The demand for crops dependent on honeybees and other pollinators, such as almonds, apples and blueberries, has grown over 300% in the past 50 years. This recent study, published by Environmental Science & Technology, also outlines that the areas most dependent on pollinators for crop survival provide the worst conditions to house these same pollinators! Come on! Our nation’s pollinators can’t seem to catch a break… When Bees Have to CommuteBecause California produces just about 80% of the world’s almonds, and the state doesn’t have enough suitable habitat for honeybees to thrive naturally, can you guess what needs to happen? Shuttles for bees! There are many companies that now deliver their bees, sometimes traveling thousands of miles, to these needy crop areas in California. The bees do their work, generally from January to March, pollinating the almond trees, and are then bundled back up for the long ride home again. This all sounds like a nice compromise, right? If the almond trees are taking up all of the land, and therefore the natural habitat for bees and other pollinators, what’s the harm to raising these bees elsewhere and letting them work in CA? There are a Few Things Wrong with this Arrangement…First, the areas growing these high-value crops tend to use chemicals more often and tend to have less diverse species of flowering plants and shrubs. Diversity equates to health. The “corporate” bees, raised in controlled environments, get to head back home to their native beehives after a few months in California. But what about the wild bees and other diverse species of pollinator? They don’t have the luxury and are now suffering. Second, if you throw in a severe drought and the ongoing risk of wildfires, things will only get worse. The local pollinators won’t thrive and will die off. When this happens, it actually causes the bees that are shuttled in to work less efficiently. There is new research coming out of Penn State, by Christina Grozinger, director of the Center for Pollination Research, that shows “…if you have multiple species of bees, you get better pollination. Having a diverse community of pollinators can be crucial for both production and quantity.” Sounds like a MAJOR Catch 22, right?Take over the land to produce high-yield crops DEPENDENT on pollinators. Destroy the natural resources including all diverse plant life, and use pesticides guaranteed to destroy the habitat these pollinators require. Truck in bees from other states and hopefully get them to pick up the slack on the pollination time card. Meanwhile the lack of diversity in local healthy pollinators stresses out the commuter bees making them less efficient than the natural pollinators would have been if the ecosystem could be designed to actually WORK on both sides of the equation! What about Bees with Special Job Requirements? When you remove the “local” pollinators from an area, you’ve essentially removed the working species that know the land, are familiar with the plants in their area and can work efficiently to gather the pollen from these plants. Bees that are shipped in to an area do not know the lay of the land, and may not be entirely familiar with different plant species and the intricate ways they might need to harvest pollen from these plants. Neal Williams, a professor of bee biology at the University of California has said, “…in California, when wild bees emerge in the spring and fly Ito almond and fruit orchards, there’s an increase in nut and fruit yield.” The more diverse the pollinator group working the land, the more marketable the crop. It makes sense then that the current situation is not working and a new design must be found. Another bit of Scary NewsAccording to USDA Surveys on honey colonies in the US, up to 230,000 colonies collapse in California during almond pollination season. “Pollinator fees are now the largest single component of operation costs in almond production in the Sacramento and northern Joaquin Valleys.” Luckily…there are some almond growers out west that are actually starting to experiment with a diverse population of pollinators. While honeybees will generally fly row to row in an almond orchard, these growers are working with a local bee called the “blue orchard bee”, which flies erratically from tree to tree and row to row, scattering the pollen more efficiently than the honey bee. This is the tip of the “almond”, but it’s a step in the right direction and hopefully other growers will follow suit. … If you haven’t read our last blog, which focused on the EPA and the use of toxic chemicals, we want to reiterate some news and facts that might interest you below! Have you heard of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s (NRDC) Pollinator Initiative?This is a major campaign designed to defend bees, butterflies and other pollinators from harsh chemicals released from many large companies and approved for use without restriction. Right now they are fighting a court battle against the EPA’s reauthorization of the weedkiller “glyphosate”, stating that the EPA has completely ignored warnings from medical experts and scientists about the serious risks to our environment and health. Hundreds of thousands of NRDC members and activists are contacting the EPA now in protest of these dangerous chemicals and calling on restrictions. It’s timely because the EPA is scheduled to perform a hazard review, which includes these chemicals, that should be completed by the end of 2022. However, once they reach their conclusions, they will not need to have another review until 2037! 15 years later! If the ruling does not reverse the use of these chemicals, more of our pollinators will be lost, or soon enough, completely wiped out. Food Sources Will Also Decline“A study published by Rutgers University in July 2020 found that foods such as apples, cherries, and blueberries are already ‘pollinator limited,’ meaning a lack of pollinators is leading to lower crop yields. But there is HOPE! Take Action by Contacting the EPA!We must join the fight and act now so we can affect change and insist that the EPA follows the science to restrict the use of these pollinator-destroying chemicals. TAKE ACTION NOW BY VISITING: nrdc.org/savebees to fill out the form petition. Your message will be sent to: Michael Regan, EPA Administrator with the subject line:Save our pollinators – and our food supply – from toxic pesticides! Add your personal info and you will have joined the fight against big corporations and the manufacturing and use of these toxic chemicals. *Our source is the NRDC “Natures’ Voice” Summer 2021 Publication. Thanks for supporting the bees and for supporting Little Bee of CT. Visit our site to learn more about our company and our products.

For beekeepers across the country, the end of the calendar year is usually the quietest time. The honeybees are in their winter cluster and there’s not much the beekeeper can do for them until spring. Many of us use this time to reflect on what went well, what went wrong, and what to do differently next year. Let’s look back through the Little Bee Beekeepers Calendar and the events of this past season.   January through March: Honeybees are not very active in the winter months. They’re in a cluster in the center of the hive to maintain warmth. Only leaving the hive when the temperature is above 50° F for a cleansing flight to relieve themselves of waste. (Check out a previous blog post How Do Honey Bees Survive Cold Temperatures? to learn more.) For the beekeeper, the new year marks the beginning of the season and time to start planning to ensure a successful year. While the temperatures will still be cold for weeks to come, now is the time to prepare for spring. Inspecting beekeeping equipment so it’s clean and ready when the weather is warm enough to enter the hives. Order and assemble hive components for replacing worn out parts or expanding the number of hives. Purchase bee packages early before they sell out. Start feeding the hives to supplement early season nectar and pollen foraging. Taking these steps helps get the hives off to a good start in the spring.   April through June: Spring is when the hives really come to life. The warmer weather brings the flowers and the bees are eager to get out there to forage. Back in the hive, the queen is already laying almost 2000 eggs a day to boost the hive population. More bees + More nectar = More HONEY!!!! For the beekeeper April is when we get our first chance to look inside the hive to see how well they survived winter. We want to see a great brood pattern with lots of eggs, pollen, and honey. If we don’t and the hive looks weak, then we must assess the issue. If the hive needs to be rescued, we can donate a frame or two of bees from a strong hive to boost the population or we can replace an underperforming queen. As we move into May, strong hives will be filling the hive with lots of nectar to turn into honey while the queen continues to lay eggs. Unfortunately, this battle for space can cause the hive to swarm. To prevent swarming, we add additional boxes called honey supers to the hives. This provides additional space for nectar/honey while not crowding the queen. With ample space for all we wait patiently for June when the supers are full and the nectar flow slows down. Once the honeycomb is capped with wax it’s time for the spring honey harvest. Uncapping, extracting, and bottling all that golden goodness.   July through August: During the early summer the temperatures increase and nectar sources may dry up. The hive will start to look for alternate sources which is why you may see them at your summer picnics. Inside the hive the warmth starts to impact the hive. To help keep it cool, the bees will congregate on the front step and fan their wings to circulate air through. During extreme heat a good portion of the bees will cluster on the outside of the hive in a process called wash boarding or bearding. Check out this quick video to better understand. Bearding Explanation – Instagram. As we get into August and September the summer nectar sources start to return as the bees start preparing for the fall/winter. With reduced natural sources in July we try not to disturb the hive unless necessary. The hive is already under stress and we don’t want to add to it. The bees may start to consume their honey reserves, so we need to keep an eye on them and provide supplemental feed if needed. Once the mid to late summer flowers start blooming the nectar flow is on, we stop feeding and add the honey supers in anticipation of the next honey harvest in September.   October through December: The cooler temperatures of October send a signal to the hive that winter is approaching. Preparations are being made inside to help aid in their survival. The last of the nectar is being ripened into honey to provide nourishment until spring. Gaps in the hive are being filled with propolis to minimize drafts and leaks. The queen stops laying eggs. Drone bees are evicted since they do nothing to help the hive through the cold. Once the temperatures stop going above 50 degrees, the bees will remain inside until it warms up again. October represents the last opportunity for us to do what we can to help the hive make it through winter. After last month’s honey harvest, we begin feeding the hives to allow them to produce as much honey as possible. Here in Connecticut a strong hive will consume 60 to 80 pounds of honey through the winter. The bees are also treated to reduce varroa mites via a natural method. Left untreated, mites can spread disease and kill the hive. Lastly before the warm days are gone, we’ll add a candy board (a block of sugar) under the hive cover as an emergency food source if needed and say goodbye until spring.   That brings us back to December, reflecting on the year at hand, and making plans for next year. For Little Bee it was a mixed year. Our hives started out slow. Taking more time than usual to grow in population which resulted in a poor spring harvest. With a little patience, the queens kicked into gear, and we ended with some of the strongest hives I’ve ever seen this season. There was lots of honey and pollen in the hives when I checked at the end of the season. So fingers crossed, say a prayer, because it’s in Mother Nature’s hands now. Hopefully we’ll see activity on all the hives come spring.   For more information on any of the all-natural products we create at Little Bee of CT, visit our site or email us at info@littlebeeofct.com, Don’t forget to follow @littlebeeofct on Instagram and Facebook where we post daily updates! Thank you for supporting Little Bee of CT and the busy beekeepers around the world!

If you follow us on Facebook and Instagram, you’ll see many posts highlighting the fascinating aspects of our favorite pollinator, the honey bee. We want to take a closer look at this amazing little creature and provide some perhaps not-so-common facts that we hope will interest and astound you. After all, without the honey bee, our food sources would suffer tremendously, and some would disappear completely. Now, in no particular order, let’s get buzzing about these bees! 10. Beeswax Is Created from a Special Gland on the Honey Bee. There are eight glands on the abdomen of the youngest worker bees which produce tiny wax droplets. As soon as the wax is exposed to oxygen, the droplets harden. The worker bees use their mouths to soften the wax and make it pliable. Then the older workers construct the honeycomb. Want to learn a bit more about how honey bees make beeswax? Click here and read this detailed article! (https://www.thoughtco.com/how-honey-bees-make-beeswax-1968102) 9. The Hive is Kept at a Constant Temperature of 93° Fahrenheit. During the hot summer months, bees will fan their wings to keep the air circulating. The hum from all these beating wings can be heard from many feet away. In the colder months, the bees will gather closely together and circle the queen to keep her warm. The bees can maintain this temperature even during drastic weather changes. 8. Honey Bees Top Speed Can Reach 15 to 20 MPH! Honey bees are not built for long distance travel, but more for short bursts of speed as they travel flower to flower. Once they are loaded up with pollen, they travel closer to 12 MPH. And, to get home with the extra weight, they flap their wings 12-15,000 times per minute! This photo shows the baggage a little bee must carry on the flight back from the flower garden. 7. One Queen Bee Can Lay up to 2,000 Eggs in One Day. Queens have one job and that job is reproduction. A mere 48 hours after mating, she will begin to produce eggs, and won’t stop until she has produced her own body weight in eggs each day. The average is about 1,500 eggs per day, This leaves little time for eating or grooming, so she has her attendant worker bees take care of the household chores for her. Watch this closeup and personal video of a Queen mating in air! (https://youtu.be/i7hGIP-RE8k) 6. If the Queen Dies, a Replacement Queen is Created. It is rare, but sometimes the queen bee dies. If she has laid eggs within 5 days of dying, there is a good chance that the hive can create a replacement queen, by swapping her diet of honey and bee bread for royal jelly. This “emergency” queen won’t be as successful as one fed royal jelly from birth, but she will ensure the longevity of the hive, and can pick up where the previous queen left off. (Like bossing around the workers, and then mating and killing off drones.) 5. Honey Bees are Amazing Mathematicians. Why are honey bees a fan of the hexagon? It’s one of the most efficient design shapes for economizing labor and beeswax. Bees can actually calculate angles and understand the curve of the earth. Woah, right? To learn more about the honey bee and the hexagon, watch this Ted Talk Video. (https://ed.ted.com/lessons/why-do-honeybees-love-hexagons-zack-patterson-and-andy-peterson) 4. No Couch Potatoes Allowed. Bees are Hard Workers. Each bee has its own specific job. Whether it’s attending to the nursery, gathering pollen and nectar, removing waste from the hive, or the deadly task of mating with the queen, these bees get the job done in a precise and orderly fashion. A single colony of bees can pollinate over 300 million flowers … a day! (No Netflix and Chill for these little bees.) 3. What a Honey Bee Gathers Determines What it Will Become in the Hive. Bees will forage for a few things: Nectar, pollen, water and propolis (a resin-like substance collected from tree buds.). The nectar and pollen become honey and bee bread, to feed the hive (and if we’re lucky…us!). Water is used to cool the hive, The propolis is mainly structural and used to fill in crevices in the hive structure. 2. Honey Bees Have an Amazing Sense of Smell. They can smell the difference between Lilac and Lavender. (Well, so can we.) Bees have over 170 “odorant receptors”, which also help them to communicate with the hive. 1. Honey Bees Do Sleep. They are one of the hardest working species, and therefore deserve to catch some ZZZZ’s. But, honey bees don’t sleep the way that humans and animals sleep. They do remain very still and may even “power nap” to refresh, or conserve energy. Bees also use this down time to rehash the days memories, stabilizing them so they can be accessed the next day and even in the future.   For more information on any of the all-natural products we create at Little Bee of CT, email us at info@littlebeeofct.com, Don’t forget to follow @littlebeeofct on Instagram and Facebook where we post daily updates on our products and our favorite creature…the little bee! Thank you for supporting Little Bee of CT and the busy beekeepers around the world!

The world is full of famous proverbs. Like “No use crying over spilt milk” or “Laughter is the best medicine”. Beekeeping is no different. Two of the most common I’ve heard over the years are “Ask 10 beekeepers and you’ll get 11 answers” or “It’s not a matter of if but when bears find your hives”. Well, unfortunately one found our hives in Newtown, CT this past month. We hoped that, due to their location, this would never happen. However, when it did, it set off a series of events and decisions to be carefully executed if we wanted to save them. In this months’ “Chronicles from the Hive” come along and see what it’s like when Winnie the Pooh sets foot in your bee yard…. Receiving the news The family in Newtown that allowed me to place hives on their property have been great partners. It is such an incredible spot on over 20 acres of grasses and wildflowers. They love seeing the honeybees buzzing around and I even had an opportunity to teach their kids a couple things about bees. One morning they were out and noticed that something didn’t look quite right. Where there were previously three hives now only stood two. Approaching, from the safety of their car, to get a better view they saw a hive on the ground and broken apart. A few pictures were snapped and sent to me. As soon as I saw them, I was fairly certain it was a bear…   Assessing the situation As soon as I could I packed up my gear and headed over to check things out. On the 20 minute drive over, I kept thinking I should’ve installed an electric fence, I should’ve installed an electric fence on repeat. I have a fence in Southbury and no bears have broken through (fingers crossed I didn’t just jinx myself).  As the proverb says, “There’s no use crying over spilt milk”. Can’t change what happened, can only rescue the hives that are there and do my best to make sure they survive. Arrived to a scene straight out of the three little pigs. One hive knocked over (Straw), one with the top off (Sticks), and one still intact (Bricks). Bees from the other hives trying to find new shelter where they could. Unfortunately, honeybees don’t play nice like that. The guard bees from that hive will do what it takes to defend the hive from what it sees as invaders and this looked like a war zone. Staying a few feet further back than usual, I suited up and went in. Smoker in hand, I approached the hive on the ground. The bottom box was still whole with all 10 frames in place. A couple quick puffs of smoke to refocus their attention and I picked it up and placed in back on the stand. The second box was not so lucky. Six of the frames were laying on the ground with the honeycomb broken out or scraped off. The tall grass behind the hives where they were found was trampled from what I can only imagine is a black bear rolling with a face full of bees. Further, I could see a gap in grass where it no doubt ran away as fast as it could. What are our options? Once a bear finds a hive, they are likely to return, even though it means another face full of bees. When a bear got one of our hives in Southbury a few years ago, it took two days to get the parts and build it. During those two days the bear came back. Thankfully, we had put ratchet straps on the hives to keep the boxes together as a temporary measure, so it was able to knock it over but not get inside  We were lucky.  Not so sure we would be as lucky this time around. Ratchet straps would hold the hives together, but not necessarily hold from a determined bear.  If it came back that would likely be the end of them. Decision Time The bear situation, the health and safety of the hives, and the fact that we are getting closer to the end of the season for honeybees, really meant only one logical plan. Move the hives from Newtown over to Southbury. How difficult could it possibly be to move 50,000 angry bees?! During the day a good percentage of the bees are out foraging for nectar and pollen. Some travel as far away as three miles from the hive. If I picked it up at noon and moved it, by the end of the day, tens of thousands of bees would come back to no home. Plus, given that there were thousands of bees all over the front of the hives, they needed some time to calm down. So, I packed up and planned to come back during the night. This would help ensure that all of the bees were in their respective hives and not foraging or trying to get into another hive.   Relocation I returned at about 8:30 that night with my daughter, THE Little Bee of Little Bee of Connecticut, to pick them up. When we arrived, we were both happy to see that there was no longer any activity outside of the hives. Now we still can’t just pick them up and leave. The entire colony is inside. Over 50,000 bees in one hive ready to defend their home if necessary. One slip and they’ll start pouring out. Stinging the closest thing they can, which would be us. That would be bad and then we’d have to wait for them to get back in the hive again. The hives need to be sealed up before moving them. An entrance reducer with duct tape over the holes was put over the front of the hive and tacked in place. Short of dropping the hive, this would ensure that everyone stays inside for the next hour. The two of us got in position on either side of the first hive. Placing one hand each under the front and back of the hive we grabbed hold of the bottom board. Slowly lifting it off the cinder block base and into the air. You could hear the sound of the bees change as soon as the hive started moving. The low buzzing got much louder as the collective just inside sensed a disturbance. Carefully walking towards the truck being sure not to trip or move faster than the other, we gently placed the hive on the tailgate and slid it into place. The concerned buzzing quickly died down. We then repeated the same process for the other two hives. No hives dropped and no bees escaped.  WHEW! Picking up the cinder block hive stands was the last step and honestly harder than moving the hives themselves. Now it was time to drive them back to Southbury. Release and reorientation. Got back home about 9:30pm and set out to put the hives in the bee yard inside the electric fence. Plugged in some additional work lights to help illuminate the area. Since “Laughter is the best medicine”, my daughter and I commenced with shadow puppets on the trees. After placing the blocks in position, it was now time to move the hives to their new home. You could hear their agitation inside the hive after the drive which included winding roads and highways as well. Just as carefully as we loaded them we removed them from the truck. Gently setting them down on the hive stand. Once all three were unloaded and in position for a couple minutes, it was time to open the entrances. Standing to the side and slightly behind, I removed the reducer. Only a few bees darted out, but none of them were trying to sting us. A larger group slowly emerged and stood on the front entrance. Curious about their new environment. Since it was dark out exploring and orientation would need to wait until the morning. And that they did. Lots of activity in the morning outside each hive as they soaked in and adapted to their new surroundings   The Little Bee and I hope you enjoyed reading about our adventure and a side of beekeeping that most outsiders don’t really know about. Thank you for supporting Little Bee of CT and the passionate beekeepers around the world!

Do you love local honey? Are you SURE you’re purchasing local honey? More and more people are understanding the health benefits of local honey – from ingesting the natural pollen for allergy control, to antibacterial properties for wounds, to a soothing cup of hot honey and lemon for a sore throat. They are also understanding the plight of the honey bee through national coverage by CNN, Time, National Geographic, to name a few and are buying to help support local beekeeping. My favorite local honey is of course… Little Bee of Connecticut, mainly, because I am the beekeeper. I’m proud to say that Little Bee of Connecticut honey is truly, pure local honey. I know what went into harvesting it and that it hasn’t been processed or otherwise adulterated in any way. I can’t stress enough, when buying your local honey, know your honey source, and if at all possible, know your beekeeper. Just because it’s honey being sold locally doesn’t necessarily mean it is local honey, or raw honey, or even pure honey. Truly local honey means that the bees should be collecting the nectar and pollen in the local area not just harvesting the honey locally. The label might say the town of the beekeeper and it might be local to you. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the honey is local. Some beekeepers rent out their hives for pollination of crops. The hives will be transported, possibly to other regions of the country for several weeks/months and placed in a field. In this situation the pollen and nectar sources may not be local to the hives original home. When the hives do return home and the honey harvested, it should not be considered local honey. Be sure to ask the seller/beekeeper where the hives are located and are they rented out for pollination. If they are, be sure that the hives stayed local. If not, it’s not local honey. Pure honey is produced entirely from pollen and nectar collected by bees. However, by feeding the bees sugar syrup during the honey producing/harvesting season, beekeepers can increase the the amount of “honey” produced. The bees are not able to tell the difference between the sugar syrup and real nectar, so they will collect it and convert it into “honey”. “Honey” produced by this method is not considered real honey by most beekeepers. It may look like honey and have a taste of honey, but I feel it is deceptive to sell this as honey, as you are selling honey flavored sugar syrup. Always ask if the beekeeper feeds their bees sugar during the honey producing season (May to September). If they do, then you may not be buying real local honey. The process used by the beekeeper to harvest the honey can have an impact to the look, flavor, and most importantly the benefits of local honey. Most honey found in the supermarket is commercial honey and comes from multiple sources. The honey has likely been pasteurized by heating to almost 160F. This allows the honey to be easily filtered, bottled, and gives it a uniform look. Fine filtering can remove the beneficial pollen from the honey. Heat treating can impact the color, flavor, all the natural vitamins, living enzymes, and other nutritional elements. Be sure to ask how your local honey was harvested to ensure that it has not been filtered or heated so that it retains all the benefits you are buying it for. Little Bee of Connecticut’s hives are all located in Southbury and Newtown, CT, and are not rented for pollination. We do not feed our bees sugar during the honey producing/harvesting season. At harvest time, the honey goes direct from the honey comb, through a mesh strainer to remove wax pieces, and directly into our jars without any other processing. The way honey should be. Pick up a jar of Little Bee Honey,  compare it to your grocery store bottle, and taste the difference. Little Bee of Connecticut is a small family owned apiary located in Southbury, CT. The premise behind Little Bee of CT is a simple one: provide locally produced, unique products from the hive, while educating their customers on what we can all do to help support honey bee survival. Founded by Scott Priore, it quickly became apparent that beekeeping would be a passion versus just a “hobby”. All their products are handmade in small batches and only include simple, minimal ingredients. They offer a variety of honey and beeswax-based products including Hand Rolled Beeswax Candles, Hand/Body Salve, Lip Balms, Solid Perfumes, Sea Salt Body Scrubs, as well as Locally Produced Honey.