Mason Bee Cocoon Cleaning

     While I have been honey beekeeping for a number of years this year was my first attempt to raise native Blue Orchard Mason Bees in our garden.  Also known as Osmia Lignaria it is a major native pollinator in our area of the world.  They make nests in reeds or natural holes and utilize mud to space their cocoons.  This bee is a particularly important spring fruit tree pollinator for us.

 

     While there is an endless variety of homes that your can make for your mason bees and I encourage you to do so (Native Pollinators) the important thing is that the inner tube be accessible to clean and access the cocoons.  Without the ability to access and clean the nesting area it would soon become filled with debris, mites, diseases, wasps ... 

     These are the trays that I used this year which are easily seperated and cleaned but a good alterntive is simple paper straws that can be removed.  

Orange Rumped Bumble Bee

      I have identified a number of native and non native bees and wasps in our garden and my favourite and most prolific is the Orange Rumped Bumble Bee (Melanopygus) which pollinates our raspberries, blueberries and black locusts to name a few.  How can you not like a bee whose distinguishing feature is it's butt.  However, the population of Blue Orchard Mason bees is relatively low which is why I am raising them. 

     

     Above is a view of some of my harvested cocoons covered in mites and mite poop.  The cleaning process I initially employed was the sand method.

      The process is fairly simple mixing the sand with the cocoons and sifting through a screen.  This method is described below in the video by Hutchings Bees.

      I found that this method did not work for me completely and possibly it was because of the type of sand I used.  After the process the cocoons were still covered in debris.

     To finish the cleansing process I soaked the cocoons in a 5% solution of bleech and gently scrubbed with an old tooth brush.

   The finished product.

     I then put the cocoons in a paper bag enclosed in a plastic bag in the crisper section of the fridge.  Modern self defrosting fridges tend to be too dry so the crisper section is recommended.  The cocoons will be placed outside in their mason bee homes in early spring.

 P.S.  After a few years of keeping mason bees I have evolved to making my bee houses by simply drilling 3/8ths inch holes in 6 inch deep wood.  I use plain, unbleached brown paper from grocery bags rolled around a tent pole as liners which brings the finished diameter of the hole to the optimal 5/16th inch.  The rolled liners extend 1 inch out the back and are folded over with a back plate screwed on.  When harvest time comes I just unscrew the back plate and pull out the paper liners (Paper Liners That Work).  For more information on how to manage Mason Bees for your home or farm go to the Native Pollinators section of our Library and scroll down to Mason Bees.  If you are just starting out you can buy cocoons off Craigslist for 50 cents a cocoon and from some garden stores for $1 per cocoon.  Good sources of supplies and information are Crown Bees  and Beediverse.  Good luck.

Neonicotinoids and Bees

   

    
     This video from Boulder County Beekeepers gives a good overview of the problems associated with neonicotinoid pesticides.  For years beekeepers worldwide have observed the detrimental effects of the systemic neonicotinoid pesticides on bees.  The studied effects are both lethal and possibly more important sublethal.  The accumulation of neonic pesticides in the hive effects the bee's nervous system and lowers their immune system making the bees more susceptible to diseases (Neonics weaken Bee immune system).  The effects go beyond this as recent evidence shows an accumulation of neonics in waterways adjacent to agricultural areas poses a risk to fish and birds in these ecosystems (Neonicotinoid Pesticides in Wetland Water).  In addition because of the monopolization of the seed market by the major agrochemical corporations farmers have difficulty finding seeds that don't contain neonicotinoid pesticides.  This is why Europe has recently placed a two year ban on the use of neonicotinoid pesticides.  Further evidence of the effects of neonicotinoids on bees and the environment can be found in the Insecticides and Bees section of our Beekeepers' Library.  The first 17 minutes of this video relates to issue of neonics and bees.

Very good video on neonics and bees: Honeybees in Crisis

Fair Trade Honey

   
     In an ideal world we would produce all of our own food locally and organically but in reality we import a significant portion.  Much of this comes from developing countries where farmers have traditionally been exploited by greedy buyers who set the price far below a liveable earning.  The concept of "Fair Trade" has empowered these farmers and provided them and their communities with a fair income which has allowed them a healthier, happier lifestyle. This documentary "Hope is Golden" is about the beekeeping cooperatives in Brazil’s arid Caatinga region that produce Fair Trade certified honey.
     The Fair Trade organizations provide funding for the infrastructure required by farming cooperatives in developing countries.  "Fair Trade International" began 25 years ago and in 2012 the number of Fairtrade producer organizations grew by 16%.  It works and it is growing.  Please support fair trade for all products including honey, tea, chocolate, sugar, fruit, flowers and coffee.  For more information go to Fair Trade Canada or Fair Trade USA.

Bees love Dandelions

One of our girls enjoying a Dandelion

     It was a beautiful, sunny 15 degree celsius (60 fahrenheit) day in the garden and the bees were very active.  At this time of year there are a wide assortment of blossoms available to be foraged upon but one of the favourites is an unplanted native, invasive plant, the Dandelion (Taraxacum) of the Asteraceae (Aster) Family. Many still think of the Dandelion as an unwanted weed but I hope that attitude is changing along with the need for a manicured lawn.  For us the Dandelion can flower throughout the growing period and if the seed heads are allowed to mature you are guaranteed a plentiful crop.
     My garden is a 4 acre community garden close to downtown Vancouver and through the years I have grown to appreciate the weeds (?) and the invasive plants.  Being a very multicultural city it is so interesting to hear the perspective of different cultures on particular plants.  Gout weed ( Aegopodium podagraria) for example is an extremely invasive plant, native to Eurasia which although enjoyed by the bees is impossible to remove and an irritant to all of the gardeners.  One day two Chinese women approached me and asked if they could harvest our gout weed.  Attempting to hide my enthusiasm I asked them why.  They told me of it's medicinal properties (primarily to treat stomach ailments- thus the name gout weed) and told me how they boil it and prepare a tea.  On the same day I saw two older men harvesting dandelion leaves.  They explained to me that in Italy they cherish the leaves and fry them in olive oil and garlic.  The entire plant is edible and the flower petals, along with other ingredients, are used to make dandelion wine. The leaves are best when they first appear or after the first frost (Recipes). The ground, roasted roots can be used as a caffeine-free dandelion coffee.  Dandelion was also traditionally used to make the traditional British soft drink dandelion and burdock, and is one of the ingredients of root beer.  Also, Dandelions were once delicacies eaten by the Victorian gentry mostly in salads and sandwiches.  Dandelion leaves contain abundant vitamins and minerals, especially vitamins A, C, K, niacin, riboflaven and are good sources of calcium, potassium, iron, manganese and beta carotene.  Lecithin in the flower detoxifies the liver.  As well Dandelions nourish other plants through it's long (up to 3 ft) tap root which brings minerals and nutrients from a less contaminated part of the soil to the surface where it is utilized by the shorter roots of neighbouring plants.  If you break the stem of a dandelion the white fluid that appears can be used to ease the pain of bee stings or sores.  Wow!  What an amazing plant.

     Like us bees are healthier, live longer and perform better when feeding on a mixed diet.  The worldwide practice of monoculture agriculture cannot sustain a honey or native bee population (Hidden Costs of Industrial Agriculture).  In addition this singular diet experienced by bees of professional pollinators causes a weakened immune system and subsequent health issues.

"There is a growing body of evidence showing that poor nutrition can be a major player in affecting honey bee health. Eischen and Graham (2008) demonstrated that well-nourished honey bees are less susceptible to Nosema ceranae than poorly nourished bees.  Naug (2009) tested the hypothesis that nutritional stress due to habitat loss has played a major role in causing CCD by analyzing the land use data in U.S. He showed a significant correlation between the number of colony loss from each state and the state’s ratio of open land relative to its developed land area."   Zachary Huang, Michigan State University

     Bee Friendly Farming practices are essential for a healthy bee population.  Specifically, adopting a 6% diverse pollinator beneficial planting farming practice.  Different pollens have different nutritional value to bees and studies have shown a slight improvement in performance when feeding on Dandelion (Nutritional Value of Bee Collected Pollens).  Interestingly for me two of the best pollens for bees, blackberry and cottonwood are aggressive volunteers in our garden.

     Although the plum and flowering cherry blossoms are finished for us there is an amazing number of plants coming into blossom like the apple, pear, cherry, bulbs, purple deadnettle and marsh marigold.  Also, today was the first day I saw Raspberry flower formation which for us is the major bee forage in May through June.
     Please put away the Roundup and let your Dandelions grow.  You can control the spread of the plant by removing the flowers before they go to seed (Dandelion Wine ?).  Your bees will thank you.

Charles Darwin and the Bumblebee (Humble Bee)

 
     This quote from Charles Darwin is applicable to present day bees.  Bees have a very weak immune system and are not very adaptive to environmental changes caused by us.  Global warming and the increased presence of agrichemical toxins are conditions many species of bees will not survive. Their extinction will effect others species dependent on their pollination.
     I think like many of us Charles had a special place in his heart for Bumble Bees or Humble Bees as they were known prior to World War I.  With the help of 5 or 6 of his children between the years 1854-1861 Charles made a number of recorded observations on the flight routes of male Humble Bees (Charles Darwin on the routes of male Humble Bees).  In the first edition of "On the Origin of the Species" by Charles Darwin (1859) he describes how essential Bumble Bees are for the pollination of plants and specifically the red clover (Trifolium pratense).  This he explains is because of it's unique ability to reach the nectar which eludes other bees. 

      "Charles Darwin wrote of "humble-bees"... "plants and animals, most remote in the scale of nature, are bound together by a web of complex relations. [...] I have [...] reason to believe that humble-bees are indispensable to the fertilisation of the heartsease (Viola tricolor), for other bees do not visit this flower. From experiments which I have tried, I have found that the visits of bees, if not indispensable, are at least highly beneficial to the fertilisation of our clovers; but humble-bees alone visit the common red clover (Trifolium pratense), as other bees cannot reach the nectar. Hence I have very little doubt, that if the whole genus of humble-bees became extinct or very rare in England, the heartsease and red clover would become very rare, or wholly disappear. The number of humble-bees in any district depends in a great degree on the number of field-mice, which destroy their combs and nests; and Mr. H. Newman, who has long attended to the habits of humble-bees, believes that 'more than two thirds of them are thus destroyed all over England.' Now the number of mice is largely dependent, as every one knows, on the number of cats; and Mr. Newman says, 'Near villages and small towns I have found the nests of humble-bees more numerous than elsewhere, which I attribute to the number of cats that destroy the mice.' Hence it is quite credible that the presence of a feline animal in large numbers in a district might determine, through the intervention first of mice and then of bees, the frequency of certain flowers in that district!" (from Chapter 3 "On the Origin of the Species").
     A logical extension made in jest by Thomas Henry Huxley (Huxley, 1892) was " that old maids keep cats, and by unknown others to include the concepts that the economy of the British Empire
was based on roast beef eaten by its soldiers, and cattle rely on clover, so as to conclude that the prosperity of the British Empire was thus dependant on its population of old maids." (Charles Darwin, Humble Bees, Clover and Cats).
     

  Bombus pascuorum (Common Carder-bee) on red clover

     As most bumblebees are ground dwellers their existence depends upon the population of nest destroying mice whose population depends on the subsequent population of predatory cats.  Therefore, the greater the population of cats the greater the number of bumblebees and the greater the pollination of red clover.  We must also consider the negative effect of cat predation on birds, amphibians and reptiles.  This is why an ecosystem functioning in equilibrium (balanced populations) is so important.
     In May of 1858 with the aid of a beekeeper Darwin carried out studies on honey bee cell building at his home in Kent, England.  "For people to accept his theory of evolution by natural selection Darwin knew that he had to explain how the hexagonal cells found in the wax of the beehive were fortified by natural processes.  As a result of his observations he concluded that the hexagonal shape is produced as a result of spherical cells touching each other and the bees using the minimum amount of wax possible.  The experiments are described in "On the Origin of the Species".

 
     The family home of Charles Darwin is wonderfully preserved in Kent and is much the same as it was in the 19th century when he and his children carried out their observations of both the honey and humble bee.

   
 
     Due to habitat loss and the use of agrichemicals many species of Humble Bees are endangered.  In Britain the Bumble Bee Conservation Trust is working to save the Humble Bees.  In North American join Bumble Bee Watch to help endangered species of Humble Bees. 

     The first terrestrial plants appeared on Earth about 400 million years ago, followed by the first flowering plants about 150 million years ago.  Colour was introduced by an explosion of angiosperm species 125 million years ago (from "The Art of the Bee" by Professor Robert Page and Arizona State University). "This explosion of new flowering plant species corresponded to an explosion of new species of bees, presenting Charles Darwin with difficulties for his fledgling theory of evolution by natural selection."

,species of bees, presenting Charles Darwin with difficulties for his fledgling theory of evolution by natural selection.

This interesting and informative youtube channel, presented by Robert Page of Arizona State is comprised of 38 videos on the biology and behaviour of the bee. 

Left Bombus Mixtus (Male) and right Bomus Caliginosus or Bombus Vosnesenskii on a sunflower at Cottonwood Garden

 

 

My favorite an Orange Rumped Humble Bee (Bombus melanopygus) enjoying a cranesbill geranium at Cottonwood Garden

 

 

The Humble-Bee

• 
• 
• 
• 

Ralph Waldo Emerson

1803 –

1882

Burly dozing humblebee!
Where thou art is clime for me.                    

Let them sail for Porto Rique,
Far-off heats through seas to seek,
I will follow thee alone,
Thou animated torrid zone!
Zig-zag steerer, desert-cheerer,
Let me chase thy waving lines,
Keep me nearer, me thy hearer,
Singing over shrubs and vines.

Insect lover of the sun,
Joy of thy dominion!
Sailor of the atmosphere;
Swimmer through the waves of air,
Voyager of light and noon;
Epicurean of June,
Wait, I prithee, till I come
Within ear-shot of thy hum,—
All without is martyrdom.

When the south wind, in May days,
With a net of shining haze,
Silvers the horizon wall,
And, with softness touching all,
Tints the human countenance
With a color of romance,
And, infusing subtle heats,
Turns the sod to violets,
Thou, in sunny solitudes,
Rover of the underwoods,
The green silence dost displace,
With thy mellow breezy bass.

Hot midsummer’s petted crone,
Sweet to me thy drowsy tune,
Telling of countless sunny hours,
Long days, and solid banks of flowers;
Of gulfs of sweetness without bound
In Indian wildernesses found;
Of Syrian peace, immortal leisure,
Firmest cheer, and bird-like pleasure.
Aught unsavory or unclean,
Hath my insect never seen;
But violets and bilberry bells,
Maple-sap and daffodels,
Grass with green flag half-mast high,
Succory to match the sky,
Columbine with horn of honey,
Scented fern, and agrimony,
Clover, catch fly, adder's-tongue,
And brier-roses, dwelt among;
All beside was unknown waste,
All was picture as he passed.

Wiser far than human seer,
Yellow-breeched philosopher!
Seeing only what is fair,
Sipping only what is sweet,
Thou dost mock at fate and care,
Leave the chaff and take the wheat,
When the fierce north-western blast
Cools sea and land so far and fast,
Thou already slumberest deep;
Woe and want thou canst out-sleep;
Want and woe which torture us,
Thy sleep makes ridiculous.

Another Humble Bee beautifying Cottonwood Garden

Labelling Honey Jars

     While you may not have this much fun labeling your honey jars there is no reason why it can't be enjoyable and creative.  Note that this posting is for backyard, non professional beekeepers.  The legal regulations for labeling honey jars for sale vary according to where you live.  In Europe this includes whether or not your honey contains pollen (has not been micro filtered) or was derived from Genetically Modified Plants.  In my opinion both of these considerations are very important and should be included on commercially produced honey.
     Whether you are canning produce from your garden, bottling jams or labeling honey jars most of us will begin with hand written labels meant to identify the product and when it was produced (Jars can get lost in the pantry for years).  A good idea is to get your children to do this.

     By using label templates you can easily upgrade the design of your labels.  I have found that they are easy to use and allow your to personalize a gift.

Honey Label

     I have compiled a group of 60 label templates free to use for the backyard, non commercial beekeeper and canner to download here.  You can also preview and download them in six categories: Vintage Honey Labels (A.I. Root, 1920) ; Modern Canning Labels (Circle) ; Modern Canning Labels (Rectangle) ;  Vintage Canning Labels ; Nutritional Labels and Honey Infant Warning Label .  The first step is to choose the template of your choice.  There is a wide range to choose from.  You can also use your own photographs.

Vintage Canning Label

Honey Label

Modern Canning Label

Honey Label

Vintage Canning Label

         

     Once you have chosen your label you can use a free image editing program like Gimp or my favorite Photoscape to add words to your template.  With Photoscape you open the program, go to editor, choose your template on the left side, click on "Object" and choose either "Text" or "Rich Edit" to add words. You can then choose the size, type and color of font you want to use.  When finished save your label, print it, cut it out and glue to your jar.  I use regular printing paper and minimal glue as a lot of glue tends to discolor the label.   

     Botulism in honey is a risk to babies under the age of 1 year.  Although the risk is minimal it is recommended (to be on the safe side) that you not feed honey to infants under the age of one.  If you are giving jars to those you don't know you may want to include a warning label. 

     For commercial beekeepers the regulations on labeling food products is changing constantly and very dependent on where you live and how much you sell. For example in Florida beekeepers are now allowed to sell their honey from home (not stores) using a Florida Cottage Food Label as long as they do not exceed $15,000 in revenue. There are no regulations on non commercial home canning or honey production so like the ladies in the video above have fun and be creative. 

Wintering Hives Beekeeping Webinar

     The October 17th Beekeeping Webinar put on by author Kim Flottum and Ohio State University was a good overall reminder of hive dynamics in winter and how we can help our bees survive.

     The major problems for honey bees in winter are starvation, varroa and poor ventilation.  Cold condensation created by heat generated by the bee cluster contacting the cold inner cover will drip on the bees.  In cold climates wet bees are dead bees.  Possible solutions are insulation between the inner cover and outer cover, a moisture quilt or an Insulated Moisture Quilt.

     Wintering your bees is like real estate value in that the most important consideration is location (location, location, location).  Location dictates the methods you will use to protect your bees from the elements. Windbreaks are essential in some areas where there are cold, winter winds.  In winter we have a predominant, strong, low pressure, southeast weather pattern that brings with it fairly constant cold, wet winds.

     Wrapping is also very helpful at reducing heat loss.  Roofing paper is the favourite wrapping material (black absorbs heat from the sun) making sure to leave an upper hole for ventilation.  Some beekeepers insulate not only the top of their hives but the body as well, making sure once again to leave the upper ventilation hole open for air circulation.

     Other considerations are what type of bee you have.  Carnies and Russians (particularly Russians) winter smaller clusters, eat less, produce less winter brood and generally winter better than their southern Italian cousins (The Best Bee Type).  However, most bees are a hybrid of various types of bees.
     A great concern when wintering bees is starvation and to prevent this beekeepers must simply make sure they leave adequate frames of honey for thier bees.  Once again this is location dependent and for us is about 65-75 lbs or 10 deep frames.  For information on feeding bees go to Feeding Bees in Winter .
     To view this webinar go to the "Getting your hives ready for winter" with Kim Flottum or
"Putting the hive to bed for winter" with Kim Flottum .  You may also want to check out The Biology and Management of Colonies in Winter , Winterization Guide for Beekeeping , The Thermology of Wintering Honey Bee Colonies or Wrapping a Honey Bee Colony with Tar Paper  from the Beekeepers' Library.

   

Killer Bees

Killer Bee statue in Hidalgo, Texas

     The term "Killer Bees" refers to Africanized bees which were originally produced by cross-breeding European bees (Apis mellifera) with African bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) which are a sub-species of the European or Western honey bee and are native to central and southern Africa.  In 1956, to produce the "perfect" honey bee for tropical Brazil, 26 African Tanganyikan queen bees were imported to Brazil and bred with European drones.  Queen excluders were put on the entrances of the hives to prevent introduction of these African queen bees into the Brazilian environment. In 1957 a replacement beekeeper unknowingly removed the queen excluders releasing the African queens and starting the migration of the Africanized bees through the western hemisphere.  Here is some additional information on Africanized bees provided by the University of California (Africanized Bees).  The map below show the yearly migration of the Africanized bees.

     I draw an analogy between the phenomena of the "Killer Bee" and the movie "Jaws".  The movie inspired an unfounded paranoia of entering any water even that not inhabited by sharks.  Myself, having worked and lived in bear country and swum with sharks for years pride myself in possessing a sense of calm and objectivity when dealing with potentially dangerous situations.  Nevertheless I recall hearing the unforgettable music from the movie "Jaws" every time I encountered a shark in the water after that.  The reality is that while sharks and "killer bees" do pose a threat it is important to put it into perspective and not create an exaggerated paranoia.  The city of Hidalgo, Texas where the first Africanized bees in the U.S. were identified built a larger than life statue of the "Killer bee" on wheels which is still brought out for festivals and parades.  In reality driving a car and riding a bike are far more dangerous.  It is important to note that beekeepers in Central and South America are presently using Africanized bees.  While they do produce a higher yield of honey they replace the native bees (Stingless Bees of the Maya) and do not pollinate all of the native plants.
     The distinguishing features of the Africanized bee are: Swarms more frequently (smaller swarms up to 10 times a year potentially inhabiting smaller cavities); more likely to migrate as a response to seasonal dearth (In many parts of Africa their ancestors migrated annually due to extreme seasonal drought - Queen of the Savannah is a great movie about the ordeals of the African bee); more likely to abscond (entire colony leaves) in response to stress; more aggressive defensiveness when in a resting swarm; more likely to inhabit ground nests than European bees; greater area and more aggressive defense of hive; proportionally more guard bees; more bees act in defense of a hive and do so for a greater distance (i.e. several hundred bees to a disturbance 40 meters away and may follow for a quarter of a mile); The Africanized bee has also shown a greater propensity to be aggressive to darker colours such as darker coloured dogs suggesting a link to it's greatest enemy in Africa, the dark coloured honey badger; has difficulty surviving longs periods without forage (i.e. long, dry summer periods or cold winters). Here is a research article on the DNA of Africanized bees (DNA of Africanized Bees).

1985 Africanized Bee Alert

     The Africanized bee's sting is no more venomous than the European bee and like the European bee it can only sting once.  They respond to disturbances faster, in greater numbers and for farther distances.  The prescribed defense is to retreat quickly (covering your head) to the shelter of a building or automobile.  The undesireable, aggressive traits appear to be passed by the Africanized drones so many American beekeepers are counter attacking the migration of the Africanized bees by drone-flooding or raising an inordinate number of European drones to ensure a majority European mating.  Other defence measures include frequent requeening to remove any Africanized queens and extermination of wild bee nests.  However, most scientists believe that the northward migration is unpreventable and that with time the Africanized bees will adapt to periods of dearth or cold.  They have adapted to and inhabit colder areas at the foot hills of the Andes Mountains in South America.  While there is no way to predict their arrival in Canada one deterrent is the antiquated and bizarre Canadian bee import restrictions (We can import bees from New Zealand, Australia and Chile - Canadian bee import regualtions) that make the movement of bees from the U.S. to Canada impractical.  This is why most of our imported bees in Vancouver come from New Zealand. 

     For additional information on Africanized Bees in America go to Saguaro National Park Africanized Bees  and The Africanized Honey Bees in America.  For instructional material go to Africanized Honey Bees (Power Point Presentation).

     It is autumn and for many of us beekeepers it is time to watch for wasps.  Wasps leave their nests this time of year and go out and forage.  While some will occasionally enjoy nectar they are primarily insectivores and will kill your bees and attempt to enter the hives.  For strong colonies this is not usually a problem but as a counter measure beekeepers often use entrance reducers and wasp traps.  All of our wasps will die this winter except for the new, mated queens.  This year I have identified 6 species of wasps in my garden: Vespula pensylvanica (western yellowjacket-Queen); Potter Wasp; Polistes dominula- European paper wasp; Male Vespula germanica (German Wasp - Yellowjacket); Dolichovespula maculata (bald-faced hornet) and the beautiful green eyed Bembicini (Bembix) or Sand wasp.  While I have observed a smaller yellow wasp and a similar sized Blackjacket wasp I have not made positive identification.  I have seen the western yellowjackets killing the odd bee in front of the hives but no sign of any attempted entry.  Last year I witnessed the girls mass attack of a large bald-faced hornet trying to enter the hive.  It was very violent  as the wasp attempted to fly away with a few of the girls attached.  
    We are still in our Indian summer with beautiful days, active, foraging bees and lots of flowers still available.  Soon it will be time to prepare the hives for winter, extract some honey and wax up my skis.

Bembicini (Bembix) or Sand wasp (Green eyes)

The Stingless Honey Bee of the Maya

              A photo by Eric Tourneret of the stingless Trigona honey bees kept in traditional earthen pots

     There are about 800 species of stingless bees (Meliponines) that can be found in tropical regions of the world (Tropical America, Australia, Africa and Southeast Asia).  In fact stingless bees do have stingers but they are so small that they are ineffective and instead defend their colony by biting.  The stingless bee bite is similar to a mosquito bite.  The stingless bees will nest in open tree cavities, rock crevices or underground openings.
     The stingless bees (Melipona Beecheii and Melipona Yucatanica) in Central America have been kept by the Mayan people for thousands of years and are part of their traditional religious ceremonies.  The bees are kept like family pets in log hives or pots passed down from generation to generation.  The future of the Mayan stingless bee is bleak due to deforestation and the introduction of the Africanized honey bee which produces a far greater yield of honey.  A significant problem is that the Africanized honey bee does not pollinate many of the native trees and shrubs which as a result are declining.  The number of traditional Mayan beekeepers has reduced drastically with elderly men and women being the last of their kind.  

     

     Eric Tourneret is an amazing photographer who has studied the relationship between different cultures and bees including the Mexican stingless bee (The Bee Photographer).  Part of this study involves the efforts to increase traditional stingless beekeeping along with the fair trade initiative (Fairtrade in Mexico) both of which I feel are very important issues.  The group "Schools for Chiapas" is also working to promote traditional stingless beekeeping with educators, students and communities.  The video below shows the traditional Melipona bee ceremony known as Un-hanli-cab in Yucatan, Mexico.



     Native stingless bees have been kept by cultures throughout the world and the video below is of an Australian native stingless beekeeper.



     There are many species of stingless bees in the Amazon and they also play an important part in the environment as pollinators.  34 species of stingless bees have been identified in the Amazon region of which 9 were considered domesticated by the locals.  Below is a video by Eric Tourneret in his continuing study of the relationship between bees and people entitled "The Amazing Stingless Bees of the Amazon".



     To read further about the stingless bees of the Maya read Xuna Kab, The Stingless Bees of the Yucatan, The State of Melipona in Mexico today and Meliponas in Yucatan.  All of these are also available in our Beekeepers' Library.  To read an article on stingless beekeeping in India go to The Hindu.
     I have been asked often if stingless bees can be imported to Canada and the U.S. and the answer is no, not legally.  However, there are reports of beekeepers keeping stingless bees for many years in the southern states having brought them up from Mexico.
     Help the School for Chiapas save the Mayan Stingless Bee through the Mayan Stingless Bee Recuperation Program (http://www.schoolsforchiapas.org/advances/sustainable-agriculture/meliponas/).