Читать книгу Beekeeping For Dummies - Howland Blackiston - Страница 40

IN THIS CHAPTER

Recognizing bee parts and what they do

Exploring how bees communicate with each other

Getting acquainted with the two female castes and the male

Understanding the honey bee life cycle

Distinguishing the differences between honey bees and similar insects

My first introduction to life inside the honey bee hive occurred many years ago during a school assembly. I was about 10 years old. My classmates and I were shown a wonderful movie about the secret inner workings of the beehive. The film mesmerized me. I’d never seen anything so remarkable and fascinating. How could a bug be so smart and industrious? I couldn’t help being captivated by the bountiful honey bee. That brief childhood event planted a seed that blossomed into a treasured hobby decades later.

Anyone who knows even a little bit about the honey bee can’t help but be amazed, because far more goes on within the hive than most people can ever imagine: complex communication, social interactions, teamwork, unique jobs and responsibilities, food gathering, and the engineering of one of the most impressive living quarters found in nature. Whether you’re a newcomer or an old hand, you’ll have many opportunities to experience firsthand the miracle of beekeeping. Every time you visit your bees, you’ll see something new. But you’ll get far more out of your new hobby if you understand more about what you’re looking at. What are the physical components of the bee that enable it to do its job so effectively? What are those bees up to and why? What’s normal and what’s not normal? What is a honey bee, and what is an imposter? In this chapter, you take a peek within a typical colony of honey bees.