Beekeeping needs to be encouraged, because they provide great tasting honey and help the environment. Beekeepers are also known as apiarists. Apiary or apiculture, which derives its meaning from the Latin word apis, which means bee, is the maintenance of honey bee hives by humans.
Honey bees can be improved by selective breeding, provided that the predominant sub-species is the same. Ireland is actually in a unique position, since they have a great reserve of pure native strains of the Dark European Honey Bee, which is the indigenous bee of these islands. Honey bees are mostly used for their large-scale honey production because they stockpile honey for their entire colony.
Modern hives can also be moved in order for the bees to pollinate specific areas and focus on honey production in others. Beekeepers want their colonies to reach their maximum strength before the nectar flow of honey begins. That way, bees store the honey as a surplus that the beekeeper can easily harvest, instead of using the honey to complete their spring build-up.
Honey bees can be safely removed by humans from houses and other nesting sites by carefully removing the entire nest (bees, wax, brood and honey). They can be very defensive toward anyone that approaches their hive though. Alarmed worker bees will release substances from their glands in the sting apparatus and mouth parts which cause other bees to attack, and therefore, mass stinging incidents can occur.
Honey bees can be found worldwide. They live in hollow trees as well as in hives kept by their beekeepers. Beekeepers that manage African colonies will often tape their bee suits to their boots and gloves to limit the possibility of bee access. Beekeepers must remember that they are manipulating a "black box" in which not all the desired results can be attained through selection.
To learn much more about where to buy honey bees visit http://Buy-Honey-Bees.com to find out more about beekeeping and honey bees. |
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