Kingdom Animalia, Food Chain ConsumersPhylum Arthropoda, exoskeleton, segmented, jointed appendagesClass InsectaOrder Hymenoptera, membranous wings, 2 sets, hookedFamily Apiidae, Bees (20,000), Wasps, AntsGenus Apis, Honeybees, (7)Species MelliferaApis Mellifera

History of BeekeepingEssex County Beekeepers Association Practical Beekeeping 2007

Bill Bleem

So, Who were the first to exploit bees for their Honey and Wax?

RomansPliny wrote about beekeeping in about 50ADWrote about wax, and propolisDescribed a transparent (Observation) hiveThe Mead consumed by the Celts!Bees are the smallest of birds, and are born from the bodies of oxen

Virgil wrote about beekeeping in about 40BC Keep hives:Near waterOut of the windAway for lizards, moths, and birdsEmphasized the hives rulerPraised Bees for their abstension from Sexual intercourseSpontaneous Generation?

The Bible In Exodus, Cannan is referred to as The land of milk and honey.

King Solomon: "My son eat thou honey, because it is good, and the honeycomb which is sweet to thy taste".

Samson : ..and he turned aside to see the carcass of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcass of the lion.

Greeks384 BC, Aristotle wrote much about beekeeping.

Foulbrood

First to note that honeybee's don't visit flowers of different kinds on one flight, but remain constant to one species.

India, 500BC

EgyptWhen Ra weeps again, the water which flows from his eyes upon the ground turns into working bees. They work the flowers and trees of every kind and honey and wax comes into being.

Egypt 660BC

Egypt, 1450 BC

Egypt, 2400 BC

3000 BC we have written records on migratory beekeeping up and down the Nile river in ancient Egypt.

Tablet from a Beekeeper pleading for someone to send donkeys to transport his hives before the floods took them!

South Africa

Spain, 4500BC

Spain, 6000BC

Spain 6000BC

Neanderthal,130,000

Australopithicus, 4M BC

Primitive Primates?

For 150 100 Million YearsFlowering plants have existed and produced nectar and pollenFor 50 25 Million YearsSolitary bees had existed, also early primatesFor 20 to 10 Million YearsSocial bees have produced and stored honeyFor a few Million YearsMan has existed and has eaten honeyFor a few Thousand YearsRecords exist of mans exploitation of honey

SpeciesDorsada Asian, Large, Single Comb, Outside DwellingFloria Asian, Small, Single Comb, Outside DwellingCerina Asian, Small, Parallel Comb, Cavity DwellingMellifera Africa/Europe/Mid-East, Parallel Comb, Cavity DwellingMany Races!

Distribution Map

Apis Mellifera Nest

A. Florea Nest

A. Dorsada Nests

India 500BC

Only 1 animal has more written about it than Bees: Man

Beekeeping EvolutionOpportunistic Honey HuntingTending of Wild HivesRelocating Wild HivesPurpose Built HivesHollow LogsPottery VesselsSkepsWooden HivesModern Managed Hives

0 to 1400 ADRome declining (300AD)Fall of Rome (450AD)Travel UnsafeKnowledge not easily disseminatedDark AgesNo written historyNo major achievementsBlack Plague 1350 (75 Million Dead!)Beginning of the Renaissance (1400ish)Printing Press 1450

1500 -1600 ADIn 1586, Luis Mndez de Torres first described the queen bee as a female that laid eggs. 1609 Charles Butler identified the monarch as a female queen and the drone as a male bee.In 1637, Richard Remnant recognized that the worker bees were females.

Francis HuberFully movable frame, Leaf, hive 1789Observations on BeesQueen mating practices and role of Drones

Johann DzierzonDiscovery of parthenogenesis in Queen bees 1835.

Discovery of Royal Jelly and its role in Queen development 1854.

Royal Jelly in a Queen Cell

Now we understood the basic lifecycle of the Honeybee.BUTWe still did not have a hive we could manage!

The Problem with HivesExcess Wax and Propolis make the hive very difficult to work.Bees fill in everything and attach comb to walls.To harvest the honey beekeepers would kill the bees and cut out the honeycomb.Not at all efficient!

Wild Bees build their honey combs about 1 and 3/8 inches apart. Honey comb is about one inch wide, so this left a 3/8 inch passageway between the combs.

Some beekeepers built hives that forced the bees to build combs along "top bars" that were spaced about 1 and 3/8 inches apart.

Movable Top Bar Hive

Top Bar Comb

Compartments!

Honeybees around AmericaFirst Honeybees to America in 1622

First documented apiary, Newbury 1640

Spread with Settlers and via Swarms

Per Thomas Jefferson, 1784, to Native Americans: White Mans Flies

Rev. Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth(1810 1895)Father of American Beekeeping

Andover, MA 1836 - 1847

Eureka! 1851Lorenzo Langstroth clarifies bee space, the 3/8 inch needed between frames for bees to build comb.

The Langstroth Movable Frame Hive is the first and most important invention in creating a commercial beekeeping industry.

Honeybees around AmericaLangstroth Movable Frame Hive - 1851

Honeybees to California 1860s

2 Million lbs of honey in CA in 1884

What was a scarce product became an abundant commodity by 1880!

Inventions Fast and FuriousInventions fed off each otherPre-formed wax foundation: 1857

Extractor: 1865 Francesco De Hruschka

Smokers: 1873 Moses Quimby

Queen Excluder Improved

1900sBreeding Honeybees: Brother AdamAfricanized Bees in the Americas 1950sBrazil breeding stationOOPS!More HybridsMore Scientific StudiesMore interest in Beekeeping

Essex County BeekeepersEst. 1923

Brother Adam 1898 - 1996

1925 Brother Adam Breeding Honeybees for certain traits:the Buckfast BeeGood TemperDisease-ResistanceProlificPropensity for hard workDisinclination to swarm

2000sIncreased public awareness of the critical role that Honeybees play in the ecosystem and their role in pollination of food crops!

Increased literary interest in Bees and Beekeeping as evidenced by the success of The Secret Life of Bees, The Beekeepers Apprentice, etc.

2007 You!Welcome to Beekeeping!