Bee bearding is a phenomenon wherein older bees cluster outside of the front hive during hot weather, when they do that it looks like the hive has a beard, it is usually mistaken by others as a sign of swarming but it has something to do with the ventilation of the hive when the weather was hot. This behavior coincides with the onset of the hot humid days and nights, the relative humidity is high in the Philippines, a high amount of moisture or vapor in the air makes hot temperatures feel hotter. Bearding begins when the summer temperatures reach 38°C (100°F) or more. Bearding has something to do with the temperature inside the hive, space available, and the population (crowding) of the hive. A hive with plenty of ventilation will probably have less bees gathering on the front of it. The average temperature in the beehive is between 32-35°C (90-95°F). Honeybees have the ability to regulate the temperature of their nest throughout the year.If it is cold, bees raise the temperature within the hive by huddling together to keep warm and vibrating their wing muscles to generate heat. If it is hot, they lower it by fanning their wings to circulate air through the hive. If it is really hot, they collect water for evaporation cooling.Droplets of water are placed inside the hive, then the bees stand in a line facing the hive entrance fanning their wings creating air currents that evaporate the water, thus cooling the hive. Whenever the bees does the fanning at the entrance, there are many inside the hive doing similar fanning to control the hive temperature. I am a woodworker as well as a beekeeper, as a woodworker we used a gadget to know and control the moisture of the wood, bees also control the moisture inside the hive an example of which was the honey, when the moisture of the honey was high it is still uncapped but when it reach the right moisture content the bees seal the honeycomb, sealed comb is a sign that the honey on a honeycomb is ready for harvest and won't easily ferment.
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We had our second harvest from this honeyflow season last April and we gathered at least 30Liters of honey, one of the process during honey extraction was uncapping of the sealed honey comb, our method was so simple, bees use wax for their honeycombs and also sealed it with it, we always prepare these things that we need: Metal Pitcher full of water, at least 2 pieces of knives, electric heater and a plastic basin. The method is so simple first heat the water in the pitcher using electric heater up to its boiling point and put the knives in it and when the knives were heated use a knife to uncap the sealed honeycomb it is easy to uncapped it when the knife was hot because it melts the wax, uncapped it in a basin so those honey that flows will not be wasted,. those were the simple method that we are using in uncapping the sealed honey comb. Rainy days are almost here and it is a sign that honeyflow season is at its end for this year, well we need to prepare for the dearth season, enjoy the taste of honey until the end of 2014's honeyflow. Beekeeping is LOVE! |
Dilan's Apiary
Address: Kagudoy Road, Basak, Lapu-Lapu City Archives
June 2022
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