A fascinating story of bee keeping was presented by Albert Lah, guest speaker on 2 March 1921 & reinforced by the experience of Paul & Rom Kucera.
Most hives are of European bees which are much more productive of honey than Australian native bees.
There is one queen bee laying up to 1,500 eggs per day, some male drone bees but the majority are female working bees whose average life is some 5 weeks.
It takes months of hard work & attention to detail to establish a productive hive from a captured swarm but in return the bees pollinate a whole variety of plants with increase in quantity & quality of fruit. They are extremely well organised & communicate the source of their food with ritual dancing.
- A bee produces a teaspoon of honey (about 5 grams) in her lifetime.
- To produce a kilogram of honey, bees fly the equivalent of three times around the world.
Smoking the hive placates the bees by making them feel there is a bushfire so they gorge on honey in preparation for escape and can't sting. The smoke also dilutes aggression pheromones so there is little stimulation for attacking intruders.
The Rotary Club of Essendon is establishing 100 bee hives in Moonnee Valley in conjunction with the City Council to commemorate 100 years of Service since Rotary was established in Australia.
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