Our Bees... Did you know there are the specific jobs for each group of bees in the hive colony? So when I started to notice that some of my bees were dying, I said to myself "wow" what is happening???? We all know that when a bee stings you it will die, why you may ask??? Well, when a honey bee stings, it cannot pull the barbed stinger back out. It leaves behind not only the stinger, but also part of its abdomen and digestive tract, plus muscles and nerves. This massive abdominal rupture kills the honey bee. Honey bees are the only bees to die after stinging. (Good to know). There can be over 70,000 bees in a hive and all have specific duties to address in their colony. There are groups of bees to nurse babies, collect nectar, make honey, guardians of the hive, (those are the stingers) and some are undertakers. A bees lifespan is usually 4-6 weeks, so when it is there time they lose some moisture and the undertakers decide to clean up and remove them dead or somewhat alive. (I bet they're screaming "no no don't take me yet I am not dead) So when I noted some dead bees at their front door, I decided to be the cleaner and gently remove them so to speak. Well, that wasn't such a good idea, as they came after me. Now I know, just leave everything alone and these magnificent creatures of God our bees, will clean the hive properly. Being a novice, and a cleaner upper , I just tried to help out. I found a wonderful article from Beverly Bees on all the working components of the hive. Our Honey Bees are Endangered and we all need to take note of this, as our planet and our food chain as we know it, will no longer exist. We need more advocates for our bees and more Beekeepers to save and protect our bees for the future of our earth, our food, our way of life. Mahalo

                                MY BEES AT WORK!!!! LANI MANA HONEY BEES

Bring Out Yer Dead – The Undertaker Bees by Anita Deeley

Share10But I’m Not Dead Yet!”

One of the most fascinating aspects of beekeeping is watching the numerous activities of the colony.  Every bee has a specific job, without which the hive as a whole could not exist.  There are bees that build wax; nurse bees to take care of the babies; field bees to collect water, propolis, pollen and nectar; bees to make honey; guard bees to protect the hive; and undertaker bees who clean the hive of carcasses.

The undertaker bees are incredible to watch as these bees work very hard to carry out all the dead and dying bees from the hive.  Sometimes they fly them easily 20 or more feet away from the hive and drop them to the ground. Other times they haul out bees that are bigger and heavier than they can lift into the air.  I have seen undertaker bees struggling for 15 or more minutes to fly with these bees, reposition them several times to try to get a better grip, only to fly a few inches, fall to the ground and painstakingly drag them all the way off of my roof.  If you look in the gutters around my rooftop hives, you will see hundreds of dead bees deposited there over time by the undertaker bees.  My gutters have become the defacto bee cemetery.

An undertaker bee struggling to cart away a drone bee.  She is attempting to fly but can’t get off the ground and is dragging the bee instead. 

Sometimes the bees they lug out are still alive. These dying bees do not put up a fight, they let the undertaker bees take them away to die.  I can’t help but think of Monty Python and the Holy Grail [Blu-ray] when ever I see the undertaker bees at work, especially when they cart out the bees that are not dead yet.

                                                      BEAUTIFUL