Save the Bees!

Obviously, when one thinks “bees,” one might immediately think of the buzzing heralding stings!

We forget that bees are an indispensable link in the ecological chain: a major pollinating insect, it is simply thanks to them that we can feed ourselves.

It is estimated that 75% of global production (fruits, vegetables, fodder plants, nuts, etc.) depends on the activity of these insects. And honey!

Incredibly rich for human body health, a divine taste for our palates, a real alternative to industrial sugar, a true treasure for humanity.

However, in the last twenty years, honey production in France has been divided by two.

So let's forget about stings, which are very rare and harmless (except for allergic people). As you know, unlike wasps or hornets, a bee loses its stinger when it stings, which automatically condemns it.

It's a defense mechanism it only uses in case of aggression, so unless you provoke them, even when quite close to a hive, you risk nothing.

The fabulous world of bees

Bees form a clade of hymenopteran insects from the Apoidea superfamily (nothing less). Our well-known European bee is called Apis mellifera, and among them, the star of foragers, the black bee Apis mellifera mellifera: rather stocky and hairy, black or dark brown, sometimes with brown or yellow spots at the base of the abdomen, it is a very ancient breed prized by beekeepers.

Not all bees produce honey, but they still feed on flower nectar. Their lifespan can be up to 10 months in winter, while it is limited to one month in summer. They do not need humans to live: if humans make their task easier with pre-built combs in hives, they are perfectly capable of building nests in nature.

Our Apis mellifera, or domestic bee, is a social animal capable of communication. To find its way back to the hive, the bee has a highly developed navigation system, it memorizes ground landmarks and orientates itself with the sun. It is even capable of perceiving the Earth's magnetic field! To communicate “good addresses” - in other words, flower fields - to other foragers, the bee returning to the hive loaded with pollen performs a mysterious dance…

In fact, before entering the hive, it ‘measures’ the angle between the flower's direction and the sun, then enters the hive and positions itself at the calculated angle to perform its dance (the sun being symbolically positioned at the top of the comb in the hive, at 0° if you will, or North, if you think of a map).

Its figure-eight dance is therefore performed along the axis indicating the direction of the flower field, and, get this, the number of wiggles and curves performed in its dance indicates a distance! For our common species, one wiggle counts for 20 meters. If the bee wiggles 5 times, tracing 5 curves on the ground, then the field is 100 meters away! Simply fascinating.

What bees offer humanity

Between pollination and hive products, bees are true allies for humans; it's never too late to realize it!

Pollination

Most of the food we consume is obtained through natural insect pollination. This “entomophilous” pollination constitutes a key ecosystem service valued at ... 265 billion dollars!

Of course, this is not their ‘true’ value, because if pollination were to disappear, this irreplaceable ecosystem service would make the value of these crops inestimable. Not only does pollination provide us with our plants and vegetables, but it also allows the reproduction of fodder plants used for meat and dairy production.

To obtain a fruit, the female flower must be fertilized by the male flower's pollen. This is where bees come in: by continuing their own activity of collecting nectar and pollen, foraging from flower to flower, they naturally transfer pollen from one flower to another, allowing the fertilization of plants.

For its own consumption and survival, the bee sucks nectar from the flower into its crop. But for pollen, it brushes it onto its body with its front legs and collects it into a ball that it transports on its hind legs to the hive.

Hive products

Honey

Let's talk cuisine: the flavors of honey are strong and appreciated in many dishes. Whether it's acacia, fir, chestnut, or “all-flower” honey, it readily replaces sugar in many sweet and savory recipes.

Essential in gingerbread recipes, honey sweetens and flavors many other desserts: cakes, ice cream, fruit salads, etc. In cooking, it can be used to prepare delicious marinades and sweet-and-sour sauces: honey-soy sauce, honey-balsamic vinegar... Honey caramelizes under heat, allowing for beautifully glazed meats.

Honey is a perfect alternative to white sugar, which acidifies your stomach.

Let's talk health: for a long time, it has been used to treat sore throats, coughs, and to heal wounds.

Indeed, honey contains antiseptic formic acid and inhibins, substances that inhibit bacterial proliferation. The main inhibin is hydrogen peroxide, secreted by the bee during honey production. Thyme honey, for example, contains boric acid which was once applied as a solution to wounds difficult to heal. Acidity and inhibin thus combine to prevent bacterial proliferation and inflammation. Honey therefore intervenes in all phases of healing. It also promotes the body's ability to retain magnesium and calcium.

Wax

Also healing, beeswax contains vitamin A. It is present in all basic excipients; it can be used to make anti-cough compresses, poultices to relieve rheumatism, or capsules to soothe the intestines.

And of course, you know beeswax candles, with such a warm scent.

Propolis

Propolis is a coating that bees make from various resins they collect from tree buds and bark.

They coat the inside of the hives with it to ensure waterproofing, solidity, and asepsis. Thanks to its flavonoid content, propolis food supplements are attributed antiseptic, antibacterial, and antioxidant properties.

It is rich in more than 300 active molecules, including antiviral, antibacterial, and anti-tumor compounds. The composition of propolis varies according to its geographical origin and the foraged flora. Propolis has very powerful antioxidant effects and a targeted action on bacteria and viruses.

Royal Jelly

Royal jelly contains sugars, proteins, fats, minerals, vitamins, and trace elements. As a dietary supplement, royal jelly is used to reduce menopausal symptoms, physical and intellectual fatigue, stress, and also to strengthen immunity.

Human activity, responsible for bee colony collapse disorder

All factors - and there are several - contributing to the collapse of bee populations, both domestic and wild, are directly or indirectly linked to industrialization and the rationalization of crops. Bees are attacked on many fronts:

Firstly, the use of pesticides

Insecticides represent the most direct threat to pollinators. They are used in large quantities in the environment, mainly in agricultural regions. At high doses, they kill directly; at low doses, they affect the development and health of bees at 3 levels:

- Direct physiological effects on development and/or causing malformation

- Interference with feeding behavior: repellent, appetite-suppressing, or odor-reducing effects

- Disruptions of foraging behavior, with effects on the navigation system as built in bees. Indeed, neurotoxic pesticides impact learning processes (recognition of nests and flowers, spatial orientation, etc.).

Concurrently with habitat fragmentation and weed eradication

Destructive practices that restrict bee nesting capabilities, as well as the spraying of herbicides, make industrial agriculture one of the main threats to pollinator communities.

Between the flowering of rapeseed in spring and sunflower at the end of July, bees simply have nothing left to forage and suffer from food deficiencies for several weeks. The disappearance of hawthorn hedges, but also meadows where alfalfa and sainfoin bloom, further diminishes the resource.

Weakened bees more susceptible to parasitic infections

Varroa destructor, an invasive ectoparasitic mite, represents a serious threat to beekeeping worldwide. New viruses and pathogens circulate with the movement of hives and colonies carried out by beekeepers to follow crop flowering periods.

The accidental import of the Asian hornet in 2004 also caused a lot of damage. Genetic mixing due to the massive import of queens from other subspecies also creates disturbances. Indeed, they are poorly adapted to hexagonal ecosystems: types of available flowers, flowering periods, climate.

Don't hesitate to get hives!

Given the decline of pollinators, if you have a piece of garden, now is the time to place a bee hive there - or failing that, a nesting box or a bee hotel!

If you have some land, rethink how to promote diversity by not systematically weeding: there are many ways to structure a garden by accompanying living things rather than constraining them. Melliferous plants, which attract pollinators, are very pretty, very colorful, and require little maintenance: heather, wild garlic, lavender, meadow sage, clover, dandelion, etc.

Watching bees come and go, bringing pollen balls back to the hive, is very satisfying. Many hive models also allow you to check what's happening inside the hive thanks to a small, easily removable hatch: you can follow the progress of the “work”! Guaranteed source of inspiration :)

If you are truly passionate, you can also get in touch with the regional black bee conservatories, Apis mellifera mellifera, which work for the conservation of the genetic heritage of this bee race. Apis mellifera mellifera is an outstanding forager and to date the best adapted to our latitudes (climate, flowering). But massive imports of Italian, Greek, or hybrid queens from several subspecies weaken the genome and make the species less resistant to varroa and other parasites. The conservatory is open to all beekeepers, amateurs and professionals aware of the loss of genetic diversity in bees following the multiple hybridizations that colonies undergo.

If you are a honey consumer, it is also very important to source from local beekeepers. Not only to support them economically and thus strengthen the development of biodiversity near you, but also for your health! We know today that industrial honey sometimes simply does NOT contain honey!

To be consistent with what we care about, we donate a percentage of this site's revenue to bee preservation.

Here it is in photos! The hive we sponsored this year thanks to our customers! Our 4000 black bees are happily foraging in the Massif Central, in Corrèze (the "Green Country"), at the gates of the Millevaches Natural Park, in Limousin.

More information: bees and men !

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SOURCES:

Why bees are disappearing, Laure Cailloce, CNRS Le Journal, 2016

https://lejournal.cnrs.fr/articles/pourquoi-les-abeilles-disparaissent

It's Not Rocket Science. The decline of bees, France 3

https://youtu.be/cIhyqCPZprA

World Bee Day, UNESCO

https://fr.unesco.org/news/journee-mondiale-abeilles-20-mai-2020

The Decline of Bees. Analysis of factors threatening pollinators and agriculture in Europe, Greenpeace Research Laboratories, April 2013

https://cdn.greenpeace.fr/site/uploads/2017/03/le-declin-des-abeilles.pdf

The site of the black bee conservatory in Centre Val de Loire

https://www.abeillenoire.eu/cms/

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