2021 Spring Farm

2021 Logan County Farm Outlook LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 18, 2021 Page 27 shock, which can cause collapse and even death. It is a good idea for a beekeeper to have an EpiPen on hand. Some old seasoned beekeepers say that they don’t even feel it when they get stung, and it isn’t unusual for a beekeeper to get stung some twenty to 100 times a season even with full bee suits and veils. A beekeeper should be careful to balance the needs of the bees to the available resources for best success. Colonies need to be placed where they are protected from pesticide spraying, where there is good access to water and sufficient flowers to provide nectar. Nectar is what the bees make into honey. The commercial pollination business, renting out bee filled hives, brings good returns but often subjects bees to stresses and pesticides. Often pollination colonies are given a vacation once their objective is achieved so they can recover and reproduce. Colonies are comprised of about 90% female bees that do all the work. The average female worker bee lives about 45 days, and progresses through a range of jobs from housekeeping to nursemaid, then learns how to fly, serves as an undertaker, then as a guard bee, and finally graduates at old age to foraging for food in about a three-mile range. The queen bee is the heart and soul of the beehive. She regulates the colony by pheromones (smells), and is responsible for all reproduction in a hive. The average queen lives for two or three years, and can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day. A team of beekeepers assessing winter losses in this commercial apiary. [Wildflower Meadows https://wildflowermeadows.com/2018/12/commercial-beekeeping-winter-losses/] Continue 4