honey is the rich, sweet liquid gold that honeybees produce. It is amazing in both taste and healthful properties. To learn more about honey, see Bee Knowledgeable Answers: Honey! and Bee Knowledgeable: Bee Savvy! for more honey facts!
We pulled the honey from the Boojum Bees in September. If you missed it, you can catch up: The Boojum Beeyard: Honey Harvest! Part 1 This week we extracted the honey from all those frames we pulled! Here’s how it went:
First we set up our uncapping tank. This is a long, deep, rectangular, stainless steel basin that has a drain.
photos: Robyn Young
A large screen fits inside the tank onto which the wax and honey will fall during the uncapping process. The screen catches the wax and any honey that escapes the combs can drip through to the bottom of the tank. A drain and valve on the bottom allows the gathered honey to drain out into a bucket. A bar is also fitted horizontally across the top of the tank. This acts as a rest for the frame while uncapping.
The first super of honeycomb fames to be uncapped:
The frames full of capped over honey cells are hung in the uncapping tank to one side of the bar. We use a hot knife to slice off the wax caps that seal the honey cells. This knife is electrically heated and easily cuts through the wax.
This was my first experience in extracting honey and I learned a lot. Here I focus on learning to master the hot knife.
The caps that were missed by the hot knife are scratched open using a scratcher, a tool that looks like a sharp, metal comb.
After the frames are uncapped, we place them on the other side of the bar. They are ready to be extracted. The wax caps fall onto the screen in the uncapping tank and any dripping honey drains down. That way, as little honey as possible is lost in the process.
Here is our four frame extractor:
The large, steel cylinder holds a four-sided cage. The uncapped frames are fitted inside the cage.
When the extractor is turned on, the cage inside the cylinder spins. The honey is flung from the open cells by centrifugal force, splattering the inside walls of the cylinder. Look closely at the following photos, can you see the honey being spun out from the frames? These shots were taken while the extractor was in motion; the camera’s shutter speed was able to capture this without much blurring:
We extract one side of four frames, and then turn them around to extract the other side.
If the frames are not fairly even in weight, it will unbalance the extractor. Then it must be held down to keep it from jumping off the bench:
The honey then runs down the inside of the extractor and collects in the bottom. A valve lets the honey pour out:
Down to the last set of frames! The whole room is redolent with the rich, heady aroma of honey. Yum!
Almost 200 pounds of honey was harvested from the Boojum Bees! How cool is that? And if you happened to have been visited by the Boojum Bees in your classroom, this yummy honey is the product of those very same bees!
And all that wonderful White Sage and Buckwheat honey may soon be available to you! Support the Boojum Institute for Experiential Education and the incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experiences they offer. Support the Boojum Bees. Watch this blog to find out how to get your very own Boojum Honey as soon as it is available!!
Friday, October 22, 2010
Bee Knowledgeable: Honeybees in Winter
The weather has dramatically cooled here where the Boojum Institute is located in the mountains of Southern California. The summer season has officially passed into autumn and this last pattern of storms has brought quite the chill. For the last week, we have had nightly low temperatures from 34F to 38F (1-3C).
So what is happening in the bee yard with this weather and temperature change? We discussed some of the behaviors in honeybees as the seasons cycle around the year in our post Seasons of the Honeybee.
Honeybees, like most insects, are exothermic or cold-blooded animals. This means that they cannot maintain a warm body temperature on their own. Exothermic animals must find heat fro their environment. For example, reptiles are exothermic as well, and they find warmth by resting on hot, sun-warmed rocks. Humans are endothermic, or warm-blooded. Our bodies naturally generate warmth from within.
Most insects hibernate, or go to sleep, when it gets cold. Honeybees do not. They are unique in the insect world for this. While an individual honeybee is exothermic, the collective colony is actually endothermic. When the temperature drops below 54-57F (12-14C), honeybees gather in a group forming a ball of bees called a cluster. The bees within the cluster all shiver their fight muscles. Honeybees are able to detach their flight muscles from their wings. This way, when they vibrate those muscles with their wings detached, their wings do not move. The muscles simply move against each other and this generates heat. When the entire colony of bees does this within the hive, they can generate enough heat and maintain the hive temperature at around 70F (21C).
The bees will cluster over their stored food. As the bees eat the honey from one section of comb they will move to another, full section of honeycomb. The entire cluster will move from one section of honeycomb to another as they eat their winter stores. The honey and pollen they have stored for the winter gives them the energy they need to constantly shiver their wing muscles and keep their colony warm and healthy.
The cluster of bees can adapt as the weather changes. As the temperature gets colder, the cluster will contract. The bees will pack as tightly together as possible, contracting the cluster and generating the maximum possible warmth. When the temperature warms some, the cluster will expand and grow larger. It is the same number of bees, but they allow more space between individuals and do not generate as much heat. By expanding and contracting the cluster, honeybees are able to maintain an almost constant temperature within the hive.
There is one more element that allows bees to survive the winter without hibernating. Towards the end of summer, the new bees that hatch are actually “winter bees”. They are physiologically different than summer bees. Where summer bees are lighter and smaller for long flights and foraging for food, winter bees are born larger and fattier. The fattier bodies allow them to survive the cold with less food. Their blood is also different. The winter bee has a different blood protein profile than summer bees. This also helps them to survive the colder temperatures.
During the cold, winter months, honeybees will stop producing brood. The eggs and brood require higher temperatures to develop and hatch. So in most climates, the queen stops laying eggs and brood production stops while the temperature is too cold outside. Also, the healthier and larger colonies have a better chance of winter survival. The larger the cluster they can form (basketball size), the more warmth they can generate. The smaller colonies can only form smaller clusters (softball sized) and therefore generate less heat and have more bee deaths over the winter.
For a more in-depth look at what happens in honeybee colonies over the winter, check out this fascinating article at Beesource:
The Thermology of Wintering Honeybee Colonies
So what is happening in the bee yard with this weather and temperature change? We discussed some of the behaviors in honeybees as the seasons cycle around the year in our post Seasons of the Honeybee.
Photo of some beehives in winter:
photo: Boris Romanov
Honeybees, like most insects, are exothermic or cold-blooded animals. This means that they cannot maintain a warm body temperature on their own. Exothermic animals must find heat fro their environment. For example, reptiles are exothermic as well, and they find warmth by resting on hot, sun-warmed rocks. Humans are endothermic, or warm-blooded. Our bodies naturally generate warmth from within.
Most insects hibernate, or go to sleep, when it gets cold. Honeybees do not. They are unique in the insect world for this. While an individual honeybee is exothermic, the collective colony is actually endothermic. When the temperature drops below 54-57F (12-14C), honeybees gather in a group forming a ball of bees called a cluster. The bees within the cluster all shiver their fight muscles. Honeybees are able to detach their flight muscles from their wings. This way, when they vibrate those muscles with their wings detached, their wings do not move. The muscles simply move against each other and this generates heat. When the entire colony of bees does this within the hive, they can generate enough heat and maintain the hive temperature at around 70F (21C).
Infrared photo of beehives showing heat distribution within the hive:
photo: Boris Romanov
The bees will cluster over their stored food. As the bees eat the honey from one section of comb they will move to another, full section of honeycomb. The entire cluster will move from one section of honeycomb to another as they eat their winter stores. The honey and pollen they have stored for the winter gives them the energy they need to constantly shiver their wing muscles and keep their colony warm and healthy.
The cluster of bees can adapt as the weather changes. As the temperature gets colder, the cluster will contract. The bees will pack as tightly together as possible, contracting the cluster and generating the maximum possible warmth. When the temperature warms some, the cluster will expand and grow larger. It is the same number of bees, but they allow more space between individuals and do not generate as much heat. By expanding and contracting the cluster, honeybees are able to maintain an almost constant temperature within the hive.
There is one more element that allows bees to survive the winter without hibernating. Towards the end of summer, the new bees that hatch are actually “winter bees”. They are physiologically different than summer bees. Where summer bees are lighter and smaller for long flights and foraging for food, winter bees are born larger and fattier. The fattier bodies allow them to survive the cold with less food. Their blood is also different. The winter bee has a different blood protein profile than summer bees. This also helps them to survive the colder temperatures.
During the cold, winter months, honeybees will stop producing brood. The eggs and brood require higher temperatures to develop and hatch. So in most climates, the queen stops laying eggs and brood production stops while the temperature is too cold outside. Also, the healthier and larger colonies have a better chance of winter survival. The larger the cluster they can form (basketball size), the more warmth they can generate. The smaller colonies can only form smaller clusters (softball sized) and therefore generate less heat and have more bee deaths over the winter.
Here is a photo of bees clustering:
photo: Guia and Mark Hoffman
For a more in-depth look at what happens in honeybee colonies over the winter, check out this fascinating article at Beesource:
The Thermology of Wintering Honeybee Colonies
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Bee Knowledgeable Answers: Bee Venom
Have you ever wondered what bee venom is made of? Or why some people are so much more sensitive to bee stings than other? Is bee venom similar to the venom of other stinging insects, like ants and wasps?
Earlier this year we took a look at the defensive behaviors of honeybees. Let's take a closer look now at the substance that makes their defense such an effective one.
What is bee venom made of?
Honeybee venom is an acidic, bitter substance that bees inject into their perceived attacker using their stinger. When a bee stings something, she injects about .1 mg of the colorless fluid through her stinger. This venom, when injected under the skin, can cause pain, swelling, and many other reactions.
The venom is also called apitoxin and is made up of many proteins and peptides that have many different properties, or effects. In fact, it is made of over 20 active substances. The main part of bee venom are several proteins, called melittin, that cause pain. Melittin is also one of the most potent anti-inflammatory agents known. It is up to 100 times stronger than hydrocortisol. The Schmidt Sting Pain Index rates the pain of stings from 78 species of ants, bees, and wasps on a scale of 1-4. A honeybee’s sting is scored at 2 on the scale and is “Like a matchhead that flips off and burns on your skin.”
Other parts of apitoxin include agents that act on the adrenal glands and stimulate cortisol production. There are also small amounts of neurotoxin and anti-inflammatory agents. However, besides melittin, the other major component of apitoxin is histamine. Histamine is what causes allergic reactions in animals. Allergies are overreactions of the immune system.
What is the effect of bee venom on humans?
Humans have different levels of sensitivity to the histamine in bee venom. Statistically, 0.5% to 5% of people have extreme allergic reactions to bee stings. These people are extremely sensitive, or hypersensitive, to the bee venom histamine. An adult with little sensitivity could take over a thousand stings. For a hypersensitive person, only one sting could result in serious to deadly effects.
Some people have been stung many times in their life with only the normal, mild effects and then are later stung and have a severe reaction. Hypersensitivity to bee venom can develop later for some people. Also, people who are on anti-inflammatory treatments can have a very serious reaction to stings. Beekeepers who have never had problems with stings have reported moderate to seriously increased sensitivity after consistently taking NSAIDS like ibuprofen and naproxen (Advil and Aleve).
A bee sting is generally only mildly painful with a little bit of swelling and itching. These symptoms only last for a few days at most. For those who are hypersensitive, or allergic, a single sting can cause serious swelling of the throat and paralysis of the respiratory system, possibly leading to death. Some people actually get stung by bees or injected with bee venom on purpose as part of apitherapy.
Six minutes after the stinger is removed:
Why would someone WANT to be stung? How is bee venom collected for medical use?
Apitherapy has been practiced for centuries and uses the products of bees for health benefits. Apitherapy includes the use of honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, and venom from honeybees. Honeybee venom is used in apitherapy to help alleviate medical conditions such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Bee venom is even used for people with severe bee allergies in very small doses to help them build immunity to bee stings. These healing effects have been noted for many years and now studies are being done that prove the efficacy of bee venom treatments.
Could you imagine a doctor’s office with a hive of bees, ready to use for treatments? Quite a funny picture, isn’t it? Doctor’s who practice apitherapy actually use preparations from collected bee venom. Beekeepers who collect venom for medical reasons have developed methods of collection that kill as few bees as possible. A sheet of glass and a wire grid that gives a mild electric shock is used. When the honeybee lands and gets a little shock, she stings the glass. Her stinger does not get stuck and so she will survive. The venom dries on the glass and is scraped off. The dried venom is a white to yellowish powder that can be specially prepared back into a liquid used to inject patients. Balms and ointments are also made, but do not have the same strength as an injection.
Is bee venom the same as wasp venom?
Theses two different stinging insects have similar ingredients in their venom. The major difference is the percentage of the amounts of the different substances varies between the species. Wasps have more enzymes that break down cell material. Bees have far more melittin that stimulates anti-inflammatory response. There is one chemical that bees, wasps, and ants share with plants. It is called formic acid and many plants use it for defense. It is what causes plants, like nettle, to sting when touched or poked.
Did you do any of your own research this week? What did you discover about bee venom? Use the comments and share your knowledge!
Earlier this year we took a look at the defensive behaviors of honeybees. Let's take a closer look now at the substance that makes their defense such an effective one.
What is bee venom made of?
Honeybee venom is an acidic, bitter substance that bees inject into their perceived attacker using their stinger. When a bee stings something, she injects about .1 mg of the colorless fluid through her stinger. This venom, when injected under the skin, can cause pain, swelling, and many other reactions.
The venom is also called apitoxin and is made up of many proteins and peptides that have many different properties, or effects. In fact, it is made of over 20 active substances. The main part of bee venom are several proteins, called melittin, that cause pain. Melittin is also one of the most potent anti-inflammatory agents known. It is up to 100 times stronger than hydrocortisol. The Schmidt Sting Pain Index rates the pain of stings from 78 species of ants, bees, and wasps on a scale of 1-4. A honeybee’s sting is scored at 2 on the scale and is “Like a matchhead that flips off and burns on your skin.”
Other parts of apitoxin include agents that act on the adrenal glands and stimulate cortisol production. There are also small amounts of neurotoxin and anti-inflammatory agents. However, besides melittin, the other major component of apitoxin is histamine. Histamine is what causes allergic reactions in animals. Allergies are overreactions of the immune system.
What is the effect of bee venom on humans?
Humans have different levels of sensitivity to the histamine in bee venom. Statistically, 0.5% to 5% of people have extreme allergic reactions to bee stings. These people are extremely sensitive, or hypersensitive, to the bee venom histamine. An adult with little sensitivity could take over a thousand stings. For a hypersensitive person, only one sting could result in serious to deadly effects.
Some people have been stung many times in their life with only the normal, mild effects and then are later stung and have a severe reaction. Hypersensitivity to bee venom can develop later for some people. Also, people who are on anti-inflammatory treatments can have a very serious reaction to stings. Beekeepers who have never had problems with stings have reported moderate to seriously increased sensitivity after consistently taking NSAIDS like ibuprofen and naproxen (Advil and Aleve).
A bee sting is generally only mildly painful with a little bit of swelling and itching. These symptoms only last for a few days at most. For those who are hypersensitive, or allergic, a single sting can cause serious swelling of the throat and paralysis of the respiratory system, possibly leading to death. Some people actually get stung by bees or injected with bee venom on purpose as part of apitherapy.
photo: Wausberg
photo: Wausberg
Six minutes after the stinger is removed:
photo: Wausberg
One day later:
photo: SuperManu
Why would someone WANT to be stung? How is bee venom collected for medical use?
Apitherapy has been practiced for centuries and uses the products of bees for health benefits. Apitherapy includes the use of honey, pollen, propolis, royal jelly, and venom from honeybees. Honeybee venom is used in apitherapy to help alleviate medical conditions such as arthritis and multiple sclerosis. Bee venom is even used for people with severe bee allergies in very small doses to help them build immunity to bee stings. These healing effects have been noted for many years and now studies are being done that prove the efficacy of bee venom treatments.
Could you imagine a doctor’s office with a hive of bees, ready to use for treatments? Quite a funny picture, isn’t it? Doctor’s who practice apitherapy actually use preparations from collected bee venom. Beekeepers who collect venom for medical reasons have developed methods of collection that kill as few bees as possible. A sheet of glass and a wire grid that gives a mild electric shock is used. When the honeybee lands and gets a little shock, she stings the glass. Her stinger does not get stuck and so she will survive. The venom dries on the glass and is scraped off. The dried venom is a white to yellowish powder that can be specially prepared back into a liquid used to inject patients. Balms and ointments are also made, but do not have the same strength as an injection.
Is bee venom the same as wasp venom?
Theses two different stinging insects have similar ingredients in their venom. The major difference is the percentage of the amounts of the different substances varies between the species. Wasps have more enzymes that break down cell material. Bees have far more melittin that stimulates anti-inflammatory response. There is one chemical that bees, wasps, and ants share with plants. It is called formic acid and many plants use it for defense. It is what causes plants, like nettle, to sting when touched or poked.
Did you do any of your own research this week? What did you discover about bee venom? Use the comments and share your knowledge!
Friday, September 24, 2010
Bee Knowledgeable Questions: Bee Venom
Have you ever wondered what bee venom is made of? Or why some people are so much more sensitive to bee stings than other? Is bee venom similar to the venom of other stinging insects, like ants and wasps?
Earlier this year we took a look at the defensive behaviors of honeybees. Let's take a closer look now at the substance that makes their defense such an effective one. Let's find out about bee venom this week using the learning resources around you, like your local library.
Earlier this year we took a look at the defensive behaviors of honeybees. Let's take a closer look now at the substance that makes their defense such an effective one. Let's find out about bee venom this week using the learning resources around you, like your local library.
Friday, September 17, 2010
We would like to give a profuse thanks to Strachan Apiaries for donating a New World Carniolan queen honeybee to the Honeybees and World Health program!! We appreciate your support, and your donation helps us bring the wonder of the honeybee to students and classrooms.
She arrived with her entourage of queen attendants this week and is being introduced to our large, three frame observation hive. Frames of eggs, brood, and food stores were chosen from the Boojum Beeyard hives and placed in the glass observation hive. They have been without a queen long enough to be ready to accept the new queen.
This is very exciting! Once the bees have accepted this new queen, the observation hive will be ready to take into classrooms to show and teach more students about honeybees and how profoundly important they are to our world’s health!
Friday, September 10, 2010
The Boojum Beeyard: Honey Harvest! Part 1
It is honey harvesting time at the Boojum Beeyard!
This week we pulled most of the honey supers off of our Boojum Bee hives. Here are some photos of harvest day:
Kurt Merrill, chief apiculturist, points out the hive he's already started on when I get there.
photo: Robyn Young
Kurt has tacked a terry towel into the inside of a hive lid. Some scented liquid is squirted onto the towel. The bees don't like this smell and it will drive them down into the lower boxes. That way we can drive them out of a super, pull it off, and drive them down again. This way we can pull off the honey supers while leaving most of the bees in the hive.
photo: Robyn Young
photo: Robyn Young
photo: Robyn Young
photo: Robyn Young
photo: Robyn Young
photo: Robyn Young
photo: Robyn Young
photo: Robyn Young
photo: Robyn Young
photo: Robyn Young
Those six supers full of honey will yield over two hundred pounds of the sweet liquid gold. These will travel away from the beeyard to the honey house.
Then onto the extraction, the next step in the honey harvest!
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