Zozebee Honey

08/28/2022

SO TRUE 💚

07/31/2022

REQUEENING: We are requeening one of our hives as well as queening a nuc.

There are different reasons to requeen a hive, often as a queen gets older, her productivity drops and she lays fewer eggs. Requeening brings in a young queen that is genetically stronger and more productive.

Requeening also creates a break in the brood cycle, and without brood, many brood diseases cannot persist.

Many beekeepers will requeen their hives every couple of years to keep hives performing optimally.

06/17/2022

Saw this super cute picture and wanted to share it. Don’t know who to credit.

03/27/2022

This is bee brood. The whole process from egg to adult worker bee takes around 18 days. These bees will be emerging very soon!

03/27/2022

Your goodness is your greatness, remember that 💛

03/20/2022

We think bee butts are cute!

12/06/2021

Bees don’t sting randomly, only in self defense. They sting either because they are confused, stepped on or threatened. It is their only defense to get you away.

And while one sting isn’t much of a threat to most people (unless you are allergic to bees), their strength is in their numbers.

When stung, the barbed stinger rubs back and forth, digging deeper into your skin, pumping toxins from an attached venom sac, and delivering it to the victim for several minutes after the bee is gone.

A bee can only sting once. Once it’s stings you it can't pull the stinger back out. It leaves behind not only the stinger but also part of its digestive tract, plus muscles and nerves. This massive abdominal rupture kills the bee.

10/10/2021

Why are bees fuzzy?

The furry hairs on a bee’s body, legs, eyes and even their proboscis (tongue) all have very special purposes.

A fuzzy body provides an efficient means to collect pollen which sticks to the individual hairs. 

The fine hairs also aid in temperature regulation, because they trap heat.

In wintery places when bees huddle together in the hive this heat effect is magnified by all those hairy bodies. Making the hive cozy and warm.

Hair also helps bees detect vibrations from the atmosphere as well as touch, which in turn helps with alarm responses.

They also have hairs on their tongues to aid in the lapping up of nectar when foraging on flowers. 🌸

📷:

10/09/2021

10/06/2021

Did you know?

09/30/2021

Drone Brood Removal is one of the methods of integrated pest management (IPM) that we use to aid in the control of Varroa Mites, instead of using chemical treatments in our hives.

Varroa mites have a strong preference to reproduce in drone cells rather than worker cells and become confined in capped drone brood. So when we remove the comb before the drones hatch, many of the mites are removed as well.

Drone brood removal significantly reduces the number of varroa mites in a colony with no negative impact on the worker bee population or honey production.

09/25/2021

The life cycle of all insects, including honey bees, begins with eggs. Honey bee eggs measure 1 to 1.5 mm long, about half the size of a single grain of rice. The process of laying one egg takes only a few seconds, and a queen is capable of laying up to 2,000 eggs in a single day. These eggs will develop into bees in approximately 21 days.