Origin and Organisation
Colony origins
Most of our colonies are descended from a swarm collected in 2017 from the Eden Drive Allotments (next to the JR Hospital, in Headington, Oxford). Since then, the number of colonies has grown, as we have divided hives, and attracted or collected swarms from West Oxford and Abingdon.
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Hive structure
A typical colony comprises mostly workers (female), a small percentage of drones (male), and one queen. It can grow to 60,000 bees in the summer, but shrinks to a small cluster in winter. The queen's main purpose is to lay eggs and maintain the hive population, workers find food and maintain the hive, and drones may mate with queens from another hive. A queen may survive for several years, while summer bees live for only about six weeks.
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Bees' jobs & organisation
Throughout the spring and summer, worker bees progress through a series of duties. Younger ones tend the hive, while older bees forage outside. As highly social creatures, and often with the queen's direction, they collaborate for their collective good. They seem to sense when to build comb, forage, clean the hive, care for young, defend against predators, raise a new queen, or swarm to establish a new colony elsewhere.
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Worker settles on the hive
Bee Nutrition
Foraging
Bees forage for pollen (as protein for the brood), nectar (for energy, converted and stored as honey), plant resin (to make propolis, or 'bee glue', to seal and sanitise hives), and water (for hydration and ingesting hardened honey). No single crop dominates the area, and they can enjoy different pollen varieties all season. Pollen is stored in comb near the brood, and then mixed with honey and fed as 'bee bread' to developing bees by 'nurse' worker bees. See some different types (colours) of stored pollen in our photos and videos.
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Storing honey
During the busy period, from spring to early autumn, bees build up surplus stores of honey, especially when a 'flow' is on and nectar is plentiful. This may contribute to the later honey harvest, but we are sure to leave them enough for their own needs, especially before winter sets in. Surpluses are stored in comb further away from the brood, whose food stores are kept closer to hand.
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Local flora
Local garden and allotment flowers are abundant. Surrounding the apiary are apple, pear, plum and hawthorn blossom, and willow (flowering in spring), and blackberry bushes (flowering from June). Lavender, roses and lime trees (linden—excellent for bees) are also prevalent. Parts of our garden are left to wildflowers, and include dandelion, borage, cow parsley, buttercups, lady's smock, and clover. We also grow bee-friendly plants, such as foxgloves, hollyhocks, hebes, bluebells, cotoneaster, snapdragons, penstemon, rosemary, thyme, Michaelmas daisies and sedum.
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Foraging for nectar and pollen...
...in our garden...
...and local allotments
Hive Communication
Pheromones
The queen influences colony behaviour through releasing pheromones (biochemical scent). Each queen and hive has its own aroma, and the colony will detect a 'foreign' bee or other visitor which does not smell 'right'. Workers also use pheromones, notably when arriving at new hive: the vanguard will waft a scent by the entrance to encourage the others in!
Mood or temper can vary from hive to hive, and may change if a new queen is introduced. While we do not want wholly aggressive bees, a degree of feistiness can help them when defending their home against marauding predators, such as wasps or hornets.
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Vibration & touch
Bees also use vibration to communicate. Honeycomb is an excellent conductor of vibrations, and can aid the speedy transmission of messages. Lightly tap the outside of a hive, and you can hear a collective 'buzz' rise and fall from within. Bees use their famous 'waggle dance' to convey the whereabouts of a good source of food, indicating the direction in relation to the sun and the distance from the hive.
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Bees' antennae come into play when encountering other bees, and are also used to help judge distances when building comb. They do this collectively: intricate engineering through collaborative endeavour.​
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Sipping blackberry nectar, Botley Meadow Allotments
Colony Development
Early season development
In early spring, the hives begin to stir, and on warmer days some bees fly out to forage among early-flowering plants. Each colony must get off to a good start: the dwindling winter honey stores need replacing, and there will soon be many new mouths to feed. A mated queen starts laying eggs to build up the colony—up to 2000 daily at peak season. Nearly all emerge as females ('worker' bees), and work indoors before graduating as foragers.
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Raising brood
The queen lays methodically in zones, one egg per honeycomb cell. Fertilized eggs become workers, and unfertilized eggs become drones. They are fed a mix of pollen and honey, and royal jelly, and are tended by 'nurse' bees. Over a few weeks they develop into larvae, pupate within cocoons, and after chewing through a wax cap over their cell, emerge as adult bees to commence their hive duties.
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Brood area with food stores
Queen Bees
Need for a new queen
Workers will raise a new queen when necessary. Perhaps the current queen has swarmed together with a cloud of bees to establish a new colony elsewhere, or is failing to lay viable eggs, or has died. Without a laying queen, the hive is not 'queen right' and the colony becomes agitated.
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How queens are raised
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A new queen is raised in a specially constructed larger cell (shaped rather like peanut shell), and is fed on a special diet of 'royal jelly' only (unlike all the other bees, which also feed on bee bread). She is genetically the same as her sister-workers, but this diet turns her into a potential queen, with a longer body adapted for egg-laying.
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Mating
Several queen cells may be present simultaneously, but only one queen will eventually reign in the hive. A new, or 'virgin' queen must first mate—outside and 'on the wing' (a rare excursion from the safety of the hive). She will seek out a congregation of drones from a different colony, and mate with a dozen or perhaps twenty.
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Workers tending a queen cell
Drones and the Gene Pool
Purpose of drones
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Drones (male bees) can be identified from their larger bodies and eyes. They do no hive jobs nor foraging, and serve principally to fertilize queens (they may also have a secondary role in regulating hive temperature, it is thought). Ultimately, once they have served their purpose, they are not needed, and the workers may evict them—especially if hive stores are low (dead drones outside a hive can signal low food levels).
Fatherless brothers
Because her fertilized eggs have many drone-fathers, the queen's worker-daughters may be half-sisters (which can explain colour variations between workers in the same hive). The queen's drone-sons, however, have only her genes (coming from unfertilized eggs), and so are 'brothers' without a father.​
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Genetic diversity
Drones are essential for genetic diversity among local populations. While drone-brothers in a hive all share their mother's genes only, a queen who mates with drones from different hives will produce genetically varied daughters, one of whom will become a queen herself one day. Too few colonies in an area may weaken the gene pool, so a small apiary in the area can be a good thing!
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Top bar hive under apple blossom
Approaching Winter
Late in the season
Late in the season, and long after the honey harvest, temperatures begin to fall, and so does the colony size. The queen stops laying, and workers emerge with fatter bodies. While bees are well adapted for cold winters, damp hives can cause problems, so we check that there is sufficient ventilation before winter sets in.
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Slowing down
During the coldest months, bees cluster to keep the queen and themselves warm. They do not hibernate, but slow down significantly to conserve energy, only moving when essential. Overwintering bees age much more slowly than the active summer foragers, living for months rather than weeks.
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Towards spring
They rely on their stored honey reserves (hence we leave them with plenty in the autumn). Other than on warmer days when they exit briefly for reasons of hygiene, bees will not normally venture outside until the spring arrives, heralding the beginning of a new season. When temperatures are enough to warm their wing muscles, they will seek out early spring forage, such as hazel.
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The Apiary under snow