Due to the
profound interests in backyard beekeeping, join beginner apiarian Lorraine
Glowczak, as she shares her discoveries on her new adventure of keeping
honeybees in this monthly column. Enjoy.
The
recent popularity in sustainability and homesteading has giving rise to
backyard beekeeping. Although I live on a small acre of land, I’m not a
homesteader, but beekeeping has been buzzing in and out of my consciousness for
many years. So, recently I took the plunge and purchased my first package of
bees. They are due to arrive in a week.
Since
announcing my new endeavor, the extreme fascination with honeybees has caught
me by surprise and kept me in long conversations with total strangers. The
countless questions and comments informs me just how little I know. To assist
in my learning, I am reading as much as possible, have taken a class from a
Master Beekeeper, joined the Cumberland County Beekeeping Association, and have
a mentor or two by my side. But I suspect it will be the bees themselves that
will impart the most knowledge.
My
most recent discovery happened in January through a conversation I had with a scientist
from the USDA office in South Portland.
“Where
are your honeybees from?” He laughed when I told him Georgia. What he really
wanted to know was if the bees were German, Russian or Italian. It took me a
bit to assimilate that there are races of honeybees and are immigrants to the
U.S. Although there over 4,000 varieties of bees native to North America,
honeybees are not one them.
The
first documented case of honey bees arriving to the Americas was in 1622.
Although research does not indicate what country of origin these particular
bees were from, beekeeping history tells of the earliest honey bees known to
live in America was the German bee, also known to as the black bee. They were a
nasty and grumpy sort that made beekeeping management very difficult.
Additionally, the German bee was riddled with diseases and survival rates were
low making honey production inadequate.
Two
hundred years after the German bee made it’s landing in the New World, the
Italian bee arrived giving the apiarian some relief. The Italian bee is a very
laid back insect and has a canny knack for foraging. They are also excellent
pollen collectors. Also, the Queen, whose bright yellow “coat” makes her easier
to identify, helps the apiarian keep track of her whereabouts. As a result, the
Italians quickly became a favorite among beekeepers of the day and remain a
popular choice three centuries later, especially among the novice apiarian like
me. (Yes, my bees are Italian.)
Although
still a favorite among 75 percent of the beekeepers, there are a few draw backs
with the Italian bee. First, they are susceptible to varroa mites – making
survival rates low, sometimes with only a 50 percent survival rate per hive
after a long cold winter. Their inclination to overbreed can contribute to
lower honey production and in the event of limited nectar supply, the Italian
bee will not hesitate stealing honey from another hive (which can lead to
increased mite infestation and a cranky fellow beekeeper.)
Which
brings us to the Russian bee. They have been exposed to mites much longer than
the Italian. The long time exposure has created a natural resistance against
the mite and stems the need for the use of chemicals to eliminate the pests.
Their resistance to disease and their ability to survive winter months is a
preference among some beekeepers. The Russian, however, is known to be a bit
more aggressive which keeps the Italian a beekeeper’s favorite.
There
are other variety of honeybees that aparians also include in their beekeeping
business to include the Carniolan, Caucasian, and the Buckfast bees. If you
wish to learn more about these bees, below are a few websites for your perusal.
Or, you can join me and other beekeepers at the Cumberland County Honeybee
Association at http://mainebeekeepers.org/cumberland-county-beekeepers/
http://www.columbia.edu/itc/cerc/danoff-burg/invasion_bio/inv_spp_summ/Apis_mellifera_scutellata.htm
