Transcript Bee Presentation Larry Krengle 2011.01

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To Bee or
Not to Bee
CLGC
January 10, 2012
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How fast does a bee fly?
3 mph
 15 mph
 40 mph
 60 mph
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How many pounds of honey does the
average American eat each year?
1.3
7
 10.2
 Nearly 100
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How many beekeepers in the
state of Illinois?
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 551
 1650
 2988
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This number is down from 2988 fifteen years ago. The
average beekeeper maintains 17 hives. Seventy-one percent
of beekeepers hold 5 or less colonies.
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In the world there are many
bees, but likely the most
known is the honey bee.
The honey bee produces
many products useful to
man, but is best known for
its honey – the golden
sweetness collected from
all corners of the floral
world.
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Research has
shown that
unlike most
sweeteners
Honey has vitamins,
minerals and amino acids
as well as antioxidants.
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Until a century ago
when white cane
sugar became cheap
and available
Maple syrup and honey
were man’s only sweetener.
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Honey is made from nectar.
Small amounts of pollen
 A variety of sugars
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Fructose
 Glucose

About 18% water
 The taste of the honey is determined by
the nectar source.
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The honey bee
predates man on
the planet Earth
Man has been here for about
200 thousand years…
Bees for about 200 million.
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It is interesting that bees historically
appeared on the earth at the same
time as flowering plants.
Bees and sexually reproducing
plants became partners.
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The earliest
record of man’s
interest in
honey comes
from cave
paintings like
this one in
Spain circa
4000 BC.
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Today, man has
become the
keeper of the
ancient bees
while growing
strangely
dependent on
them.
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Even though honey bees
have been on the earth
for millennia
They did not arrive in
North America until the
colonists brought them in
1621.
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Until 150 years ago bees in the US were
kept mainly in skeps and bee gums
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The modern American
hive was designed by
L. L. Langstroth in 1851.
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The Lanstroth
hive is organized
using frames to
hold the “plan”
for building
honey comb.
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The living unit is
not the bee but
rather the colony.
So to reproduce… bees
make new colonies by
“swarming.”
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The Honey Bee
Swarm
A beekeeper’s joy
and the bane of a
beekeeper’s
existence
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A Swarm
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Contain as many 30,000 honey bees
Emanates from a hive with the old queen
Leaving behind an equal number of bees
and the future monarch in queen cells
Usually lights near the hive of origination
Moves on its own schedule to a new
location
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Swarms tend to be very docile
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A beekeeper would rather not see
a swarm coming from his apiary
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The honey bee is of great
economic value.

Largely for its role as a pollinator
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We are talking billions of dollars
Secondarily for products of the hive
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Honey
Pollen
Bees wax
Propolis
Royal jelly
Bee venom
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Now after many millions
of years surviving on the
planet earth
We may be about to report
on the
Death of the American
Honey Bee
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Pests, disease, and
insecticides
The life of the honeybee is
tenuous
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The Varroa Mite
In the bee
world this is
Public
Enemy #1….
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Today surviving honey bee
colonies are largely kept by
beekeepers whose efforts limit
the effects of the mites.
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In the last six years
Colony collapse disorder (CCD) has begun
killing managed colonies
 After extensive study, the cause of CCD is still
largely unknown
 The leading candidates
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New powerful insecticides
Viral diseases
Inbreeding
Two difficult to manage pests
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Varroa distructor
Apis cerena
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The lose of the American
honey bee would not only
cost the farmers billions of
dollars.
Americans would need to
change their eating habits.
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America’s food supply is tied
to the welfare of honey bees One third of our food is directly or
indirectly enabled by insect pollination.
 80% of insect pollination is done by
honey bees
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Honey bees are of particular
importance to
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Almonds
Melons
Apples
Cucumbers
Strawberries
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Alphalfa
Blueberries
Cranberries
Kiwi
Pumpkin
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Each year
2.5 million colonies of bees are rented
to pollinate California crops.
 Farmers pay up to $200 per colony for
two weeks of pollination service.
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Bees and Pollination
1200
1000
800
Pears (lb)
Alphalfa (lb)
Apples (number)
600
400
200
0
No Bees
With Bees
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Urban beekeeping arrives in New York
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A growing group enter
beekeeping – generally
as a hobby – each year.
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Is it time to bee part
of the solution?
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Krengel’s top ten list for
Helping the Honeybees
 10
.Be choosy about honey – choose local
 9. Grow bee-friendly plants
 8. Join a local beekeepers group
 7. Let it grow
Bees love clover and dandelions
 Fence rows provide bee forage
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 6.
Support bee research
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Krengel’s top ten list for
Helping the Honeybees
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5. Make your city a honeybee city
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Welcome beekeeping
Plant bee-friendly plants
4. Learn more about our pollinator friends
 3. Protect swarms – it is the natural thing to do!
 2. Become “spray conscious”
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Limit the use of insecticides
1. Become a beekeeper!
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I think they are heading
for the gaggle!
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So… how does bee
flight compare to
human attempts to fly?
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In 1934, in an attempt to
prove that we really did not
understand aerodynamics, two
Frenchmen (Magnan and
Sainte-Lague) used simple
existing mathematical analysis
to conclude that a honey bee
could not fly.
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Yes, bee can fly!
Honey bees fly by flapping their wings
at 230 beats per second.
 The rate does not change as the load
increases.
 As load increases the amplitude of the
beat increases
 To fly bees must first warm up their
flight muscles – to about 100° F.
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A normal landing
Bees tend to land with a 60° angle of
attack. Rear legs land first.
 To land inverted (on a ceiling) the
antennae make contact first.
 Hovering flight requires less energy
than forward flight.
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Aircraft
2-33
ASK 21
RV 4
Me 109
F 104
B 747
MD 11
Honey bee
Bat
Humming Bird
Eagle
Canada Goose
Wing loading
(kg/sq m)
16
33
67
173
514
740
844
.29 - .66
.1
.2
.7
2
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To have the same wing loading as a honeybee a man would
need a wing with 3700 square feet.
A chord of 37 feet and a span of 100feet!!!
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Do bees thermal?
Likely yes. Not the
workers, but the
drones as they
establish a
congregation area.
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Worker
Drone
Queen
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Not all stinging insects are
bees!
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Please be kind to your
buzzing friends!
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Let’s
The Bee House
buzz-off
now!
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