Garden Walks with Judy: Beekeeping, not just a hobby
When the other kids in her third-grade class were reading about dinosaurs, Kate VanDeWalle was reading about bees.
Her interest has not changed since then, except to escalate. She still reads about bees, but perhaps only after she has checked the five honeybee hives in her backyard.
I listened to Kate explain the lives of honeybees and I was in awe of how these small insects live and work. No wonder Kate preferred to read about them instead of roaring, scary dinosaurs.
Honeybees are important for our gardens as they pollinate the plants while they gather pollen for themselves.
Most of you probably know about the bee family structure, which includes the queen, the workers, and the drones. These three are responsible for keeping the hive alive and making it grow.
The worker bees are all female and they find the food for the queen, the drones, and themselves. Sounds a little familiar.
The queen, since she is royal, is well cared for by the workers who feed her mouth-to-mouth. Sometimes, she will drink some nectar from the cells, but she is attended to carefully because she will soon become pregnant with about 2,000 eggs.
The drones are all male and are attended by the worker bees, too. They appear lazy and they are, except when it is time to mate with the queen.
When the queen comes out of the hive, they rush to mate with her. After they mate, they have fulfilled their life’s purpose and they die.
The queen doesn’t mate with drones in her hive, Kate told me, because, like the royal families in the past, she does not want inbreeding. When she gives birth, she has to fertilize the eggs to be female and the workers. The unfertilized ones will grow up to be drones.
But as we move into November and temperatures drop, how do these insects survive?
Kate explained that to stay warm they gather together and wrap into a ball with the queen in the middle and the workers around her. They feed on the honey from their summer foraging and the wax cells. On a warm day in winter, you may see some out. They are getting rid of their waste so they do not foul their nests.
Kate works to keep them warm, too, by insulating the hive and making sure it stays dry. She will bake a cube of sugar for extra food and water and places it at the top of the hive.
We need bees for our plants, and they need us and our plants. A few years ago, they were threatened by the Verona mite. Since then, treatments have been developed, though mites remain a constant threat.
Kate’s interest in bees started early, but life as a physician in North Dakota kept her busy until she retired to Iowa. Now she can enjoy taking care of her bees and the honey they produce.
Judy Terry is a freelance garden writer who hopes to lead you through many fantastic gardens.
