A little bit about bees
The honey bee we know and love today was not always in the U.S. The honey bee is not native to the Western Hemisphere... But if there was no honey bee in the States then how did the flowers pollinate and blah blah blah?
The united states has native bees just not honey bees, they are solitary bees that live alone. By solitary I mean that a single female, after she emerges from her pupae and is mated by a male, constructs, provisions and lays an egg in each cell in a nest by herself. This in comparison with social bees like the Bumble Bees, Honey Bees and Stingless Bees, all of whom have a Queen who lays eggs and a number of workers who look after them.
They are also called masonry bees, they live in small holes in wood and trees.
Colonies of honey bees were shipped from England and landed in the Colony of Virginia in 1622.
Honey bees may have been taken to Alaska in 1809 and to California in 1830 by the Russians
Masonry Bee
There are more then just one honey bee, currently, there are seven recognized species of honey bee with a total of 44 subspecies. None of these is was originally native to the united states.
Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the approximately 20,000 known species of bees. Some species may not yet have been discovered, and many are either not named or have not been well studied.
Bees are found throughout the world except at the highest altitudes, in polar regions, and on some small oceanic islands.
Many bees are black or gray, but others are bright yellow, red, or metallic green or blue.
Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source, and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for larvae.
he best-known bee species is the European honey bee, The type of bee most used by bee keepers is called the Italian bee, because they are calm and produce lots of honey.
Italian Honeybee
Bees can fly about 15 mph and will fly in a 3 mile radiance of their hive to collect honey.
In 1852, L. L. Langstroth, a Congregational minister from Pennsylvania, patented a hive with movable frames that is still used today. Modern methods of beekeeping came very rapidly following Langstroth's patent. Other inventions soon followed that made large-scale, commercial beekeeping possible.
From the beginning of beekeeping in the 1600's until the early 1800's, we assume that honey was largely an article of local trade. Many farmers and villagers kept a few colonies of bees in box hives to supply their own needs and those of some friends, relatives, and neighbors.
It was not until 1957 that beekeeping made it to a Commercial scale.
The united states has native bees just not honey bees, they are solitary bees that live alone. By solitary I mean that a single female, after she emerges from her pupae and is mated by a male, constructs, provisions and lays an egg in each cell in a nest by herself. This in comparison with social bees like the Bumble Bees, Honey Bees and Stingless Bees, all of whom have a Queen who lays eggs and a number of workers who look after them.
They are also called masonry bees, they live in small holes in wood and trees.
Colonies of honey bees were shipped from England and landed in the Colony of Virginia in 1622.
Honey bees may have been taken to Alaska in 1809 and to California in 1830 by the Russians
Masonry Bee
There are more then just one honey bee, currently, there are seven recognized species of honey bee with a total of 44 subspecies. None of these is was originally native to the united states.
Honey bees represent only a small fraction of the approximately 20,000 known species of bees. Some species may not yet have been discovered, and many are either not named or have not been well studied.
Bees are found throughout the world except at the highest altitudes, in polar regions, and on some small oceanic islands.
Many bees are black or gray, but others are bright yellow, red, or metallic green or blue.
Bees are adapted for feeding on nectar and pollen, the former primarily as an energy source, and the latter primarily for protein and other nutrients. Most pollen is used as food for larvae.
he best-known bee species is the European honey bee, The type of bee most used by bee keepers is called the Italian bee, because they are calm and produce lots of honey.
Italian Honeybee
Bees can fly about 15 mph and will fly in a 3 mile radiance of their hive to collect honey.
In 1852, L. L. Langstroth, a Congregational minister from Pennsylvania, patented a hive with movable frames that is still used today. Modern methods of beekeeping came very rapidly following Langstroth's patent. Other inventions soon followed that made large-scale, commercial beekeeping possible.
From the beginning of beekeeping in the 1600's until the early 1800's, we assume that honey was largely an article of local trade. Many farmers and villagers kept a few colonies of bees in box hives to supply their own needs and those of some friends, relatives, and neighbors.
It was not until 1957 that beekeeping made it to a Commercial scale.