Propolis, plant resin collected by bees.

We all know that bees collect nectar and pollen, but did you also know that bees collect plant resin to use as a disinfectant, glue and varnish inside the hive?  This substance, called ‘Propolis’, is collected by the bees from sticky buds and tree wounds.  The bees bring it back to the hive in the same way that they  carry pollen, in the ‘pollen baskets’ on their back legs.  The only difference is that it is so sticky that they cannot unload themselves and instead, another bee has to nibble the propolis off.

What do we use beeswax for?

Over the years there have been millions of uses for beeswax.

The most important use for beeswax as a beekeeper is of course to give the honeycomb back to the bees so that they can re-fill it with honey.  It 'costs' the bees to recreate the honeycomb, so giving it back means that they can collect more honey next season. The bees will re-use honeycomb, but they will not take flakes or pieces of wax and re-use them, so once the wax is damaged, or removed from the honeycomb, it can be recycled into something else.  The list below is just some of these uses.

How do bees make honeycomb?

Bees build their home out of wax (beeswax!).  Unlike wasps, who collect the material to make their home, bees create the wax themselves.  Underneath the worker bee abdomen there are 4 pairs of glands.  The bee body, like all insects is made of a hard material.  So that the bee can flex its body, this ‘exoskeleton’ is made up of a number of hard overlapping plates, joined by flexible membranes.  The wax glands are hidden in the overlapping area between two of these plates, so that the wax appears as a small flake between the plates.

Putting a swarm into their new hive

Today we were called by a neighbour who had seen a swarm of bees passing over their house and settling in a tree in a nearby garden.  The swarm was several meters high from the ground but we were able to capture it with our home made swarm bag, which looks like a pillow case on a stick!

We got the swarm into a box, and took it to the National Trust apiary at Hanbury Hall.

Making 'house signs' so bees can find their own hive

Everyone knows that foraging honey bees can find their way back to their home and that ‘guard’ bees will stop any ‘foreign’ bees from coming into their hive. 

Well, actually, this is not quite true.  In the wild, colonies of bees would set up home with their hives well separated from each other.   However, for the convenience of the beekeeper, we tend to put our beehives within a few feet of each other.  Also, the guard bees are quite practical.  If a worker bee turns up at the doorstep with a full load of nectar, they will generally just let it in ... well, why not!

This all tends to create a bit of a problem for the beekeeper.  If the bees cannot tell the difference between the hives, then they tend to just go to the nearest one!



Lady Georgina Vernon, Hanbury Hall beekeeper.

I keep my bees at Hanbury Hall in the village of Hanbury in Worcestershire (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hanbury-hall/) which is now owned by the National Trust.  When it was still in private hands it was owned by the Vernon family (http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/hanbury-hall/history/page-1/).  Lady Georgina Vernon (1840 - 1928) was one of the family who lived at the property who was reputed to be a beekeeper.

Lady Georgina Vernon (c) National Trust

Out of interest, as the current beekeeper, I did some investigation to find out about Lady Georgina's involvement with beekeeping and any mention of Hanbury and beekeeping, the rest of this post shows my findings.

The boomerang swarm

Every year I get phone calls from people who have a swarm in their garden.  Once I have checked that the 'swarm' are not wasps or bumblebees I will usually go out and collect it. This should be as simple as putting the bees into a skep (looks like a wicker waste paper basket) taking them to the apiary and putting the bees into a new hive. However the bees this year don't seem to be reading the same book as me!

I was called on Saturday afternoon and told that there was a swarm at my apiary at Hanbury Hall.  The swarm was not in the way and the gardeners quite liked pointing out the bees to the visitors. I have been caught out by rushing to collect swarms too quickly in the past. I think the bees like their 'taste of freedom' and if you try to put them in a hive too soon then they don't remember that they have swarmed and so they leave their new hive and swarm again.