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RE: [nafex] Bee Habits
All,
This
is probably the last word on this subject... This relates to color, and
how bees are somehow attracted to the yellow dandelions on the orchard floor
over the white flowers in the trees. I live in the Indianapolis area, and
of course all the talk on the radio is the Indy 500 race. One of the
local radio shows was talking to a race car driver about the color patterns of
his car and why he choose them. I said he rather have these colors than
the yellow Pennzoil color that Rick Mears use to have on his car over the
years. Evidently, that car and its color were notorious for attracting
bees! During the race wasn't the problem, but during qualifying and while
working on the car outdoors to get ready for practices, the crew had to fight
off the bees to do their work. Now if someone could bred a Gala or
Honeycrisp with yellow flowers... probably go broke having to thin the trees all
the time.
Brian
Sheridan, IN north of
Heaven.
1. Don't worry, Tom, there is no such
thing as a stupid question about
bees. While they have been kept by
humans for several millenia, and
while advantage has been taken of certain
of their predictable
behaviors, they are still poorly understood. I
have subscribed to
professional bee journals for a number of years, and
there are always
new theories about some aspect of bee
behavior.
2. For example, it is commonly accepted that the "bee
dance" is a
method of communicating the direction of nectar sources, but no
one is
really certain of that. Nor is anyone sure of just how bees
navigate,
although contract pollinators take truckloads of bees out to new
fields
every day, and they find their way back to their own hives.
Sometimes,
bees engage in behaviors, such as swarming, that seem not to be
in their
own best interests.
3. Compared to keeping bees,
raising fruit is a walk in the park.
Especially now, with the varroa and
tracheal mite infestations, but it
was never easy. Nor is it
cheap. In addition to the high initial costs
of the hives and
equipment, medications for the wide variety of bee
diseases and ills are
expensive, and none are fully effective.
Sometimes it takes a combination
of things to keep bees healthy. When
you lose a swarm you have lost a
lot of money, in addition to the loss
of your beloved creatures. I
say this even though they do occasionally
sting the hell out of
you.
4. I have never been able to figure out how people make
money
producing honey, but somehow they manage to hang on, in spite
of
low-cost competition from foreign sources. I think that at its
current
supermarket prices honey is quite a bargain. Some years I get
a nice
amount of honey, but I know that I could buy it cheaper than I
can
produce it. So why do I do it? Ask the people who keep
climbing Mt.
Everest.
Rgds, Don Yellman, Great Falls,
VA
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