What do Honey Bees want?

It’s interesting to consider that most beekeeper management practices come, as might be expected, from the perspective of the beekeeper.  Many questions being asked are answered based on what the beekeeper knows, wants or thinks.  I guess that is to be expected as well.  I mean, you can’t actually have a discussion with bees, and you certainly aren’t inviting them over for dinner and a chat.  It’s also obvious as you work with Honey Bees that they are singularly focused on one thing, the survival of the colony.  Everything else, even their own mortality, is secondary.  If we could see through their eyes, what would we see?  Likely, we are seen as invaders or even worse invading enemies.

I would guess though that most beekeepers want to see themselves as benevolent caretakers who hope to do their best for the bees in their care based on what their goals and experience are.  This brings me to a question that I don’t think many beekeepers spend much time really contemplating as they learn their craft from books, videos and other experienced beekeepers…. What do Honey Bees want?

I’m hoping that in the midst of all that we beekeepers think we need to do that we can take some small amount of time for contemplation and ask what should we do?  I’m not sure we’ll learn anything earth shattering but maybe, just maybe, it might cause us to question why we do what we do.

What do Honey Bees Want?

Home

• Honey Bees clearly have specific needs and scout each spring for new homes that hopefully satisfy these needs. Their evolutionary experience says a good home will be up away from predators and not on the ground.  The home will be well insulated in a way that is very similar to their ancient home, the tree cavity, in which they instinctively know how to manage the environment.  They have few other demands on this home other than a small entrance to guard and distance from any other colony that might compete with them for annual resources. They will build comb and propolis on the inside, sealing it and making it as dry as possible.  It will be a warm, humid, dark and secure spot to raise their brood.
• Beekeepers on the other hand wonder how to keep their bees in an enclosure that allows them as much access to the inside of the colony with as little effort as possible. Often these enclosures also need to be durable, light, and cheap so material choice is also important.  The enclosure needs to allow for inspections, honey harvest, treatments, transportation and even the frequent sneak peek so we can feel more confident on how the colony is doing.  Given the previous demands the enclosure doesn’t do well in extreme climates which results in insulation concerns in the winter and shade in the summer.

Brood

• Honey Bees spend most of their time and energy addressing the needs of their brood. Whether that is comb building for egg laying, food collection and storage, water collection for cooling, fanning and bearding for temperature management, or event their genetic caste specific work to clean cells and care for larvae…its all for the brood and for the future of the colony.  Brood and brood size are also critically important for them to manage.  Growth or declines will be naturally in sync with the seasons, allowing them to not only survive but based on available resources allowing them to thrive and raise healthy workers.
• Beekeepers often see brood and especially brood size from a production perspective. The larger the colony the larger the possible honey harvest.  The better the return on pollination services.  More bees to raise queens or sell as packages.  Maybe even a better chance for winter survival.  Size is often seen as an indicator of health so a lot of effort is spent to raise and maintain large colonies throughout the year.

Food

• Honey Bees are evolutionarily engineered to make their own food from the resources around them. Given healthy sources of nectar, multifloral pollen and water they create food that even humans want.  They are particular and will be selective of pollen sources if it’s possible based on the season.  Along with using this food for themselves and their brood they store it as supplies for harsher times.  This creates a type of root cellar or medicine cabinet over the summer that they can select from given the health needs of the colony and allowing the nurse bees to actually nurse sick larvae by picking just the right bee bread. In good seasons they might even make more honey and bee bread than they need.
• Beekeepers tend to take as much honey as they can for themselves or for sale and then back feed syrup which doesn’t contain all the multifloral properties of natural nectar and pollen sources. They also may feed them pollen substitutes to help them brood up but in doing so they are providing a man-made substance with very little nutrition benefit other than encouraging more brooding.

Queens

• Honey Bee workers spend a lot of time raising and caring for their queens. Starting from abundant and continuous feeding of royal jelly from the glands in their heads before capping to feeding and caring for her during her life of laying the queen is a critical part of the colonies desire for survival and propagation.  This need for survival is so strong that they will even supersede her if they feel she is ailing but if she is healthy, they will maintain her for as long as possible. She is the heart of the colony. The queen also works as hard as she can for the colony’s survival.  From her first day of emergence where she may have to fight not so much from her own survival but to retain her superior genetics for the colonies’ benefit, to mating as many times as she can, to finally laying at a rate that is more than her own body weight each day. In addition, she is well protected for her whole life inside of the dark safe home, never coming in contact with the pathogens of the outside world.  She is even fed from resources processed and purified through the bodies of her workers whom she gains additional social immunity from.
• Beekeepers as a rule may kill and replace queens annually believing this to be healthier for brood rearing. Many queens are reared and sold but these can often fail the purchaser for a multitude of reasons such as poor mating which can cause the colony to supersede her, introduction into a colony environment in which she was not raised and doesn’t have the social immunity for, caging for to long which can again diminish her laying capacity, poor hive and overly frequent frame manipulation which can kill a queen in the wrong place, or even treatments that may weaken or even kill a queen.

So, as was mentioned at the start beekeepers, whether hobbyists trying to enjoy their bees or commercial beekeepers trying to make a living, all want to help the bees in their care live and hopefully thrive.  Some, after reading the above, might simply say, based on my goals and demands I can’t do anything different.  I get that and I truly hope you are successful.  Maybe though there is a small number of you that want to do something different?  If so, there are other solutions out there.  Ones that lean more toward what the bees might choose for themselves.  Take the time and do a little more investigation.  I think it will pay off.