The Interesting Life of Bees

Lately I have been researching bees and how much work it would going to keeping them. Yes that means I am thinking about being a beekeeper

Just for fun I started to list the parts of beekeeping that stand out to me as fun. And it kinda turned into a 690 word essay. All done in one afternoon:P

I would highly recommend getting the book Beekeeping for Dummies from the library(when I am done with it  course).

Here is the essay just in case you are interested. It is my first essay so be nice to me.

 

 

It is said that only man has a form of communication superior to that of the honey bee. Like humans, the honey bee uses five senses throughout their daily lives. Honeybees also have additional forms of communication. Two of the methods that are particular interest are

1^st. Chemical

2^nd.Choreographic

But the most famous and fascinating “language” is communicated through a series of dances. They are able to obtain remarkably accurate information about the location and type of food the foraging bees have discovered. Two common types of dances are the so-called Round Dance and the Waggle Dance. When the bee does the round dance, it is saying that the food source is relatively close (within 10-80 yards). The waggle dance involves shivering side-to-side motion of the abdomen while the dancing bee forms a figure eight. The vigor of the waggle, the number of times it is repeated, and the direction of the dance, can very accurately give information to its sisters.

Now I will tell a bit about the Queen bee, the Worker bee, and the Drones.

The Queen Bee hatches in 16 days and living up to 2 or more years. She has two primary purposes in life. One is to lay eggs, producing up to 1,500 of them a day at 30 second intervals. That many eggs are more than her body weight! She also lets out a number of different pheromones in her mandibular glands that attract workers to her and stimulate brood rearing, foraging, comb building, and other activities. These pheromones help control the behavior and attitude. As a queen ages her pheromones diminish and when that happens, the colony knows that it is time to supersede her with a new, young queen.

A worker bee is hatched in 21 days and has a lifespan of anywhere in-between 28 and 35 days. Like the queen, the worker bees are all females, therefore beekeepers call them “their girls”. Also like the queen, the worker bees have stingers which is the most known part of a bee`s anatomy. Their stingers unlike the queen`s, has a barb in the end. Only in mammals does the bee`s stinger get stuck. The bee can sting other insects again and again while defending it`s home without the suicide effect:P The worker bee does not have a main job, but they work together doing various jobs such as housekeeping, attending her royal highness, preventing disease by disposing of dead bees, and guarding the hive. Sometimes, passing bees from other hives can bribe the guard bees with nectar, just to come in and steal a bite of honey! With her life half over, she joins the ranks of field bees. You can see these bees flying around their hive imprinting the looks and location of it before they fly away. These field bees visit 5 million flowers to make one pint of honey!! They forage a two to three mile radius from the hive in search of food. That is 6,000 acres!! These bees are known for literally working and foraging for their colony till they drop.

The drone bee is hatched in 24 days and has a lifespan of up to four months. These drone bees are the only male bees in the colony. Their only purpose in life is mate with the queen bee. Not much to say on that subject other than after the drone bee mates with the queen bee it dies! Reason is the same as when a worker bee stings someone. Once the weather gets cooler and the mating season is over, the workers stop tolerating having the drones “lazing” around. After all, drones have big appetites and would eat a lot of precious food during the winter months. So at the end of the nectar producing season, you will see the worker bees literally tossing dead drone bees out of the hive!

These are but a few reasons I am intrigued with bees. Their lives are an example of hard-working diligence even to the end of their lives.

Thanks for reading this!!

Cursors

I am trying something, could you let me know(in a comment:) if your mouse pointer changes when you come to my blog? I just downloaded Cursor Mania and it has html link to add to your blog. So I just tried adding it to my blog:)



Pictures!!!!!

I found my camera!!!

So get ready for pictures.

Ok,this is not from my camera but I did see this on Ali`s blog

 and thought it earned a place on mine:)

Here`s a picture of Micah`s tooth or lack of.

He asked me after I told him it would go on my blog, "Jessie? Will everyone say

 good job Micah?"

Sorry about the pictures. Like I said in the last post,there

 was NOT good lighting. But here is a pic of the "8 years and under pinata".

It`s supposed to be Bob the Tomato.

"Hit it Gracie!!" is what all the little Jardinski kids were yelling. And she did! She even managed to surprise me on how hard she could hit that sucker.

As you an see, Micah kinda got in the groove too:)

Hit it Elijah!!!!

Sorry that all the pictures are so random.

This is just one of the many snowflakes that Mrs. T showed us haw to make.

 Aren`t they pretty? I made a couple to hang in my room but tape

doesn`t stick to the ceiling so well:)

One-eyed Willie(Lillie)

Micah`s remote-controlled race-car.

And some more of the snowflakes.

Happy New year!!

I know it`s a little late but better late than never right?

For New Years we went to the museum with a whole bunch of friends to celebrate. I hear they stayed up till 12:00pm but we had to leave just because we have little ones that couldn`t take it. Not to mention we had church the next day.
Then Tuesday we went to a neighbor-hood gathering in Everson. they even had two home-made pinatas!
Gracie and Elijah whacked those things so hard! I tried to get a picture but the lighting was bad and they always turned out blurry. next time I`ll have pictures for you though.

Here are some pictures I took with my laptop camera. Notice on picture number two Micah is. missing one of his front teeth? He is so proud of losing his first tooth.:)

I`m Back in Business!!!

Caroline and Alexis I am know you are sick of coming to my blog and seeing Lydia`s birth photos because you have said that almost every time I see you:). Lydia turned 6 months old on Christmas Eve and is now sitting up and somewhat crawling. I think this verse accurately describes what my mom and dad`s goals are for life-

Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward.

Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth.

Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!

Psalm 127:3-5 

We just came home from a fun filled day at two parks (Cornwall and Elizabethan),going out for lunch at Cascade Pizza and I can assure you they have the best ham sandwich there is.

we ordered two large Canadian bacon pineapple, one large chicken garlic, two free spaghetti's(for Elijah and Grace), and one ham sandwich( for me). Between all of us there was not a morsel left:)

 

nothin` much

I`m sure you`re sick `n` tired of Lydia`s birth photo:)

Better picture of "Diddy" as we like to call her:)

Yiga with his funny face........

...........and now he is trying to get as much attention as the baby:)

He`s so cute `cause when the camera comes he`s right there to show off for it!!

We`ll be going to bender fields to skate and ride our bikes tomorrow.

We will need to bring plenty of band aids



IT`S A GIRL!!!!!!!!!!

I wish I had like thousands of friends so I could just keep telling people!!

Anyway....our new little one weighs 8 pounds 13 ounces and was born at 1:58 PM.

Odds and Ends

I`m at my grandma`s so that explains no pictures....again. But I did find my camera so I WILL take pictures of the horse I`m training for those of you who havn`t seen her. Her name is Starlene and she has Angel`s(her mama) temper so that`s nice:) She`s a Quarter horse/Saddle bred cross. This isn`t her,it`s a random picture that I thought was pretty.

                                       I love Craigslist. I can get the prettiest horse pictures there:)

Sick,Kittens,Weather...etc.

Sorry I havn`t been posting.(don`t say it Lexi :)

I would post pictures but my camera is lost and my mom`s camera is wacking out:P

This morning four children(including me:( came down with the stomach flu. My mom was up every hour or so talking care of children that were throwing up.

To change the subject over to a more cheerful note, God has given us some beautiful weather and me and the boys set up the tent. We have been sleeping in it for 3 nights. We went swimming down at the arrogation pond. It is the biggest "swimming pool" we could want.

What is your favorite verse?

Mine is Proverbs 3:5-8

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge  Him and He shall direct your paths. Do not be wise in your own eyes,fear the Lord and shun evil. For it will be health to your body and strength to your bones.