Bee Education

Bees use a process called chemical signaling to communicate to each other in the hive. They diffuse molecules into the air, called pheromones, and can understand their meaning. Bees also communicate through one another using behaviors such as a ‘waggle’ dance pattern to communicate the location of pollen. Besides using pollen to make their own honey for food, when bees fly from flower to flower they also have another important role in nature: pollination. As they land on each flower they will become covered in pollen, a yellow dust that helps germinate other plants. 

Bees are designated to be pollinators and have pollen cling to their bodies and transferred onto other flowers they land on. Their legs have long hairs that pollen can stick to, as well as "pollen sacs" on their sides that collect large quantities of pollen and stay piled up on their sides. 

Bees help pollinate many of these RI fruits and vegetables:

• Broccoli, brussel sprouts, asparagus, cucumbers
• Pumpkins, summer squash, butternut squash
• Zucchini, tomatoes, apples, strawberries
• Blueberries, raspberries, watermelon, peaches 

Plants to attract bees in your garden:

• Dandelions, milkweed, goldenrod, roses
• Black eyed susan, daisies, sunflowers
• Laurel, rhododendron, azalea, aster

Bee populations are declining world-wide. 

Although honey bees have garnered much of the press, native bee populations and other pollinators such as butterflies are also declining. These species are vitally important within local ecosystems. Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is a major cause of honey bee losses and occurs when adult bees flee the hive leaving the Queen and developing bee brood behind. Without worker bees, the hive is doomed. A number of factors likely contribute to CCD and the decline of bee populations in general. 

Pesticides 

As an insect, honey bees are quite sensitive to most classes of insecticides. Even low doses of these compounds can adversely affect foraging honey bees and therefore the hive itself. Recently, a relatively new class of compounds called the neonicotinoids were banned in Europe due to their detrimental effects on bee populations.

Habitat Loss & Fragmentation 

As open spaces (meadows, fields, and wetlands) are lost or fragmented due to human activities, bees must travel further to forage for pollen and nectar, therefore making it harder to sustain the hive. Successful foraging is particularly critical in the fall when bees need to build-up food stores to sustain the hive through the winter. It is now common for about 50% of all honey hives to be lost during the winter months. 

Pathogens 

Viruses, bacteria, fungi and even other insects can kill bees. The list of bee pathogens is long and growing as we learn more about bee biology. Some of these threats are relatively recent. For instance, Varroa mites (Varroa destructor) are native to Asia but in the 1940’s, were seen in honey bee hives in Africa and Europe. Since this time, Varroa mites have traveled nearly world-wide and are a major threat to bee populations. Even more recently, the Small Hive Beetle (SHB) began infesting honey bee hives in Europe and the Americas. The SHB first appeared in the US in the late 1990’s. This beetle is native to sub-Saharan Africa and thrives in warmer climates. However, SHBs have quickly adapted to colder US environments and can be seen in most states in the North East. Many of these bee pathogens move with bee populations. Because bees are so important for agriculture, bee hives are often transported to fertilize crops. Bees are also transported through the mail as a ‘packet’. The transport of bees facilitates the movement of bee pathogens. 

Collecting Honey

A comb is removed from the hive carefully by a beekeeper. The comb is scraped with the heat knife to remove the whitish seal that the bees layered over the honey. 

This will open the cells up to allow the honey to be taken out. A special machine, called an extractor, is used to pull the honey from each of the honey comb cells. Once it is released, the honey will be strained through a screen to be sifted and collect.