Beekeeping Through History: Products of the Hive Lecture

1. Pests, Plagues & Politics Lecture 6Products of the Hive Honey – Wax – Pollen – Venom - Royal Jelly “The devil made the wasp, but God made the honey bee” ~ Old Germanic Saying

2. Key PointsProducts of the Hive • History of Beekeeping • Modern Apiculture • Removeable Top Bar Frames • Bee Space • Honeybee products • Honey • Wax • Pollen, venom, royal jelly • Pollination Services

3. Prehistoric relations • Prehistoric records show a honey bee/human connection going back 6,000 BP • Humans were essentially another predator of the honey bee Smoking the hive Motopo Hills, Zimbabwe, ca. 10,000 yrs ago Mesolithic cave painting Cueva de la Arana, Bicorp, Spain

4. Historic Record • Humans eventually began providing cavities for honey bees to nest in. • Earliest records are Egyptian

5. Egyptian beekeeping Harvesting honey combs (right) and packing honey (left) ca. 1450 BC, West Bank, Luxor

6. Apiculture • The “management” of honey bees • Primary species utilized: • Apismellifera L. – The European honey bee • Two Biotypes: • European – adapted for temperate climates • African – adapted for tropical climates • Ca. 27 subspecies/biotypes in the world. • Honey bees to the western hemisphere ca. 1622 by European colonists

7. WHY KEEP BEES • Provide valuable products for our comfort, pleasure, & nutrition. • These are: • Honey - 200 million pounds per annum (U.S.) • Pollination - 16 billion $$ of agricultural product • Wax, Pollen, Royal Jelly, Venom

8. Prior to 1853 Beekeeping was Inefficient/Wasteful • Skep hive – used for 2000 years • made of mud, clay or straw • unable to inspect for pests, disease • harvest destructive

9. The “Modern” Era of Beekeeping • Started in 1853 with the publication of the book THE HIVE & THE HONEYBEE • Written by L.L. Langstroth • The “Father” of modern beekeeping • Introduced the concept of “bee space” • From which the TOP-OPENING, MOVABLE FRAME HIVE evolved.

10. Bee Space – when bees have less than 1 cm to move around in, they will not build wax or propolis attachments to the wall of a hive, allowing for the removal of frames Bee Space 1/4th to 3/8th inch

11. The modern beehive

12. HONEY • A saturated solution of carbohydrates • ca. 17% water • ca. 82.5% sugar: • fructose 38% • glucose 31% • maltose 7% • sucrose 1.5% • et alia 6% • ca. 0.5% protein, minerals, vitamins & • MAGIC

13. Honey • Produced from plant nectar • Primarily from flowers • Also extra-floral nectaries • Precursor of nectar is: • Phloem sap • Most often a dilute solution of sucrose • Essentially bees do two things: • Dehydrate • Enzymatic “inversion” of sucrose to glucose & fructose

14. FYI +

15. HONEY • The first sweetener (long before sugar cane) • Our first alcoholic beverage(mead) • Production: • U.S. 200 million pounds per annum • World: two billion pounds per annum • Consumption: • U.S., one pound - Germany, four pounds • Myriad of minor uses • pharmacy - medicinal vehicle & taste corrective, wound dressing • cosmetics

16. BEESWAX • COSMETICS • creams, lotions, lipstick • CANDLES • liturgical, Jewish, Greek Orthodox, but most of all the RCC. • BEEKEEPING • foundation beeswax http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceremonial_use_of_lights#Candles

17. Comb from Beeswax

18. Beeswax • Produced from four pairs of sub-dermal glands on the underside of the abdomen of a worker bee. • When the bee is 10 to 18 days old • Produced as small, translucent flakes • Precursor is honey & nectar (carbohydrates)

19. Wax scales from wax glands

21. BEESWAX COMPOSITION • Over 300 identified individual components • hydrocarbons (14%) • monoesters (35%) • diesters (14%) • hydroxy polyesters (8%) • free acids (12%)

22. Royal Jelly • Definition • the glandular secretions of young worker bees (4-10 days old), produced by the hypopharyngeal in the head, used as food for larval bees. • Composition • 66% water • 14% protein • 14% carbohydrate • 5% lipid (fats & sterols)

23. Queen cell Royal jelly in cell

24. Bee Venom • Uses • As Pure Bee Venom for use in desensitization • As quackery for charlatans in treating a variety of neurological disorders.

25. VENOM • Composition • a mixture of proteins & peptides • melittin 50% dry wt • phospholipase A 12% dry wt • hyaluronidase <3% dry wt. • acid phosphatase <1% dry wt. • histamine <1% dry wt.

26. VENOM • Melittin • lysis of blood & mast cells - release of histamine & serotonin from mast cells - depression of blood pressure & respiration. • Phospholipase A • cell lysis - pain - toxicity; synergistic with melittin • Hyaluronidase • hydrolyzes connective tissue - the spreading factor • Histamine • itching & pain • Acid phosphatase • involved in allergic reaction

27. POLLEN • Plant male gametophyte • a reproductive structure that carries sperm • A primary food substance for bees • directly as food to older larvae • indirectly as the precursor for royal jelly {think of honey bees as specialized herbivores}

28. POLLEN COMPOSITION • Protein • from 6 to 28% • Lipids • from 1 to 20%, but usually <5% • Sterols • <less than 0.5% • Additionally • sugars, starches, vitamins, minerals Pollen grain of chamomile flower

29. Why eating pollen might not be such a good idea!! • Economics $8 to $12 per pound • Nutrition = that of soybean flour Not quantifiable • Pesticide residues Especially fungicides • Allergies

30. Greatest Value of {honey} Bees • Pollination • U.S. = 15 billion $/annum • Oregon = 600 million $/annum • Fiscal mainstay for commercial beekeepers in PNW.

31. PROPOLIS • Sticky resinous material collected by bees. • They scrape with the help of mandibles and then carry to hive on hind legs.

33. Key PointsProducts of the Hive • History of Beekeeping • Modern Apiculture • Removeable Top Bar Frames • Bee Space • Honeybee products • Honey • Wax • Pollen, venom, royal jelly • Pollination Services