Bees Can’t Fly at Night

Did you know that bees can’t really fly at night? A viral video coming from popular sites like Twitter, Reddit, and Facebook with over 11 million views have shown bees crashing down the second the lights are turned off in a laboratory.

Bee Experiment Explodes Online

The viral video is captured by postgraduate Hamish Symington, who is currently doing his PhD on pollination, flowers, and food security at Cambridge University. His main objective is to make flowers more attractive to bees, give more nectar, and increase pollen to help feed the world. In the video, he switches off the laboratory lights which makes the flying bees drop to the ground almost immediately. He states that he’s quite surprised that the bees drop like an on/off switch without trying to land safely or glide down. In retrospect, dropping down quickly can be thought of as dangerous for bees.

The video helps support the fact that most bees, like bumble bees and honey bees, can’t fly at night. Instead of being nocturnal, bees are diurnal which means that bees only fly during the day. All their main activities like flying, retrieving pollen, constructing outside the beehive, and swarming are done during the day. Bees can crawl during the night, however the limited mobility affects how fast they can do tasks.

Here’s another video of bees falling out of the sky when the lights go out. I’m surprised it’s an on/off choice for them – no graceful trying to glide to land or anything like that, they literally just stop flying and plummet. Surely that’s more dangerous than keeping flying? pic.twitter.com/TotxihLywQ

— Hamish Symington (@HamishSymington) December 3, 2021

Not All Bees are the Same

Bees don’t see the world the way humans do. In fact, bees can’t technically see in the same sense we do at all! Instead, they navigate using the sun’s polarized light rays to guide them. Their eyes are compound-shaped, made up of thousands of tiny lenses. Interestingly, just like we appreciate clarity and focus in reading good night wishes, bees rely on precision too. Above their compound eyes, they also have three simple eyes that help them detect light and movement.

However, there are certain bee species who can see at night. Some bees are crepuscular. They usually travel during dusk, night, and early morning. These special bees can fly during the night with little light. Other bees are completely nocturnal, like the Sweat Bee (Lasioglossum Texana). These unique bees can fly during the full and half moons. Then there’s other types of bees that do not need light at all to fly. Going by the name of Halictidae, these forager bees have evolutioned to fly during the night without needing light. These rare bees have way different eyes than bees that fly during the day. The forager bees have been able to neurologically trick their eyes to strengthen the signal that each photon sends to their little brains. These bees do this to gather nectar in the less competitive night and retrieve pollen from nocturnal flowers. These different bees go out to show how special bees really are.

What to Do With a Bee Swarm

Bee season has been occurring for the last couple of weeks, and more bees arrive at the end of the month. Our bee removal owner, Harold Wright, spoke to us about what a person should do if they encounter a bee swarm. We also gathered relevant and current insights from Chris Barnes, the founder of Brazos Valley Beekeepers Association.

How to Get Rid of Bee Swarms

The first on your to-do list is not spray. DO NOT SPRAY. You do not want to spray them with water and you certainly do not want to spray them with any store-bought pesticide. Bees are commonly gentle. Bees don’t have any reason why to sting you. Their life is as important as yours. However, be warned that the bee hive will attack the second you start hurting them. If you see a bee swarm, the best thing to do is call a bee removal service company like us, Bee Safe Bee Removal, to help you.

During the month of March, bee swarms become common. Bee swarms look like a ball of bees huddled up in an area. They do not have a hive yet. A bee swarm occurs because the originating bee hive has split up into two colonies. The other bee colony flies away to look for a spot to reproduce. Since bee swarms means scouting bees are looking for a new home, bees are not going to get defensive about their spot. This scouting stage lasts for about 12 to 48 hours. If you see a bee swarm on your property, waiting is mostly your best bet. However, if you can’t wait for any reason, you can call Bee Safe Bee Removal!

A new UF / IFAS study identified genetic characteristics associated with the production and behavioral attributes of these two important bee variants. For example, researchers have found that Cape honey bees are significantly darker than Africanized bees. This dark color may be genetically correlated with those unwanted behaviors.

Both variants are undesirable in the United States. The first is the “killer bee” or “Africanized bee,” scientifically known as A.m. scutellata is a bright-colored bee known for its territorial and defensive properties. This subspecies was introduced to Brazil from South Africa’s natural habitat in the 1950s. There she mated with a subspecies of European honeybees bred by Brazilian beekeepers, then moved to the United States. A.M. scutellata is considered an invasive bee and can inherit colonies from controlled bees, potentially reducing the interests of beekeepers. They are also known for their increased defensive behavior.

The second subspecies studied, the “Cape honey bee,” is scientifically known as the morning. capensis causes many problems for beekeepers. These bees are more submissive than Africanized bees, but are more likely to inherit urticaria. Cape honey bees are considered social parasites. Unlike other bee variants, cape worker bees can replicate themselves and lay female eggs without first mating. These clones can take over the honeycomb. These workers cannot breed at the same rate as the traditional queen, and the colonies eventually diminish and collapse. This is a phenomenon known as the “Capensis Catastrophe.” “More amazing than the ability of Cape Worker bees to replicate themselves is the speed at which they can take over other colonies,” said Jamie Ellis, a UF / IFAS professor. “We are working to keep these bees from invading the United States, because in most cases when these bees take over the colony, the colony is destined.”

For living things. In this case, researchers sought to understand what genetic characteristics contribute to the appearance and behavior of these bees. Using data collected from South African bees from previous studies funded by the USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service in 2013 and 2014, scientists can determine which genes are responsible for the physical characteristics of these subspecies. I tried to understand.

Laura Patterson Rosa, a PhD student at the University of Florida / IFAS and co-author of the study, said: “What we have found has many implications. We have not yet been able to validate these new discoveries with additional populations, but if the results withstand the challenges of time, we will see behavioral changes. Can partially explain the reasons, the reasons for not recognizing the existence of other queens, and why they can be self-cloned when other bees cannot.

“The color phenotype is of beekeeping management. It’s an important aspect, “Ellis said. “It helps beekeepers know what kind of bees they have.” Cape honey bees are considerably darker than Africanized bees. This dark shade may be genetically correlated with their cloning and colonization behavior. “There are potentially more than 30 variants of honeybees. Only two have been examined in published studies,” he said. “Does this finding apply to other dark-colored bee variants?

It is interesting to look for these mutations in all variants of Western honey bee and determine if this is the case. Special thanks to the supporters of this study, including USDA APHIS and the Florida Agricultural Consumer Services Authority, led by Honey Bee Technical Council.

Honey Harvesting

We love the opportunities to harvest excess honey from beehives we host in our apiary! And, in the spirit of Thanksgiving (the season of food and flavor), we’re going to talk about honey harvesting.

Our Process

When it comes to the actual honey harvest, the process is relatively simple and can be done in any kitchen. You just have to remove the honeycomb first. Below, we will talk of the process in chronological order, starting with getting the honeycomb itself.

Oh, and if you were to be following these steps, we would assume you have the proper beekeeping equipment if you have a hive to harvest from. This is mostly written for the curiosity of others who want to know how it’s done.

• First, we analyze a hive and determine if it’s harvestable. And by harvestable, I mean if the hive has excess. The bees keep most of their frames to continue growing their colony.
• If we acknowledge excess to harvest, then we extract the comb from the hive with a hive tool (kind of like a crowbar with a sharp edge) and place the comb into a bucket.
• Then, we bring the bucket inside.
• And prepare fine mesh bags.
  • There’s no end-all, be-all method for extracting honey from the comb. Fine mesh bags (intended for paint) works wonders, and those can be bought from your local hardware store.
• Simply, place a large bowl under where honey will be harvested.
• Honeycomb is put inside the mesh bag and squeezed.
  • This will be very sticky. And requires a surprising amount of grip strength.
• Then, we pour the lot into storage containers.
• Local honey, voila!

The process isn’t all that complicated, especially when we do small-scale harvesting. Honey harvesting is not our focus, as we focus on cultivating bees as an apiculture—raising honeybees and selling colonies to other beekeepers.

Is Harvesting Honey Healthy for the Bees?

Simply, yes. As long as you leave enough comb/frames for them to continue growth. You can take away too much, which will stunt their growth. But, a hive produces honey in pounds aplenty–easily able to fill several beehives–in a season. The loss of a few frames doesn’t phase
them.

In fact, harvesting honey is healthy for them in the sense that it gives them work, which prevents swarming. If you don’t harvest a hive, then the untouched colony will surely swarm twice in a season. Which is great for fostering genetic diversity in nature, but swarms are less appreciated in urban areas. Hence why we do bee removals in Dallas and all over the United States.

When you receive a bee service from Bee Safe Bee Removal or any other bee removal company, it is highly important that you know what to do to make sure our professional beekeepers will do a safe bee removal service job.
Our bee services include a wide range of options for our customers to choose from. Customers can select a safe bee removal service that will fix construction or leave it as (perhaps you find a more affordable contractor) or a wasp extermination for the main job. Either way you go, customers will be able to find great pricing options from us. After you agree to a job and pricing with our sale’s team, our professional beekeepers will be able to go out there to perform a job. You will know the time they will arrive. While weather and traffic can delay a beekeeper’s arrival, our sale’s team will always let you know if anything about your job changes. Our beekeeper’s main focus is to perform the bee removal or wasp removal job, never to sell you anything else.
Afterwards, our beekeepers will start going at the time you have agreed on, so you will need to prepare for their arrival. This bee removal preparation is not only for the beekeepers but it is mainly for your safety and the safety of others. Please make sure that dogs, children, and other adults are inside or away from the location of the bees or wasps. You will also need to make sure to alert neighbors or visiting people that there will be a bee removal job in place. Doing this type of preparation before the bee removal and staying away during the bee removal service will allow everyone to stay safe. Many times during our bee removal service, bees will become hostile as they attempt to protect their bee hive so they will attack anything that is close to the bee removal service. Even if you are a couple of feet away looking, bees will still attack you and chase you for a long time if you are not inside or in a closed area.
Our main priorities during every bee removal service is to save the bees and make sure our customers are safe from any danger. If you’d like, you can interact with the beekeepers after the job to see the completion or ask for some delicious honey. Warning: there might still be some uncollected bees that will not be happy to see their beehive gone. Never try to dive in a situation without protective gear like our professional bee suits. Bee stings are no joke and can cause either an allergic reaction or death. Once the bee removal service is done, you will probably need to wait for the next morning to see trickling effects. However, there will still be stray bees that have wandered off to collect pollen that will see that their bee hive is no longer there so be careful of the bee removal service for a couple of days to see them gone.

Habitats of the Mexican Honey Wasps

Ever seen a paper wasp nest in your tree? Freak out when it was a basketball size and want to call a bee removal or wasp removal service? Well, that nest actually hosts the most docile species of all wasps.

Bee Removal or Wasp Removal?

When you have a Mexican Honey Wasp, you want to make sure you are safe before calling a bee removal or wasp removal service. While they are docile, Mexican Honey Wasps can still attack and you want to make sure you are safe. Call Bee Safe Bee Removal or your local beekeeper to take care of your bee removal situation.

Nests: Paper or Mexican Honey?

Mexican honey wasps are of the paper wasp family, but they are a bit different than their cousins, mostly different in their nest, colony size, and aggression. A paper wasp builds a nest out of chewed wood fiber into an upside-down umbrella shape, and a nest may host a couple dozen wasps when fully grown to a six- to eight-inch diameter. These nests commonly hang under eaves and may be found in sheds, garages, or any similarly protected area. A beekeeper doing a bee removal would have no problem spotting a Mexican Honey Wasp nest.

The Mexican honey wasp (nicknamed the Mexican bee), on the other hand, is the species to nest in your tree. Mexican bees will form a basketball- or football-sized nest (with similar material) in tree or shrub canopies to host upwards of 18,000 honey wasps! These wasps will keep their nest anywhere from three feet to 27 feet off the ground, so bee removals or wasp removals can be expensive depending on high they are.

Docile = Still Dangerous

Mexican honey wasps are quite docile–on wasp terms. If a nest is close to the ground or where children may come close, the nest needs to be dealt with a bee removal for the safety of those nearby. The same threat remains for workers or beekeepers who may contact or spray the tree.

Be sure to get professionals to do this bee removal. You will get stung. A lot. We at Bee Safe are much more equipped with our suits and tools to avoid injury during a bee removal. You will need professionals to do a bee removal or wasp removal for your safety for these large colonies.

Though, if the nest is high up in a tree and left alone, the wasps actually will mind their business and just forage as they do. They really are docile, but they will still defend their hive and brutally deter any perceivable threat. Make sure to check out where they are before calling for a bee removal service.

What Are These Mexican Bees, Exactly?

Firstly, you will be hard pressed to spot one. Mexican honey wasps are actually smaller than honey bees, standing at ¼ of an inch compared to a honey bee’s ½ inch length. However, a beekeeper doing a bee removal will have no problem spotting one.

These Mexican honey wasps are gatherers and pollinators (like honeybees), and they’re the only wasp species to produce honey, at that. Though, humans do not harvest this honey mostly due to the nature of the nest (and wasps are… less cooperative). Mexican bees also are predators like their wasp cousins, and they will hunt many harmful, garden pests. So, Mexican honey wasps have many benefits, being the best of a honeybee and wasp (though the wasp part is a deterrent towards favoring them over a honeybee). If you rather not deal with them, call Bee Safe Bee Removal to do a bee removal service.

How Pollination is Important to Bees

It has often been said that bees are responsible for one out of every three bites of food we eat. Most crops are grown for their fruits, nuts, seeds, fiber, and hay, which require pollination by insects. Pollinating insects also play a critical role in maintaining natural plant communities and ensuring the production of seeds in most flowering plants. Pollination is the transfer of pollen from the male parts of a flower to the female parts of the same species, which results in the fertilization of plant ovaries and the production of seeds. The primary insect pollinators, by far, are bees. While European honey bees are the best known and widely managed pollinators, hundreds of other species of bees, primarily solitary ground-nesting species, contribute some level of pollination services to crops and are very important in natural plants communities.

Bees make excellent pollinators because most of their life is spent collecting pollen, a source of protein that they feed to their developing offspring. When a bee lands on a flower, the hairs all over the bees’ body attract pollen grains through electrostatic forces. Stiff hairs on their legs enable them to groom the pollen into specialized brushes or pockets on their legs or body and then carry it back to their nest. Individual bees tend to focus on one kind of flower at a time, which means it is more likely that pollen from one flower will be transferred to another flower of the same species by a particular bee. Many plants require this kind of pollen distribution, known as cross-pollination, to produce viable seeds. The business of collecting pollen involves a lot of energy, and so many flowers attract and reward bees with nectar, a mixture of water and sugars produced by plants.

Most bee species dig nests in soil, while others utilize plants, either by boring holes in pithy plant stems or wood or by nesting in galleries made by wood-boring beetles in trees or other preexisting cavities. Bumblebees are known to nest in abandoned rodent burrows, and feral honey bees are known to nest in tree hollows. Bees use a variety of materials to build their nests. Most bees line their nest cells with a waxy material they produce themselves, but others use pieces of leaves, small pebbles mixed with resin from tree sap, or mud to form the cells they lay their eggs.

Bee communities, both wild and managed, have been declining over the last half-century as pesticide use in agricultural and urban areas increased. Changes in land use have resulted in a patchy distribution of food and nesting resources. Concerned bee researchers recently met to discuss the current pollinator status in North America and to publish a report about it. Since 2007, there have been several reports in the media about the mysterious disappearance of large numbers of honey bees called colony collapse disorder. This has many growers concerned about how they will continue to be able to pollinate their crops. Now more than ever, it is critical to consider practices that will benefit pollinators by providing habitats free of pesticides, full of nectar and pollen resources, and ample potential nesting resources.