Honey Bees
Wolf Ridge
Heritage Farm ... our bees are provided
a natural environment in which no chemicals are used at anytime. We use
only essential/therapeutic oils to treat the hives for mites when
necessary. We believe this provides a healthier more balanced hive that
produces happy bees in turn giving us honey that others have said is
“the best I have ever tasted”. In the
harvest and
processing of our honey there is *no* heating of the honey and no
*filtering*. This provides a “true raw
honey” that we
believe is partially responsible for the exquisite taste. Other
reasons; we plant fields of Dutch and crimson clover and the local wild
flowers are abundant as well as many species of tress; such as
basswood, many species of poplar, wild plum, and black locust which
yields a rare and delightful honey. All in all, this is great place for
honeybees!!
WolfRidge beehive | photo (c) '08 Wimberg
Honeybees collect nectar and store it as honey in their hives. Nectar and honey provide the energy for the bees' flight muscles and for heating the hive during the winter period. Honeybees also collect pollen which supplies protein for bee brood to grow. A colony generally contains one breeding female, or "queen"; a few thousand males, or "drones"; and a large population of sterile female “worker” bees. The population of a healthy hive in mid-summer can average between 40,000 and 80,000 bees. The workers cooperate to find food and use a pattern of "dancing" to communicate with each other.
WolfRidge beehive | photo (c) '08 Wimberg
The bible makes many
references to honey, but the history of honey
as some believe, goes back much farther in time. Evidence shows that
humans have been collecting it for 10,000 years and some of the oldest
written accounts of honey date back to the Egyptians in 5,500 BC.
Raw honey is unprocessed; it is just as the bees made it and it is the
only kind of honey we offer from Wolf Ridge.
Raw honey can contain pollen from the collection process as well as
tiny bits of bees-wax. It is not pasteurized so may
crystallize,
but can be re-liquefied simply by placing the jar in warm water ... it
is one of the *purest* foods on your table.
I tend not to label the honey as a specific
“flavor” due to
it being the result of a culmination of many nectar the bees forage on.
I, instead, prefer to say one will experience the country and all it
has to offer in a spoonful of Wolf Ridge honey.
Listed in the center column are some, but not all, of the trees and
flowers in S.E. Indiana that contribute pollen and nectar to the bees
and the exquisite taste of our honey.
WolfRidge beehives | photo (c) '08 Wimberg
Queen
The queen is the
largest bee in the colony. Queens are developed
from larvae selected by worker bees to become sexually mature. The
queen develops more fully than sexually immature workers because she is
given royal jelly, a secretion from glands on the heads of young
workers, for an extended time. She develops in a specially-constructed
queen cell, which is larger than the cells of normal brood comb, and is
oriented vertically instead of horizontally.
She will emerge from her cell to mate in flight with approximately
13-18 drone (male) bees. During this mating, she receives several
million sperm cells, which last her entire life span (from two to five
years). In each hive or colony, there is only one adult, mated queen,
who is the mother of the worker bees of the hive, although there are
exceptions on occasion.
A good queen of quality stock, well reared with good nutrition and well
mated, can lay up to 3,000 eggs per day during the spring build-up and
live for two or more years. She lays her own weight in eggs every
couple of hours and is continuously surrounded by young worker
attendants, who meet her every need, such as feeding and cleaning.
WolfRidge bees in their hive | photo (c) '08 Wimberg
Drones
The male bees,
called “drones”, are characterized by
eyes that are twice the size of those of worker bees and queens, and a
body size greater than that of worker bees, though usually smaller than
the queen bee. Their abdomen is stouter than the abdomen of workers or
queen. Although heavy bodied, drones have to be able to fly fast enough
to catch up with the queen in flight. Drones are sting-less.
Their main function in the hive is to be ready to fertilize a receptive
queen. Mating occurs in flight, which accounts for the need of the
drones for better vision, which is provided by their big eyes.
In areas with severe winters, all drones are then driven out of the
hive. The life expectancy of a drone is about 90 days.
Workers
A worker bee is
a non-reproducing female which performs certain
tasks in support of a bee hive. Worker bees undergo a well defined
progression of capabilities. In the summer 98% of the bees in a hive
are worker bees. In the winter, besides the queen, all bees are worker
bees. Workers feed the queen and larvae, guard the hive entrance and
help to keep the hive cool by fanning their wings. Worker bees also
collect nectar to make honey. In addition, honey bees produce wax comb.
WolfRidge beehives | photo (c) '08 Wimberg
*reference /national honey board
