Dancing Bees

It isn’t a salsa, samba, tango or waltz, but is just as intricate. This dance is performed repeated throughout the day in honey bees hives around the world.

The above video shows a worker who has recently returned from a foraging trip. By the color of the pollen on her back legs, she’s pretty excited about the patch of dandelions she found. Her job now, as a dancer, is to give explicit directions to this choice site. As you can see in the video, she has a few interested foragers.

The basic waggle dance pattern follows a figure-eight circuit.

Left half of waggle dance

Our dancing bee starts by ‘waggling’ her abdomen back and forth and back and forth as she runs forward. At the end of her ‘run’ she will walk around to the left and begin the dance all over again.

Right half of waggle dance

She will ‘run’ again in the same direction waggling her abdomen for the same amount of time. At the end of this ‘run’ she will turn to the right and complete the figure-eight pattern.

To keep her followers interested, she may stop briefly to share some of the nectar she has collected. This way her sisters know what type of flower they are looking for.

Duration to distance of waggle dances

Believe it or not, extensive studies have been done on deciphering the waggle dance. Basically, the duration of the dance indicates the distance from the hive to the luscious source of nectar/pollen. Roughly one second of waggling equals 1000 meters.

The direction and length of the waggling (which will always be the same for the duration of the dance) gives the exact location of the flowers in relationship to the sun. Sounds complicated? It is.

Fortunately, honey bees are much better at geometry than I am!

Forty degree waggle dance

The angle that she waggles, as opposed to going straight up, is directly related to the angle of the sun in relation to the nectar/pollen source. The worker in the video is on about a 135 degree angle.

Honey bee navigation

The other foraging bees learn the dance and know exactly where they’re headed when they leave the hive. The final key to finding that amazing patch of flowers is scent.  This they would have picked up from sampling nectar from the bee doing the initial dance. Recruited foragers make a bee-line from the hive to the nectar/pollen source.

So much for thinking how brilliant we are with our GPS. Honey bees have been pin-pointing locations for thousands of years!

Foraging honey bee in alfalfa

Let’s Get to the Point … Stingers

 

Foraging honey bee in alfalfa

When you mention honey bees, the first two things people usually think of are honey and stings. One incredibly sweet, the other … not so much!

It is certainly true that if you see a honey bee working, it is best to leave well enough alone. A foraging bee’s sole focus is to collect as much nectar and pollen as possible. Stinging is a defense mechanism and used only as a last resort to defend herself or her hive.

Honey bees that sting ... and those that don't

The queen bee

Queen honey bee

The queen bee can sting. She has a smooth, slightly curved stinger and she can sting repeatedly. The chances of you getting stung by a queen bee are pretty close to nil. She saves her venom for her queen rivals. Once she has established that she is sole queen of the hive she can no longer sting at all.

If you find a queen bee (again not likely unless you’re looking inside a hive) she’s pretty defenseless. But believe me, there are numerous other bees there to do the job!

The worker bee

Magnified tip of a worker bee stinger

It’s the worker bee that defends the queen and the hive. With a sharp, barbed stinger, she’s well equipped to do the job. Once she stings she will fly away leaving her stinger, poison sack, and muscles from her abdomen to pump the poison in.

The drone

Well, those lazy drones live up to all expectations. They don’t sting. They aren’t even equipped with stingers! They maintain their reputation as the cute, friendly honey bees!

What happens to you after a sting

Removing a honey bee stinger

The first order of business is to remove the stinger. The best plan of action is to scrape the stinger out with a fingernail, credit card, etc. What you don’t want to do is pinch the poison sack and inject more venom. Once the stinger has been removed ice and a topical ‘bug bite’ ointment can be applied. Old time beekeepers have been known to hold a penny (remember those??) on a sting to reduce pain and swelling.

Reactions to bee stings can range from a slight tender spot to full anaphylactic shock which can result in death. Someone who has been stung should be monitored for ANY symptoms that indicate an allergic reaction, and appropriate measures taken.

What happens to the worker bee after a sting

Worker bee after stinging

After stinging, her life is over. She can live up to an hour before dying. As you can imagine, stinging is not something she wants to do, but she will not hesitate to give her life in defense of her hive, or herself.

If you accidentally put your hand down on a honey bee, she will give you a ‘buzzing’ warning. As long as you haven’t squished her too badly, she’s usually happy to just get away!

Benefits of bee venom

Believe or not, there most definitely are benefits to bee venom. If you happen to have arthritis, and just happen to get stung by a honey bee … you might just want to leave that stinger in. Bee venom is known to relieve the symptoms and pain of arthritis and studies are being done on bee venom and MS.

Chances of being stung

The actual chances of being stung by a honey bee are pretty slim. Most stings happen when someone steps on, sits on or accidentally squishes a honey bee. If by chance a foraging bee decides to visit you, it is best to not try to brush her off (sometimes hard in that panic mode!!) but blow or shake her off.

Mistaken identity

You are much more likely to be bit or stung by a wasp, yellow jacket or hornet. These insects are quite aggressive unlike our peace-loving honey bees!

 

Worker honey bee

Wasp

All About Honey

Honey bee hives in fireweed

I have often had people ask for ‘regular’ honey. Usually, they have a pretty good idea of what they’re looking for, but technically, there is no such thing. ‘Regular’ honey generally is referring to local honey, and local honey can be dramatically different depending on where you live!

Honey comes in many different forms

Here are some of the most common terms used to describe honey.

·        Raw Honey – is honey that has never been heated. In other words, honey that has been packaged in jars or containers right out of the extractor. Quite often you will find raw honey in a crystallized state.

·        Crystallized Honey – is pure honey that has started to granulate or become solid. This is a process that all honey will go through and does not mean your honey has gone bad. In fact, honey is the only food that never, ever goes bad! If you’re an ancient history buff, you will know that honey has been found in Egyptian tombs. Some people prefer to use crystallized honey when baking as they feel the honey ‘acts’ more like sugar. How fast a honey crystallizes is based on a few variables.

o   The type of nectar collected by the bees. For example, Dandelion Honey crystallizes so quickly, it can crystallize in the wax honey cells before the beekeeper can even get it extracted!

o   The temperature honey is stored at. The cooler the temperature, the faster crystallization will occur. Freezing honey will prevent crystallization, while putting your honey in the fridge will guarantee crystallization.

·        Liquid Honey – is crystallized honey that has been warmed to return it to a liquid state. Liquid honey has not been heated to the point of pasteurization. Once heated, liquid honey will again start to crystallize as mentioned above.

Honey comb, a sweet treat

         Comb Honey – is the most natural honey you can get – almost as good as dipping your fingers right into a hive, only without the risk of getting stung! With comb honey, you are getting the honey right inside the wax comb made by the bees. The wax can be chewed and swallowed (you’re getting a larger dose of propolis with comb honey, which is always beneficial), chewed like gum, or spit out.

·      

        Creamed Honey – is honey that has been whipped. It becomes smooth and creamy, and you are less likely to wear it when you put it on a piece of toast! Whipping liquid or raw honey will create creamed honey. Creamed honey retains the same taste and health benefits of liquid honey.

·        Pasteurized Honey – is honey that has been heated to 60^oC (149^oF) for 30 minutes or more. Once pasteurized, all the enzymes that make honey healthy are killed. You now just have another sweetener. Pasteurized honey may also contain other fillers, such as water.

Honey bee in alfalfa blossom

Location, location, location

When it comes to making a specific type of honey, it is all about location. Being incredibly efficient workers, our foraging bees will collect from the closest nectar source. The type of nectar will determine the color, taste and crystallization rate of the honey made. The beekeeper will strategically place hives in or beside fields of the desired nectar to be collected.

Types of honey

Alfalfa honey from Saskatchewan

Alfalfa honey is one of the most common types of honey found in Alberta and Saskatchewan. Bees placed next to alfalfa fields will make a nice, sweet, fairly light honey that still has a strong enough ‘honey’ taste. I like this one in my coffee and on my toast!!

Fireweed honey from the Yukon

Fireweed honey is a much-coveted honey. The beautiful fireweed flower is only available in abundance for a couple of years after a forest fire. Beekeepers place their hives in the burned out section of forest so the bees can take advantage of the multitude of fireweed blossoms. This honey is among the lightest, almost being completely clear. It has a light sweet taste, and is a favorite among non-honey lovers. It is very nice in tea, on toast or biscuit, or straight off a spoon!

Dandelion honey from BC interior

Everyone is pretty familiar with the dandelion. As more and more research is done on dandelions, we’re beginning to realize what the bees knew all along. Not only do dandelions taste good, they’re full of good things for us!! As one of the first flowers that bloom in the spring, this nectar is very important to begin replenishing the depleted winter stores in the hive. To harvest dandelion, the beekeeper puts a super on a strong hive early in the spring and removes it before the other flowers emerge. It is a strong tasting honey with a distinct flavor. Chefs like to cook with it for that reason. I prefer to think of it as a little taste of spring on a spoon!

Manuka honey from New Zealand

If you travel a little further afield … say, to New Zealand … you’re bound to find some Manuka honey. There have been tons and tons of studies done on the medicinal benefits of this honey. It’s a smooth, creamy, darker honey. Its strong flavor has a decidedly medicinal taste with a hint of black licorice. This is also one of my favorites, but used sparingly due to its high cost!

Freshly poured honey New Zealand

Here is another New Zealand honey. It's a combination of local wild flowers. I haven't had the pleasure of trying this one. It's from Liz and Jordan's hives. I'm hoping they will have some left, and room in a suitcase to bring me some!! 

This one is labeled ‘Nest Honey.’ It’s from Inner Mongolia. Despite my attempts at trying to get my translator to ask appropriate honey questions … something got lost in translation, and I really don’t know what nectar source this is actually from. It was packaged with a piece of comb in the honey. It has a strong, interesting taste, but not one I particularly like.

Berry honeys tend to be very popular with a mild hint of the berry blossom the nectar came from. Some of the ones I’m familiar with are blueberry, cranberry, raspberry (a personal favorite!) and blackberry. Orange blossom also makes for a delicious citrus-type honey.

The different types of honey and accompanying flavors are endless. The general rule is, the darker the honey, the stronger the taste and the higher the health benefits!

Trying local honey when you travel is a lot of fun! It is truly amazing how much difference the nectar source can make!!