Bees are such fascinating creatures. I read a book that likened the individual bees to the neurons of a human brain and showed how much discrimination swarming broods displayed as they looked for a new home.
Lance had to comb through a lot of history for this episode. He truly waxed poetically over this sticky subject. I'm glad no one told him to mind his own beeswax or he wouldn't have shared this video with us!
As a beekeeper I really enjoyed this video. It fun to keep the traditions alive and pass your knowledge on to the next generation. Beekeeping is VERY addictive.
What most people don't know is that modern bee keeping in wooden magazine boxes is incredibly bad for the bees and for the environments. There are many reason for this and a scientist wrote a book about it. Very interesting. The main problem is humans are turning the 100 million year old honey bees into pets right now by interfering, in all the wrong ways, with their natural selection, habitats and behaviour and at the same time these artificially large hives suck up all the nectar in the area on a massive scale (and still need extra sugar as feed) depriving other insects of their food source. The detailed explanations why this is so is too long for a youtube comment but it's utterly fascinating and a massive shame what we are doing right now. Traditional beekeeping in logs or self made straw skeps on the other hand is almost unproblematic.
Good job Guy! Diabetes ended my days of eating honey but I still enjoy the love of the girls being around. I provide them homes and watch over them to see that it's kept in proper working order. They do their thing, keep their honey and multiply in spring to populate the wild population. My biggest and strongest hive this season is one of those swarms that came back to me and took up shop in an empty hive behind my home. One of Gods amazing little creatures that have made my life better by being a part of it.
A bit off the topic, but wild bees deserve some love too! Although they don't produce honey for us, local native bee species are often vital and rapidly disappearing parts of ecosystems. For those that would like to support their local wild bees, consider growing plants that are native to your area in your garden. Wild bees (and other pollinators) are often better adapted to local plants, and these plants are well adapted to local conditions and need less care. If you're in Minnesota, check out the Lawns to Legumes program, which provides grants to residents to establish pollinator gardens and lawns.
I am a beekeeper and when I feed my bees, getting them prepared for winter, I feed them using jars inside the hives. I also leave out a birdbath filled with sugar water, for not just my bees, but all the other pollinators in the neighborhood. Everyone gets a free meal. :)
The bees owned by Queen Elizabeth were told when she died. The beekeeper went to each hive and knocked on it and said, "The mistress is dead, but don't you go." If I recall correctly, black mourning ribbons were then tied around each hive.
A seemingly baffling tradition.. until you find yourself standing in the garden and talking to your bees (aka the girls) 😊 It’s nice to be part of something that has been around for so long
People talk to their cats, dog, birds,, plants, etc., why not bees? This was an interesting tradition and I'm glad to learn about it. It exemplifies respect for the bees and their work.
@@richf5967I talk to the bees when they visit my fruit trees and flowers. When my lemon tree blooms it is full of bees. Twice we have had a colony overnight in our elm tree, and our elm is over fifty years old and has a very large crown. Baffling, oh yes, the buzzing (a hum, really) is strangely calming. 🐝🐝
@@richf5967 Over the years I have detected what I call a bee language. Which is made up of different different vibrations . Some we can hear. Some transmitted through the comb. Seen as in dances. And smelt. We can use orders to attract swarms. Each hive has its own smell. When my daughter got married she went out and in her wedding and bare foot 'told the bees'. When a local keeper passed I had the honor of telling his bees.
I am a bee keeper, and have noticed that there are almost no honeybees in the city of Edmonton Alberta. I have ween watching the flowering trees and plants and have only seen bumblebees pollinating.
All the feral bees have been wiped out because of Varroa. If you do see honeybees, it's because there is a beekeeper nearby managing them. If you live in Edmonton, try working some Russian bees. I have them here in Minnesota and they do well in our cold temps. :)
That is very true. My bees do the same thing. but you have to be close to their hives almost daily. They will recognize person. I've had bees land on my arm to lick off the sweat. They do recognize people.
Carl Sagan: "If all insect life on earth were to end, in 75 years there would be no life on earth. If all human life on earth were to end, in 75 years life would flourish on earth."
Really nice summary! I’ve done so much reading during my own apicultural career, and I can’t think of anything significant that you left out! They’re truly amazing creatures
Loved it! Enjoyed the video, while partaking of my morning coffee with honey (as per usual). While not a beekeeper, I've taken an apiculture class, and would love to bee a beekeeper one day. For anyone interested, they might want to seek out the author Sue Hubbell and her books about beeing a beekeeper. Loved all the history - especially from other lands. Didn't know or remember about other removeable frames prior to Dr. Langstroth! One thing not mentioned is that honey should not be given to children less than one year old - generally this warning is on jars of honey. While I don't remember the details, I think it has to do with the infants' gut biome not being developed enough to handle honey. Also should mention, that I think honey is the only liquid sold as weight and not volume (at least in U.S.A., I don't know in other countries). It would be interesting to know how this came about.
I love bees ! The reveal the beauty of Nature working in HARMONY. The colony works as a TEAM. They are beautiful and purposeful creatures. As a child I was allergic to their stings. I'd run a fever. After graduating from College and desiring to escape the city and join a past navy friend in South Dakota to aid in his beekeeping tending, I spent the Fall in this very remote area. A soulful experience. He taught me much about bees. It started a respect and admiration for their TEAM purpose. We are ALL connected, respect NATURE. Bees are beautiful creatures. - sometimes a Mountain Man (sMM) Stephen Skinner
My birthday is May 20. I have always asked my wife for fried chicken for my present. She has always taken me to a chicken restaurant, where they serve honey with the meal. OH, did I mention I live in Kentucky? Thank you. God Bless and stay safe.
Quite familiar with bees. At one time, my father had as many as thirty hives. In the 90s, the last hive died out from mites. Since there's no row cropping in my area, only cattle grazing and pine forests, pesticides are an unlikely cause. A super (a shallow upper box used to collect honey) has ten frames that can have two to four pounds on wax and honey each. A hive may have as many as four supers or more. Multiply that by thirty hives. The three of us worked up a LOT of honey.
@@tomtheplummer7322 Tossing waste wax on the ground near hives is said to draw Small Hive Beetles. Better to collect it in a bucket and render it down like any other wax.
I love bees (I love honey, too). Bees polinate our fruit trees and flowers in our garden. A couple of seasons ago I was removing the last lemons from the blooming tree, and the tree blooms were full of bees. I was awed by how gentle the bees were, they went about their business while I removed lemons around them.
@@davidparrish1133 _The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture_ is another good one. The two leading beekeeping magazines (in the U.S.) are "American Bee Journal," published by Dadant and Sons and "Bee Culture," published by A. I. Root.
What most people don't know is that modern bee keeping in wooden magazine boxes is incredibly bad for the bees and for the environments. There are many reason for this and a scientist wrote a book about it. Very interesting. The main problem is humans are turning the 100 million year old honey bees into pets right now by interfering, in all the wrong ways, with their natural selection, habitats and behaviour and at the same time these artificially large hives suck up all the nectar in the area on a massive scale (and still need extra sugar as feed) depriving other insects of their food source. The detailed explanations why this is so is too long for a youtube comment but it's utterly fascinating and a massive shame what we are doing right now. Traditional beekeeping in logs or self made straw skeps on the other hand is almost unproblematic.
A great tribute to and historical accout of the HONEYBEE. Ah, creamed honey. Stored properly, it will never spoil and "never" crystallize beyond the micro-crystallization process that is "creamed honey". There is no "cream" involved. It may be used the same as liquid (runny) honey (baking, cereal, tea, etc.) but is spreadable at room temperature. I buy honey in bulk, cream it and gift it. It's always appreciated. I don't have the facilities for beekeeping but I greatly appreciate and support the apiarists.
This is why I so enjoy The History Guy. Something that is always around and always been around but you just don't think about. A history that is not forgotten or ignored but, just not thought about or remembered
My wife’s grandfather kept bees. When he got old he would hold a few and make them string his hands help his arthritis. Not sure how well it worked but he swore by it.
Anecdotal evidence by people who were stung by scorpions and found that chronic back pain was reduced has led to research into using venom for this type of medical purpose.
A few years back one of my Asian coworkers was suffering from allergies, and does like honey, so I encouraged him to look for some locally produced honey instead of running to Walmart since local honey fights local allergies.
That assertion has been debunked for years. If anything, eating local honey might make your allergies worse (it likely doesn't do that either). People thinking that allergies can be cured by exposure to small quantities of allergen (the way vaccines expose people to deactivated pathogens) is a dangerous urban legend that has resulted in people dying by trying to "build up an immunity" to their allergens. The local honey thing isn't as deadly, but it's based on the same misconception and it ends up spreading that dangerous misinformation that has caused actual deaths. Additionally, bees gather pollen from insect-pollinated flowers, while most allergy-inducing pollen comes from wind-pollinated plants. What's more, bees make honey from nectar, not pollen. Tiny quantities of pollen do end up in honey, but only in negligible amounts and, as I said, this pollen isn't the allergy kind. The whole thing is popular science bunk.
Bees also appear on British Sanitary wear. It was the logo on Napoleon. So during the Napolieonic wars, sanitary wear with a Bee emblem was introduced and you were invitide to take 'Apis' on Napoleon.
"She was a rare thing/ as fine as a BeesWing/ so fine a breath of air might blow her away..." from BeesWing by Richard Thompson, a song about the Big Love that got away, and sung in Richard's *mellifluous* baritone. ( I could have simply written "first", as some people do, but that's for lazy people; and there are better ways to stoke the algorithm in THG's favor).
@@eloiseharbeson2483 , for the others here who aren't familiar with it, the song you reference is "1952 Vincent Black Lightning": a motorcycle, an outlaw, and a red-headed girl, the most dangerous combination imaginable! Another favorite of mine from Thompson's back catalog is "Al Bowlly's in Heaven (and I'm in Limbo now)". And then there's the insane electric-guitar freakout of "Shoot Out the Lights"......
When my wife makes peanut butter balls, sort of a better version of Reese's peanut butter cups, she melts a little beeswax into the melted chocolate so that it will firm up and stay solid at room temperature without easily melting the second you touch it.
Been bee keeping for six years now excited to see what this video says about bee keeping! I also do live removals. I have five gallon buckets of honey lol
What most people don't know is that modern bee keeping in wooden magazine boxes is incredibly bad for the bees and for the environments. There are many reason for this and a scientist wrote a book about it. Very interesting. The main problem is humans are turning the 100 million year old honey bees into pets right now by interfering, in all the wrong ways, with their natural selection, habitats and behaviour and at the same time these artificially large hives suck up all the nectar in the area on a massive scale (and still need extra sugar as feed) depriving other insects of their food source. The detailed explanations why this is so is too long for a youtube comment but it's utterly fascinating and a massive shame what we are doing right now. Traditional beekeeping in logs or self made straw skeps on the other hand is almost unproblematic.
Having lived my whole life in an agricultural area, it's just taken as a given that if an orchard is in bloom, there are going to be beehives by the side of the road. The beekeeper brings them in and when they're done pollinating that orchard they move them to the next one.
My dad lined the roads on his farm with all sorts of fruit trees. After a few years he got his first hive. The bees pollinated the trees, the garden, and the pastures. Their money crop was a pecan orchard. Don't know if bees pollinated Pecan trees or not.
What, no mention of that hairdo sometimes referred to as the beehive? By the way, there is a bird in Africa that is reputed to lead people to wild beehives, and it reportedly eats the bee larvae after the hunter gatherers take the honey.
😄👍🏻. Right, the dome shape of those early pots and such. Funny how in cartoons that shape is still used. Boxes just won’t make good animation or hairdos. 🤷♂️😉
@@goodun2974 The honeybee must be one of those 8 because their stinger can't be withdrawn from your flesh by the bee. When they sting and fly away she leaves her guts behind, connected to the stinger.
No one can argue that pigs have been domesticated, and yet they, too, can go feral in one generation. Bees, too! Horses, cows and dogs take a little longer, but in the end they don't need us. We need them! Our bees especially! The tragedy of this time in earth's history is the rate at which agri-farming practices are poisoning them, along with our planet. We can stop it, but everyone needs to be concerned and onboard.
@@stevedietrich8936 , You should ask your beekeeper friends if they have seen the movie " Ulee's Gold" with Peter Fonda as a beekeeper who gets sucked into a criminal conspiracy. It's a good un!
This episode had a lot of bee reel. Joking aside, beekeeping has been such an incredible part of history without people realizing it. One more bee fact; Two make one pound of honey bees must visit 2 million individual flowers.
There are several people in the area I live are bee keepers. They have formed a club and/or association and get together sometimes to discuss bee keeping and honey production.
There's also "House at Pooh Corner" by Loggins and Messina: " I've got to get back to Pooh Corner by one/ you'd be surprised, there's so much to be done/ count all the bees in the hive/ chase all the clouds from the sky..."
Playlist inspired by this episode: Honey I Miss You Honey Don't A Taste Of Honey Honey Pie Wild Honey Pie Honeycomb Honey, Honey Honey Bee Honey Child I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)
Honey Hush (Albert Collins). Tupelo Honey (Van Morrison). King Bee (Slim Harpo). Wild Mountain Honey (Steve Miller). Money, Honey (Ry Cooder). House at Pooh Corner ( Loggins and Messina). Last but not least, BeesWing (Richard Thompson): "She was a rare thing/ as fine as a bee's wing/ so fine a breath of wind might blow her away/ she was a lost child/ she was just running wild/ she said 'as long as there's no price on love I'll stay/ and you wouldn't want me any other way'....."
Check out the Kirkhoff Hive. I have a few. They are museum pieces. The are more efficient then Langstroth hive, but more expensive to build then the Langstroth hive.
The bee wax is made into a sculpture then the wax sculpture is covered in plaster then the plaster is heated. Then the wax melts out then you have a cavity where you pour in the bronze
You could release "the history of the telephone book" and i would still listen just as intently and still be jist as entertained. The true mark of a great narrator.
