World of Bees
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Fun Beeswax Candles
If you've not made beeswax candles, it's time you gave it a go; and if you have, here are some interesting ideas from momscraftyspace.
How about a whole egg candle moulded in a real egg shell, or an orange peel candle for a delicious scent?
The Secret life of Whitehouse Bees
Who knew that the White House has its own bees? Not only that, but this year they've expanded their hive and expect even more honey.
First Lady Mrs. Obama presented Samantha Cameron with a gift of a crystal vase of the honey during the recent official visit.
Studies link pesticides to colony collapses
Studies in the UK and France have linked declining bee populations and the falling crop yields to commonly-used pesticides.
Scientists exposed a number of colonies to neonicotinoids and gave others a natural diet. The bees in the first group collected less food and produced alarmingly few queens.
Bees turn part of house into big hive
They do things bigger and better in Texas and this week more than 150,000 bees have been removed from a house where they'd built a massive hive.
The hive was estimated to be 3-4 years old. After being smoked and boxed they will be removed to the countryside and used in education.
Bees have personalities, too
We know that bees have a structured society with bees allocated specific jobs.
But a new study suggests that they also have individual personalities controlled by the same chemicals that affect the human personaility.
May your bees be good-natured ones.
Indigenous Chinese bees threatened
The introduction of the more productive Italian honey bees to China, as well as environmental degradation has threatened the indigenous bees.
The italian bee is more popular but brought a virus (sacbrood) which has killed Chinese bees.
The indigenous bees are better pollinators. Their honey is deep in colour, more nutritious and tastes fragrant. It sells for more than the Italian variety.
Work is going on to protect Chinese bees.
Glass jar observation hive
This beekeeper tried placing a glass jar over a hole in his hive. The result is an easily-improvised observation hive and the pictures are fascinating!
Beeswax artist Nancy Pollock
Encaustic painting, or painting with beeswax, is at least as old as the ancient Egyptians, who placed beeswax portraits of the dead on their mummies.
The beeswax is mixed with resin and color and then melted for use. nancy also uses more modern tools such as heat guns, hot plates, torches and power tools.
In this interview, Nancy Pollock discusses her technique and career.
buzzz
Artist hannah Haworth was commissioned to knit 50 bees as part of last year's exhibition The Plight of the Bees at the Union Gallery.
Unfortunately the exhibition is now over but these images of the knitted bees and Hanna's original drawings still exist on her blog.
Hannah says, "I began by knitting the body from the back to the head, then I picked up stitches to make the wings which I used a simple lace stitch pattern for. Then there was all the legs and antennae to add..."
Her bee pattern is available on Ravelry with 40% of the proceeds going to the Bumblebee Conservation Trust.
Bathing the beeswax
In order to remove the dirt and other debris from his beeswax, peter of the Winnebago Diaries explains how he gives it a bath - stirs cold water into the warm wax.
The dirt is washed out and when it all separates and cools, the dirt layer can be scraped off.
'Bee fences' to deter elephants
An Indian state is considering 'bee fences' along forest borders to deter elephants. They raid human habitat for food and water.
Elephants tend to avoid areas with bees. The bee sting doesn't penetrate their hide, but bees often sting around their eyes and inside the trunk, causing immense discomfort.
World of Bees blog: A happy sight
This was a happy sight today. One of my honeybees taking advantage of the beautiful warm sunshine to gather pollen. Very important for all the new brood that needs feeding.
Bee keeper removes huge wasps' nest from his loft
Bee keeper Derrick Swinfield found the 5ft by 4ft wasps' nest in his loft.
He knew that the wasps either leave or die naturally in the late autumn and so he waited until he was sure that they were all gone before he moved the nest from the loft to his conservatory.
Nothing like a bee hive, the wasps' nest is made from chewed up wood and bark. He had to cut it into four pieces in order to get it down, and pans to dissect and study it further.
Verroa resistance breeding programme to continue
An eight-year old New Zealand breeding programme designed to create hives more tolerant to verroa is to continue.
Funding has run out for the programme, but beekeepers from a honey marketing company have decided to take up the reins. They feel that the expense and huge amount of work is worthwhile because the current chemical treatment is also expensive and becoming less effective as the mite develops resistance.
The breeding programme involves artificial insemination from a colony that has a behaviour of cleaning the hive by uncapping and removing infested larva. This behaviour is known as varroa sensitive hygiene (VSH).
Casting beeswax for translucent lightcatcher
Beeswax is translucent, even when set and so can be used to make lovely window decorations as seen here on Julie Hunter's Natural Kids blog.
A Different Kind of Beekeeping
Cultivation of a large and diverse group of bees, 'stingless' bees, is being studied.
Mayans have raised this alternative type of bee, but it's growing in Brazil too. The honey is runnier, tastes different to honeybee honey and has medicinal uses. It's produced in smaller quantities and so is more expensive.
Insecticides taking toll on honeybees
In this article in the Columbia Daily Tribune, Jan Wiese-Fales writes about a widely-used systemic insecticide which may be responsible for the mysterious colony collapse disorder.
The chemicals mentioned are present in products available to gardeners. Banned in some countries, but legally available in many others, so please check any products that you may be using.
Beeswax artist works his way out of homelessness
LeRone Wilson heats and layers hot wax into award-winning art which sells for over $15,000.
Four years ago he spent ten months in a homeless shelter, but continued his work and eventually sold work, allowing him to move into his own home.
Beeswax candle dipping
candle dipping is a fun craft activity that kids and adults alike can enjoy. The resulting candles give a lovely glow and a lovely smell to a room.
Here Ruth takes us step-by-step through the process and gives us tips and suggestions too.
Help Save Bees
Our native bees are in danger. 'Help Save Bees' have published a lovely website containing lots of information including ID charts and top tips.
Organic alternative weedkillers good for bees
A study by scientists from the UK and New Zealand found that encouraging gardeners to plant flowers in order to help restore the bee population could be counterproductive due to the high amounts of chemical weed killer gardeners use. Instead scientists have suggested that the green-fingered use organic weed killer as a ecologically friendly alternative. Recipes for organic weed killer can be found at ehow and weedkiller.org:
http://www.ehow.com/how_4863528_organic-alternatives-roundup-weed-killer.html
http://www.weed-killer.org/organic-weedkiller-recipes/
50% increase in bee colonies in the last six months
The British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA) has reported today that the number of bee colonies has increased by 50% in the last six months and that 3.5 million pounds of honey has been harvested this summer for the nation's tea tables by amateur beekeepers.
Bees quicker than computers
The 'travelling salesman' problem - working out the shortest distance between a number of points - still proves a challenge for mathematicians. The only way for a computer to work it out is to calculate all possible routes and see which is shortest. Yet bees with their tiny one-million-neuron brains may have the answer. It's been shown this week that they can solve this conundrum and find the shortest route between the flowers that they discover.
Making beeswax wood polish
In this blog post Woodmouse gives us recipe and simple instructions for making beeswax polish for wood.
Bee Part of It!
BBC Local Radio and the National Trust launch a national campaign today to investigate and highlight the decline of the honeybee population in Britain and to encourage people do what they can to help the honeybee re-establish itself.
Each BBC Local Radio station is adopting its own honeybee hive, based at a National Trust property, allowing listeners to follow a colony over their busiest period of the year.
There are plenty of ways for people to lend their support to help honeybees.
Poster - 'Make a Bumblebee Home' How To Poster (Download Pdf).
You can also follow BBC Presenter and avid beekeper Martha Kearney on Twitter: twitter.com/Marthakearney
Artist begins bee-related residency at Yorkshire Sculpture Park
Artist Rebecca Chesney has begun a year long residency at YSP, researching the bees and plants of the Bretton Estate to provide inspiration for new work, which may include drawings, photographs, installations and films. The residency will also draw attention to the plight of bees.
The YSP Centre display includes further information, ways to become involved in the project and a virtual hive.
For information and links about related events, webcam, a bee project blog, please follow the link below:
