Are we killing the bees?
We are clear food is necessary for our existence. We need food to provide energy for the
functioning of our bodies. We, human beings, eat different kinds of foods, like vegetables, fruits,
meat from animals, etc. However, even food that is not vegetal like animals, needs plants to be
alive. Vegetal life is essential in our existence. Nevertheless, there are some creatures essential in
the life of that plants: pollinators.
Pollinators came in different forms. We have many insects acting like pollinators, but also there
are some birds and mammals. A pollinator is a creature who is attracted by the flowers of a plant
somehow, and usually trying to get some food, they carry the pollen from one flower to another,
helping the flowers to turn into fruits, and lately in new plants.
One of the most known pollinators is Apis Melifera, as well known as domestic bee. This bee, and
also many other bees, has been designed as a pollinator. It has its whole body covered by the
finest hair, even in their eyes. This hair helps to capture tiny balls of pollen while they visit flowers
to collect nectar. Their hair in contact with the air while they are flying, generates static electricity,
enabling them to get the pollen sticky to their bodies. As they go flower by flower, they usually
select to visit several flowers of the same kind, enabling the plants to reproduce.
There are many kinds of bees, but the human race has developed a special union with Apis
Melifera. We started this relationship almost 10.000 years ago, when humans discovered honey.
Probably our ancestors discovered an abandoned beehive and tasted the delicious flavor of honey,
but soon they also discover the animals that produce this tasty food weren’t very friendly. By the
time, they discovered how to take some honey without disturbing the colony, and if you want to
keep obtaining that food, you have to preserve food for them too. At that moment the first
beekeeper was born. (Apicultura 8)
Over time, we also discover a beehive can be transported with us, and humans started to provide
different kinds of houses to their bees: hollow trunks, clay pots, conic baskets made of knotted
grass, hollow cylinders made with animal dung and hay, etc. The preferred method to acquire new
colonies of bees was waiting them for swarm, and the method of harvesting was killing the bees
with sulfur, taking them out of the hive, and getting the honey and the wax. (Apicultura 9-11)
By the XVI century, Francois Huber invented the moving frames beehive. That invention helped
beekeepers to be better at their jobs. With that kind of frame, we don’t have to destroy the hive
to get the honey, and we can observe the bees while they do their job. Beekeepers of that time
discover the real nature of the bees, their behavior, and their needs. (Apicultura 13)
Nowadays, we try to preserve our bees as long as possible, but bees are facing some problems.
The first important problem is due to climate change, the second is about the pesticides we use in
agriculture, and the third is about bad beekeeping practices.
Bees are season animals, they have specific tasks and behaviors in the different seasons. They start
to collect nectar and pollen during the spring, they also reproduce a lot in that season and can
swarm if they don’t have enough space. They continue the collection in summer, with the flowers
they can find, but they also start sealing the ready honey, and beekeepers can harvest it. They low
their production and prepare for winter during fall, and they hibernate in the winter. They don’t
use a calendar for this purpose, they just feel the temperature and other atmospheric facts. This is
why climate change is altering them. (Gosden)
The use of pesticides is fairly common in agriculture. We don’t want some animals to eat our food.
It helps to improve the quantity of the crops, in a manner that doesn’t affect us. But bees feel it
different, because they are insects, like the plagues we want to eliminate. The abuse of these
substances is eliminating bees and other pollinators, and they are essential to get the good food
we need.
I told you above that our early experiences as beekeepers weren’t too kind with bees, but we
improve them over time. Even so, there are some beekeepers wanting to fill their pockets with the
amazing work of the bees, without caring about the bees. We can see some people feeding bees
with sugar the whole year, which makes some kind of fake honey, and deteriorates the health of
the bees. We also see beekeepers carrying their beehives for pollination of specific trees in
faraway places, they take the honey produced, and abandon their bees. They don’t understand we
also have a responsibility with the bees.
References
Apicultura, Historia. «[Link] s.f. 25 de January de 2022.
<[Link]
Gosden, Emily. "Bees and the crops they pollinate are at risk from climate change, IPCC report to
warn." The Daily Telegraph 29 March 2014.