Bee scout, finding a rich source of nectar or pollen, dances on honeycombs, returning to the hive. Dancing is a kind of “language”, a signal by which bees learn the distance from the hive to the source of the nectar, the direction in which it is located, the kind of food.

There are two types of movements – circular and wags. Each dancing is fundamentally different from the other and carries important information. It should be said that the bees are always guided by the sun during the flight, and even on cloudy days they feel it. This is important, because the dancing bee scout must indicate the route to nectar relative to the sun.

During the flowering of many species of plants bees scouts search for those which are more filled with nectar. When scout detects a rich source of bribe – his dance is more energetic. Power of smell, the sweetness of nectar, brought by scout bee, determine the degree of mobilization of the family.

Bee scout, finding a new source of food, leaves a fragrant substance, secreted by glands on the tip of the abdomen, collects some nectar and flies in the hive. The fragrant helps to find it again.

Arriving in the hive, bee scout runs up into the honeycomb. Belching collected honey, it passes it to two or three bees.Freed from the nectar, it starts the dance. If the distance between the source of food and the hive does not exceed 100 meters, it makes a circle dance. It goes around a single cell with rapid mincing steps and then rotates 180° and runs in a circle in the opposite direction. It repeats several times this cycle movements. After that, the bee flies away to the place where it found the nectar, and bees follow and look for the source of the smell. If there is quite a lot of food, then they come back and make the same dance, attracting new bees.

Bees, visiting distant places with food source, take the waggle dance. It runs in a semicircle of several cells left, then runs in a straight line 2-3 cells to the starting point, and turning to the other side, makes the second semicircle and again returns to the starting point.Wagging may take several minutes. It differs from a circular dancing not only by a form, but also by the fact that at the straight path the bee produces quick wag motion with belly, uttering rustling, which greatly attracts the attention of other bees.

Bees, discovered the source of food, can specify the distance to it with wagging run.  During the dancing bee colony receives a signal about the direction to a source of food. Dancing can be made on horizontal or vertical surface, it is still indicates a direction in relation to the sun. Bee takes as a basis the angle between the direction of its flight and a straight line to the sun and shows it in the dance. If a straight run with wagging is directed vertically upwards, then you need to fly from the hive to the sun, and if the top down – against the sun. Straight-line running at an angle to the vertical line indicates the angle to the sun at which they need to fly. For example, a bee produces a waggle run at an angle of 60° to the left of the up direction, then food can be found at an angle of 60° to the left from the forward direction from the hive to the sun, etc.

Distance to the food the bee indicates with the speed and the amount of movement of the abdomen. The further the food, the slower the movement and a straight running with movements of the abdomen takes longer.

Unlike scout bees, which bring information about the location of bee plants, pollen foragers do not bring nectar to the hive, but deliver a small portion of pollen on pollen pants. They also perform circular and waggle dancing, reporting another pollen foragers about the distance and direction to the food source.

Carniolan bees are more peaceful than brown bees of France. They sit quietly on combs, taken out of the hive. In some areas of the U.S. they raise brood better than the Italian bee. However, these bees have a negative feature – they like swarming. For this reason, they are not suitable for mobile apiaries. These bees almost never have propolis in the hive. Honeycombs are white and clean. If they haven’t  the tendency to swarm, these bees would be ideal for the production of honeycomb.

Who would have thought that it would be a harmless bat from Thailand with a such funny name.

It was discovered in October 1973 by the Thai biologist Kitty Thonglongya.

This bat is very tiny. Its body length does not exceed 3.3 cm (1.2”), in the forearms it reaches 2.2-2.6 cm (1”), and weighs 1.7-2 g.! For its tiny size this bat has been called bumblebee.

This animal is different from other bats by unique nose like a pig nose. It has large ears with the large trestle. The wings are also large and wide. Unlike other species of the order, it has no tail. The back and wings are dark brown with reddish or gray colors, and the belly has a lighter color.

Habitats are small areas in the province of Kanchanaburi (Sai Yok National Park) in the south-west of Thailand and a few neighboring areas of Myanmar.

They sleep in the depths of small caves in limestone, where they gather together in small groups. They hunt in little groups by 4-5 individuals. They do not fly from their home more than 1 kilometer. By our standards, this is a little bit, but for them it is the great distance.

They hunt in the thickets of bamboo or teak wood, they seek for small insects, and then lick them from the leaf. Most often, they eat dinner-winged insects (80%), and the rest – spiders and Hymenoptera.

Their biology of reproduction is not known. They have 1 calf per year.

Unfortunately, their numbers are very small. Now there are about 500 individuals, although in the past there was even less – about 160 individuals in the 3 Caves (1982). Therefore, they are among the first species in the International Red Book.

What you need to prepare:
A roll of toilet paper
Yellow paper
Paints
Brushes
Googly-eyes
Glue
Scissors

Paint the roll with yellow color.

When the paint is completely dry – glue eyes or draw them with marker.

Draw a bee’s mouth and stripes on the body, it can be done with paint or marker.

Cut out wings of white or yellow paper and glue them on the back of a bee. You can still add antennae. I think, antennae of chenille wire would be especially cool, but we cut them out of shiny paper.

Our bee Maya is sad a little, so she needs to watch this funny and good cartoon:

You can buy yellow bees for cash or online on the specialized website (and if you don’t have enough money for the required number of bees, you can always take out a loan: www.PaydayLoans-OrangeCA.com).

Italian, as well as the Krajina and Caucasian bees, are more immune to European foulbrood than American black bees. Italian bees  can live with wax moth larvae in their hives, but it can not be said about the American black bees. Italian bees clean the hive from wax moth. The young Italian bees quickly destroy moth. Weak black bees or Dutch bees can not cope with moth.

The group of bees in the Middle East are the bees of Cyprus, Syrian bees of Syria and northern Israel and the Palestinian bees of Israel. These three types of bees are very similar to Italian bees by color, but are very different by other properties, especially behavior. Middle East bees were imported to America by D. Jones (Ontario, Canada) and Frank Benton in 1882. D. Jones and F. Benton studied these bees and decided to import them into the United States. Later, D. Jones sent a large number of queens in all areas of the U.S. and Canada. Cyprian bees differ from Italian bees, they are smaller. Probably, Syrian, Palestinian and Italian bees came from Cyprus bees. For centuries, the bees bred in pure form (without the participation of other species) on the island of Cyprus. But as the Cyprus bees are hard-working and beautiful, they were brought to Italy, Syria, Palestine, where they were crossed with the black bees of the north. With the exception of giant bees of India and Egyptian bees, Cyprus bee are the most evil. This property probably stopped the import of Cyprus bees not only into the United States but also in Europe. Despite the little honey collection in Cyprus, the bees work very vigorously. Experimental analysis showed that they provide a great honey harvest in the U.S.

Syrian bees are divided into two groups, which are externally indistinguishable. The first group is very evil bees, and another – gentle bees. Syrian bees, found in Syria and Lebanon, are similar to Italian and Cyprus bees. Syrian bees are very prolific, they work well. The peculiarity of their color is pale bands on the first three segments of the abdomen. Yellow fluff covers chest and the base of the wings. Crescent is clearly visible. Some darker color is due to the influence of bees entering into Syria through the mountains. Like Cyprian bees, Syrian bees are nervous, but less evil, if you work with them – use a large amount of smoke.

Palestinian bees are probably the kind of Egyptian bees. Palestinian bees are very similar to the Syrian bees. The former are more nervous and almost as much evil as Cypriot bees. The first three segments of the abdomen are lemon yellow with black edging. Fluffy gray rings cause the young bees to seem lighter. Crescent at the base of the chest is smoky-gray. Palestinian bees are small, their queen is very long and have good egg production. Bees of East, especially Palestine bees lay much more queen cells, than other types of bees. Their queens have large size and strength. Young queen can fly from the beehive 23 minutes after leaving the cell. One of the bad properties of the eastern bees is that they tend to turn into laying worker bees. As soon as the Palestinian and Egyptian bees remain without a queen, laying worker bees appear. All the Eastern bees are evil, that makes them unsuitable for industrial beekeeping, especially in the northern states.

Albinos and Italian bees with 5 stripes. The most characteristic feature of these bees is hairy rings of light gray or almost white color (hence the name Albino). Apparently, albinos descended from Palestinian bees, though by careful selection albinos can also be obtained from the usual Italian bees. These bees do not play a significant role in the industrial beekeeping. Egyptian bees have a light color with yellow stripes. They are easily distinguished from other species of bees by white hairs, covering the entire body. White pubescence remains after crossing Egyptian bees with other bees. Color of Egyptian queens is mainly reddish-brown. In addition, the Egyptian queen is significantly less than the European one.

Egyptian honey bee (Apis fasciata Latr.) is considered the best bee for beekeeping in the hive. Therefore, the Egyptian drones are mated with the Krajina and Caucasian queens, and vice versa. First-generation hybrids are very productive bees both in the United Arab Republic, and in countries with cold climates. Although Egyptian bees are less than the European bees, they willingly take and adjust the standard honeycomb cells. Bees on these honeycombs work better than on the natural combs in traditional clay pipe hives. Egyptian queens are very fertile and suitable for the formation of nucleus, especially when pairing with gray drones (Krajina or Caucasian). Egyptian bees as if created for raising queens. Each of these queens is equal to the queen of the larvae of Egyptian queens mated with Krajina or Caucasian drones. In spite of smaller families, purebred Egyptian bees provide quite high amount of centrifugal honey, they are not suitable for sectional honey. Egyptian bees tend to swarm when they are kept in the ancient mud hives. Unfortunately, most beekeepers UAR use these hives. If Egyptian bees are kept in modern hives, if you use breeding selection and care, swarming is greatly reduced. The care and selection also influence on the temperament of bees. Families, who are preparing to swarm, lay a lot of queen cells. Bees may have hundreds of barren queens with the weight of swarm 400 g. You cannot check the presence of queen and food reserves in the nest. Some bees are extremely annoying if the beekeeper uses smoke, they are not always able to subdue by spraying with water. Carbolic acid and other repellents usually irritate the bees.

Thus, the Egyptian bees are successfully used for mating with gray bees. If they are crossed with yellow bees, you can get very irritable and even evil offspring.

Bee species in India. In Punjab, there are 3 types of honey bees, which have adapted to adverse climatic conditions. Indian bee (Apis indica F.) lives in a hilly area. Dwarf honeybee (Apis florea F.) lives on the plains, where the temperature rises to 49 С (120 F). Giant or rocky bee (Apis dorsata F.) lives in the foothills and low hills. Family of giant bees rebuilds one huge comb on the wall of a rock, or on the branches of a large tree (Ficus bengalensis, Ficus religiosa, mango). Sometimes bees hung the comb to the buildings. One tree can lodge 50 and more families. So there is a natural air apiary. Cell dimensions are impressive: thickness is 150-180 cm (6′), height – 60 cm (2′) or more. The thickness of the cell in the brood part is 3.6 cm (1,5”), thickness of the cell in honey part is 10 cm (3”). Worker bees are of the same size as the queen of Italian bees (length 16-18 mm (0.6”), 1 kg includes about 7000 bees). It is noteworthy that cell of the worker bees and drones are the same.

Giant bees are very hardworking. They start to work early in the morning and finish later than the Indian bees. From one family you can sometimes get up to 36 kg of honey. Bees are very evil. Their stings are very painful and in some cases lead to death. Irritated bees stalk their prey from a distance. They are reluctant to leave the victim, even if it jumps into the water. Some individuals are able to handle the giant bees, and the body of these people, apparently, is not so swollen from the stings. Families migrate from one place to another and during the flight they produce a characteristic loud. Attempts to keep the giant bees in hives have not been successful.

Dwarf bee is much less than Indian bee. Families build single cell usually in the bushes, on fences, on the branches of trees, under the eaves of houses, in chimneys, in folded cotton stalks, in the empty boxes and in other places. Cell area is slightly higher than the palm area of the hand or equal to it. Dwarf bee is so peaceful, that sometimes they are referred to stingless bees. These bees can not live indoors, so they build honeycombs mostly on high, well-lit areas. Dwarf bees have a greater tendency to swarm and flights. Families gather very little honey, their single cell contains about 450 grams of honey. Honey is liquid, but has healing properties. Indian bees usually settle in the hollows of trees, often peasants leave indentations in the walls of their homes, so the bees build their honeycombs there. Swarms of bees settle in specially prepared nest boxes and clay hives. Body size of worker bees and brood cells depends on the altitude above sea level. In the valley of Kullu there is 2.1 cell per linear centimeter, and in the valley of Kandra  – 2.2 cells. Bees, found in the lowland areas of India, build 2.4 cells per linear inch. According to some observations, with an increase above sea level the size of worker brood cell increases, families become more numerous and collect more honey. However, these observations need to be scientifically proven. Indian bees are peaceful, do not run on the honeycomb, are easily soothed by using smoke, and often they can be inspected without smoke. Bees are quite swarming (one family can give up to 7 swarms). In some cases, a reason of swarming is the small size of local hives.

Laying worker bees appear shortly after the loss of the queen. Families cannot protect themselves against wax moth. Indian bees do not work so well, as a giant Indian bees or Italian bees. Average honey yield is 3.64-5 kg from one family. In 1936, the state apiary in Nagrot, which uses the hives of Langstroth, got 14, 5 kg of honey from one family. Flights and gatherings are common for Indian bees. Theft is also very common, which is particularly enhanced when the family of giant bees begin to rob the family of Indian bees. Flights are common to all three types of bees in India. Giant bees like to migrate to a new location under the influence of changing weather conditions, due to wax moth, or lack of harvest. Giant bees fly to Nagrot area (900 m above sea level) and the valley of Kangre in late March and early April, and fly back before the rains in mid-June. Families of dwarf bees change their location twice a year, depending on weather conditions. But they do not fly long distances, like giant bees. Indian bees particularly like gatherings. Often you can see in the air entire families of Indian bees. Sometimes the causes of the gathering are fasting, wax moth, ant attack, excessive heat,  disappearance of queens, appearance of laying worker bees. However, in some cases, the bees fly off without apparent reason. A family with fetal queens and brood of all ages can leave their hives to join another swarm, flying by. In 1880 and 1905 Benton has made unsuccessful attempts to bring the giant bees in Europe and America. Data finally managed to do it in 1883, however, the bees clearly preferred to live in the open air and attached their one cell to a high branch of the tree.

Chinese and Japanese bee species are considered to be kinds of Indian bees. However, the Chinese are different from Japanese bees. Despite the positive properties of both species of bees, both Chinese and Japanese people prefer to keep European bees, primarily Italian ones. Honeybees of south-eastern China are the largest species of Eastern honeybee (Apis indica var. Peroni). Their  average length of the body is 11.67 mm (0.3”)  and wingspan is 20.82 mm (0.7”). Worker bee without pollen weighs 0.06008 g, the average length of the proboscis (tnentum and glossa) is 4,74 mm (0.2”). Bees of this size are promising for industrial beekeeping. Worker bees have dark color, but the front part of the first 2 or 4 abdominal segments is brownish-yellow. As the queen, and the drones are black. Drones rear legs are forked. The thickness of the cell with the working cells is 2.2 cm (0.9′), 1 square cm covers 4.952 cells (Cantonese bees – 5.282 cells). Drone cells differ from worker bees cells, they are much more tall and have conical caps with small holes that can be opened inside the cells. Chinese bees are very hardworking))) They fly even in cold weather. The Italian bees do not work at such temperatures. Chinese bees produce a lot of wax. They have beautiful white seal of honey. Bees collect nectar hard during low harvest they economize on their holdings and better resists predatory wasps, than Italian bees. However, Chinese bee form small families, often swarm, usually fly off with a lack of food, are nervous. It is more difficult to calm them with the smoke than the Italian bees. Chinese bees gnaw holes in the honeycomb and cannot resist attacks of wax moths. The average production of good families in the hives of old type is about 67 kg of honey per year. Using modern methods of beekeeping, you can get 23-27 kg of honey. Chinese bees are terrible thieves.

In winter, they rob the Italian bees, but in the summer they are robbed by the Italian bee. If the Italian bees appear in the neighborhood, the local bees disappear.

Black or brown bees are divided into 2 types: the Dutch or heather bees, originally discovered in the Netherlands and imported to America, and black or brown bees, found in Central Europe and the UK. Black bees were brought to America, apparently, from the Netherlands, but not from Germany. The difference in the behavior of the two types of bees is so prominent that they can be called separate species. Real German or English bee, found in Central Europe, in the south of France and in the UK, is sometimes considered as Italian bee, common in Northern Italy. Beekeepers in America and Europe do not like real Dutch bees, bred in America. Before they thought that  there are two types of black bees in the U.S. But some think that there is only one type, that has a Dutch origin. Bees of Virginia, North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama and Louisiana vary in color (from black to brown ). These bees are more prone to theft than pure-bred Italian bees, but they both provide the same honey collection in case of abundance of nectar, gathering dark honey, such as buckwheat. Black or brown bees are nervous. If you open the hive, they will begin to rush from one corner to another. When the beekeeper removes the frame, they hang in clusters on the frame, then they drop to the ground and randomly scatter in all directions. Because of this behavior of bees it is very difficult to find the queen.

Dutch (American) bees have the unpleasant property in the period of the theft to follow a beekeeper along the apiary. They are more inclined to swarm than Italian bees and beekeepers, working in the old way, in many cases can only save first swarm. Seal of honey of the Dutch bees is more white than of the Italian or yellow bees. It is easier to shake off Dutch bees from the frame during pumping honey. They are easier to move for a short distance, than the Italian bees. In general, the Dutch bees are less irritable than Italian bees, but they sometimes climb under the clothes, and of course, sting more than the Italian bees.

German (brown) bees in Central Europe and the UK are somewhat lighter than Dutch bees. Inexperienced beekeeper can not distinguish these species. Black bars of German bees are fringed with yellow fuzz on the abdominal segments, which makes them brown. In the south of France, German bees are ubiquitous, they are easy to cope with the smoke, they do not run and do not gather randomly on the framework, as the Dutch bees in America do. German bees are hardy and resistant to disease. While the black bees of America suffer from European foulbrood, real French bees resistant to the disease as much as American (Italian) bees. Cowan, Simmins and some other most influential British beekeepers prefer Italian bees than English brown. However, the Italian bees are not so common in the UK, as in America. There are several other varieties of black bees, which are considered to be better than the Dutch or German brown bees. Among them we can be call Krajina, Caucasian and Banat bees. These bees were imported to various countries, including America. It should be noted that the Krajina, Caucasian and Banat bee is more peaceable than any kind of black bees, it gives the same honey flow like black bees, and in many respects they bear comparison with Italian bees.

Krajina bees were sent to the U.S. by Frank Benton in the early 80’s . Simultaneously Dadan also imported several queens of Krajina. These large silver-gray bees are found in the north-eastern part of the Alps. Closer to the Danube Krajina bees become brown, near the border of Germany they are black. In the east, the Krajina bees are found on Banat plains of Hungary, and in the south – on the Balkan peninsula. Purebred Krajina bees are only in the Krajina, on the Adriatic coast they have blood admixture of yellow species. Segments of the abdomen are black, fringed with grayish ring with whitish bloom. Because of this Krajina bees are easily distinguished from the brown bees. Krajina bees more peaceful than brown bees of France. They sit quietly on the combs, taken out of the hive. In some areas of the U.S. Krajina bees raise brood better than Italian bees. However, these bees have a negative feature, they extremely like swarming. For this reason, they are not suitable for U.S. portable apiaries. Very valuable is that there is no propolis in the hive of Krajina bees. Honeycombs are white and clean. If they do not have a tendency to swarm, the Krajina bees would be ideal for the production of honey.

Caucasian bees are somewhat like the Krajina bees. Both do not run randomly over the hive, when it is opened. Both varieties of bees, like the Italian bees, are resistant to European foulbrood. Caucasian mountain bees are the most peaceful in the world, with the exception of the Saharan bees, found in the oases of Northern Africa. Caucasian bees, grown on the plains, are not so peaceful, like bees from the Caucasus mountains. But both races collect a lot of propolis and therefore are not suitable for the production of honeycomb. Mountain race of Caucasian bees is gaining popularity. Hives can be often opened without smoke in bad and good weather. Bees fly buzzing around the face and hands, as if they are going to sting, and then return to the cell. This variety is suitable for apiaries in the small towns and suburbs. It is noteworthy that the Caucasian bees have a longer proboscis than Italian bees. The Caucasian bees are hardy, work well and are not prone to swarming.

Banat bees are called after a place in Hungary, where they were taken from. Banat bees are very similar to the Caucasian bees. Some reputable beekeepers believe that Banat bee is the type of Krajina bees. Banat bees are very peaceful, but they are almost impossible to distinguish from the brown or black European bees.

North African black bees (Tunisian, Punic) were tested for some time in the U.S. These bees are irritable, stain everything with red propolis. They should not be delivered to other countries.

Madagascar bee was found in Madagascar and neighboring islands, and probably bred there for thousands of years. This bee, apparently, is the blackest of all black bee species. Its body has very poor brown fluff. It is impractical to bring the Madagascar bee to other countries. West African bees are characterized by shiny black body and bad properties.

– 100 g of honey give the human body 320 calories, it’s more than in 100 g of any meat. 
– Honey contains 10-21% of water 
– To collect 1kg of honey, bees have to visit hundreds of thousands of flowers. 
– During a year the bee family consumes about 31 kg of water, 80-100 kg of honey 
and 20-25 kg of pollen 
– In the spring bees need 0.5 liters of water a day 
– To bring 1 liter of water, bees make at least 17,000 flights. 
– During the honey flow a bee lives 35-45 days. 
– One kg contains about 10000 bees. 
– After the first swarm leaving, there are 40-60% of the bees in the maternal family.

– To get 1 kg of honey bees evaporate about 2 kg of water. 
– The queen can lay up to 2,000 eggs a day.

– Family of 6 kg collects 50% more honey than four families of 1.5 kg each.

– All life bees spend at work. Bees feed a larva about 10,000 times, and a queen larva – 16 thousand times. 
– Distance between the parallel walls of the bee cell is 5,38-5,42 mm (2”), 
depth – 12 mm (0.5”), volume – 0.282 cc, the wall thickness – 12 mm (0.5”). Each cell can contain 
0,4-0,64 g of honey or 0.19 g of pollen. 
– For the construction of one bee cell they need 13 mg bee wax, for drone cell – 30 mg. 
– Total to build a framework they need 140-150 g of wax. One standard Dadan frame consists of 9100 cells. 
– When the air temperature is 35-40 degrees C (95 F) bees can not adjust the temperature 
in the hive and gather on the front wall. 
– To collect 1 kg of honey bees make 120-150 thousand flights, one bee brings 20-30 mg. 
– The heartbeat of the bee during a flight  is 120-150 times per minute. 
– Bees have a special gland that secretes a secret, dissolving the wax for the construction of honeycombs. 
– One frame with open brood at 35 C (95 F) uses 1300 ml/hour of oxygen. 
– One species of butterfly can imitate the voice of the queen bee. Because of this it cheats 
the bees, enters the hive and sucks honey. 
– Beautiful red wasps-hornets often feed nectar, sucking it out from the killed bees. Hornets feed their larvae with insects, primarily bees. 

– The first polymer, manufactured on earth, was beeswax. Wax contains more than 300 substances, esters (about 70 – 75%), free fatty acids (about 13 – 15%), carbohydrates (12 – 17%), water (1 – 5%), aromatics, dyes, mineral, antibiotic and other substances. 
– Odysseus stuffed ears of members of his team with bee wax, not to listen to the singing sirens. 
– Honey has excellent antiseptic properties for many years, it retains its quality, not spoil, not mold. It was known to ancient Romans. They canned with honey a rare game from faraway countries. Bathed in honey, it kept the freshness and flavor for a few years.

– Bee bread is vital for growing brood. Bee families need an average of 26 kg per year. 
– During the winter 10% of the three-year females die, 2.9% of two-year and 0.2% of one-year.

– The average flight of a bee in May lasts 51 -53 minutes, June – 50-59, July – 41-52 min, in August – from 62 to 82 min. The more abundant the honey flow, the less time a bee spends. 
– To grow 1 kg of bees they need about 1.2 kg of honey and 0.9-1.5 kg of pollen, depending on content of protein.
– Overwintered bee can breed only one young bee, spring bee – three. The drone larva needs the amount of feed, same as 3 – 4 working bee larvae. 
– Number of bees in the winter can be defined by their mass. 1 kg is usually 10 -11 thousand bees, and 
1 kg of usual swarm – only 6 – 7 thousand. This difference is due to the fact that before leaving the swarm bees take honey in goiters and carry it with them. So weight is increased by 25%. 
– Bees have color vision. According to the Austrian Research Dr. Frisch, they see not only the colors which the human eye perceives, but also up to 30 shades of each, elusive human vision. But bees like the white, blue and yellow. The red color they confuse with the black. That’s why it was decided to paint the hives in such colors. American scientist James L. Gould recently found that particularly fast bees find food sources, painted purple. 

– Flying out of the hive, bee carries a small electrical charge. During the flight, it creates an electric field around, and the charge becomes positive and increases, especially in sunlight. According to E. Erikson, the potential difference between a flower and a bee is needed for the magnetic attraction of pollen grains to the hair cover of a bee. Electric charge of the returned to the hive bee serves as a kind of information about the location of the source of honey and distance to it. 
– Bees are “champions” of smell. They perceive and distinguish odors by thousand times stronger than a man. Searching the source of honey bee feels from far away the aromas of flowers, and among them – the best ones by the content of the nectar. 
– Bees are “weathermen”. Before the rain, they unanimously return to the hive. Scientists explain this by the fact that before the rain and storms the atmosphere has electric charge and the bees feel it. It serves them as an alarm, calling for a return to the hive. 
– Bees are “sculptors”. If you cut stencils with obtuse angles 109’29, and 70’23, (equal to the size of cells), bees can mold shapes and letters. 
– Bees are “mathematics”. Honeycombs have different dimensional accuracy, rigor, and accuracy of forms. Bees chose the most rational geometric shape – hexagon with a three-sided pyramid of overturned rhombs at the bottom. This form provides the most dense adjoining of cells, and, therefore, the highest strength of the buildings. The rationality of the forms of bee cells is evidenced by the fact that the ancient Greeks concluded that there is no more economical by material consumption and longer lasting capacious 
vessel, than a bee cell with strictly constant size. Obtuse angles are 109’28 ‘, and the sharp ones – 70’31’. 
– Bees are “indicators” of environmental pollution. Bess daily can take samples of air, water and dust, settling on the flowers of plants in 
a radius of 3 km, and brought to the hive with pollen and nectar. You only need to make chemical analysis of samples. 
– Bees are “geologists”. British scientists have found that the chemical composition of pollen brought by bees in the hive, shows the nature of the soil, which allows to use the bees in the searching of copper, iron, precious metals. 
– The closest “relative” of a bee – a bumble-bee, having Latin name “bombus”, is a paradox in science. Exploring aerodynamic features of the bumblebee, American scientists have come to the conclusion that the mass of the body, its streamlining and many other features do not allow it to fly, but it flies. 
– When there is a lot of rain, the nectar in the flowers gets wet and sugar content is decreased. Bees do not take the nectar, which contains less than 4.25% of sugar. Most actively they collect nectar, containing from 50 to 56% sugar. In hot, dry weather, small droplets of nectar quickly evaporate water, sugar crystallizes on the surface of nectaries and the bees can not collect it. 
– The image of the bee since ancient times is symbol of diligence, accuracy and selfless devotion to the family. In our time in Italy, Norway, Malta people use small coins with bees.

– In nature, except honeybees, there are their closest “relatives” – solitary bees.
– The power lines and high voltage lines, running near apiaries adversely affect the lifetime of bees, safety of queen bees and in the long run productivity of bee colonies. Under the influence of electric fields, the bees are much more aggressive. 
– The word “nectar” in Greek means “drink of the gods”, bestowed immortality. 
– The great naturalist Charles Darwin called the building instinct of bees “the most amazing of all the instincts”. 
– The goddess Dali (Georgia) and the goddess Gunda (Abkhazia) are mythological protector of bees.
– The body of Alexander the Great, who died during the trip to the Middle East, was transported immersed in honey, in order to eliminate corruption. 
– Flying bee speeds up to 65 km per hour without load. It flies 1 km per minute. Loaded with honey and pollen, it reduces the speed of flight in half, depending on the direction and speed of wind. 
– In the flight the bee wing makes 440 strokes per second. 
– The queen bee larva is increased in size by 3 thousand times for 5 days, worker bee – by 1.5 thousand times. 
– The bees are still endowed with mysterious mechanism (ability) in exceptional cases to extend their lives to save the bee colony by 5-6 times.

– The queen bee lives 50-60 times longer than worker bees. 
– In the old days, the hives were stained with homemade paints: lime mixed with curd and gum. It was called cherry glue. 
– The distance of flight of bees and area of collection depend on many factors: the strength of colonies, weather, season and time of day, the intensity of the selection of nectar, honey plant concentration and other factors. Usually bees collect nectar within 2 km from the apiary, but with meager honey yield the fly up to 3 km. Weak families work within 1 km, strong – even 3-4 km. 
– For smoker they use saltpeter rags or corn cobs, impregnated with a solution of saltpeter (50 g nitrate in 2.5 liters of water) . You can use also dry birch bark and rotten wood of willow. 
– The bees do not sting your hands, if you rub them with the juice of mint leaves.
– Each apiary should have first aid kit. The kit should have a means to help the victims of bee stings, validol, suprastin, ammonia, iodine, 3% solution of hydrogen peroxide. 
– Bees can act as a hen. So, after the death of a chicken people put eggs in a hive of a strong family of bees. Eggs were laid on top lap, covered with insulation, and sometimes were turned, as is done in incubators. Just in time 17 chickens were born. 
– The queen bee has a “suite” of 8-12 bees surrounding it in one row. Bees of “suite” turn their heads to the queen, they are constantly replaced by others. Their primary role is feeding the queen with milk. The queen periodically stops, interrupting egg-laying, and takes the royal jelly. Only when there is a “suite” – queen lays eggs rapidly. 
– The famous Swiss scientist Huber (1750-1831) found that queens mate with drones outside the nest, without mating queens are barren. 

– The goddess Artemis in Ephesus State (Greece), represented the women’s chastity, and, according to legend, she was the reincarnation of a bee. On the coins of the State on the one hand they depicted bee, on the other – a deer.

Where are the bees that can kill hornets by overheating?
Japanese beekeepers prefer to grow European bees that are more efficient than the endemic Japanese bees. However, hives are often attacked by the Japanese subspecies of Asian huge hornets, one individual can kill forty bees per minute. Local bees, in contrast to Europeanб learned to deal with these hornets. Several hundreds of bees gather around the predator in one big ball and move the muscles, warming the air inside the ball up to 47 °C (116 F). Hornet dieы from overheating at the temperature of 46 °C (115 F) .

How plants can help in demining?
People long ago started to train animals for demining – bees, rats, mongooses, sea lions and dolphins (in the case of neutralization of sea mines). However, plants also can help, for example, a flower, named Tal. This plant is known, bacause it becomes red in the harsh environment, and its genetically modified version becomes red in the presence of nitric oxide, which evaporates from the explosives. Thus, after spraying the seeds above mine fields, one can clearly identify in which areas are mines.

What is the classical problem of informatics bees can solve with the efficiency of modern computers?
Laboratory studies have shown that bees are able to choose the best route. After localization of flowers bee returns back, so that the resulting path is the shortest. Thus, these insects deal effectively with the classic “traveling salesman problem” of science, which is solved by today’s computers during several days.

What birds help people to find honey, and why?
Some birds like to eat beeswax, but are not able to get into the hive. Instead, they look for people or other mammals that eat honey, fly up to them and ask to follow them, leading eventually to the bees. After opening the hive, a person takes the honey, and the birds get the wax.

How Ecuadorian smugglers produced drug honey?
In 1985, the Peruvian customs officials stopped the export of large quantities of honey from Ecuador, finding the cocaine there. Moreover, the drug has not been mixed in mechanically. To obtain such a honey bee flew over coca plantations.

Why the Pentagon trained bees?
Pentagon experts sometimes use trained bees to detect explosives by smell.

Buckwheat. Buckwheat have flowers for bees of open type. They secrete abundant nectar, have a strong smell and attract bees to visit the flowers of buckwheat in the morning and collect nectar and pollen. Attendance of buckwheat flowers by bees during the day depends on many factors, but mainly on the concentration of sugar in the nectar and its quantity. Secretion of sugar in the nectar peaks at 10-11 am. The largest number of bees visit the buckwheat from 9 to 11 am, after 1 pm on a clear sunny day there are no bees on the flowers of buckwheat, as they no longer secrete nectar. Pollination by bees increases quantity of seeds on average by 1.5 times. Harvest increases by 26-30%.

Two families of bees are enough for effective pollination of 1 hectare of buckwheat. Increase of quantity of bees does not increase the harvest.

Pollination of oil seeds and commercial crops. 

 Sunflower is one of the most important honey plant of field crops, it is pollinated by insects and wind. The main pollinators of sunflower are honey bees. There is a definite relationship between the number of bees in the area and the yield of sunflower. After pollination by bees the quantity of developed sunflower seeds is 87-93%, without pollination by bees – 76-78%. The yield increases by 40-45%.

Sunflower blooms for two weeks. Daily two or three rows of flowers bloom from the periphery to the center of the basket. Usually the flowers bloom for 2 days, on the second day they can be fertilized and pollinated. With a lack of pollinators the flowering could be delayed, which would reduce the ability of flowers to fertilize.

The magnitude of the sunflower crop is greatly influenced by the saturation of bees. If you place on one hectare 0.25 bee colony, so the yield will be 11.8 centners, if 0.7-1.0 families – 16.7 centners. For effective pollination you should promptly bring up bees at the rate of 0.5-1 bee colony per 1 hectare. The glut of bees gives little additional yield. The best time for pollination is from 10 to 16 hours.

Mustard is an aromatic plant from which the bees collect nectar and pollen. Usually they go to the mustard in the morning (9-11 am). For effective pollination of this crop it is sufficient to place 0.5-1 families on 1 ha. Pollination by bees increases quantity of pods and seed formation, depending on the varieties of crop, by 12-50%.

Coriander is an aromatic plant, gives bees nectar and pollen, well visited by the bees in the period between 10 and 15 hours, it is required 2 families for 1 ha. It is better to arrange groups of families around blooming array.

Pollination by bees increases the yield and other oilseed crops, including winter and spring oilseed rape. Bees visit these good crops. Terms of transport and ways of placing of hives are the same for all the crops, well visited by bees.

Cotton. Flowers of cotton are capable of self-pollination, but cross-pollination greatly increases the yield of seeds and fibers and improves the quality of cotton. Long staple cotton varieties abundantly secrete nectar and are well visited by bees. After pollination by bees the box’s weight increases by 12-18%, the number of seeds – by 6%, weight of seeds – by 3-8%, the mass of cotton – by 40%. Bees accelerate ripening by 5-9 days as compared to self-pollinated flowers.

To pollinate cotton you need 5-6 families of bees on 1 ha. Sometimes bees are trained with flavored dressing to increase pollination.

Flax is capable of self-pollination, but may be cross-pollinated. The use of bees for pollination of flax provides significant yield increase. After self-pollination, there are 2902 seeds in 500 boxes, after pollination by bees – 3393 seeds. 1000 seeds’ weight, respectively, is 5.15 and 5.28 g, for better pollination bees are trained.

Pollination of fruit and berries. Almost all kinds of fruits and berries are typical entomophilous plants. Pistil stigma of many species of fruit matures before the anthers, that excludes self-pollination of flowers with their own pollen. Most varieties of apples, pears, plums, cherries and other fruit crops do not give any fruit after using pollen of the same flower and tree, and pollen from another tree of this variety. Thus, the possibility of self-pollination of these plants is excluded by spatial isolation of the generative organs of the flower, and their physiological incompatibility. Even the varieties of fruit crops, which can form the fruit or berries after pollination with pollen of the same variety, give higher yield and better quality fruits after cross-pollination with pollen from other plants of the same variety.

People distinguish compatible varieties (pollen can pollinate the same variety) and incompatible, that is, their pollen does not cause  ovaries. When you plant a garden, it is necessarily to plant the trees-pollinators near the trees of basic type. For better cross-pollination the tree-pollinator should bloom every year and together with the main. Tree-pollinator must be well adapted to local environmental conditions and has a good yield.

Usually they plant a row of pollinators after every 4-5 rows of the main variety. Do not increase the number of rows of the main variety, since with the distance from the trees- pollinators crops are reduced. Practice has shown that the highest fruit yield is obtained in rows adjacent to the rows of trees-pollinators, as there are favorable conditions for cross-pollination.

Apple and pear flowers without bees and other pollinators give few fruits – number of ovaries does not exceed 1-1.5%, while pollinated trees give not less than 20-50% of ovaries of the total number of flowers.

In case of insufficient pollination of flowers, for example, because of the rainy and cold weather, there is a massive shedding of ovaries from cherries, black currants. On isolated from bees gooseberry bushes the fruit yield decreases by 5-7 times.

Early in the spring there are usually very few wild pollinators in nature, so it is required two families for 1 ha orchard.

Apple tree is one the main fruit crops. Apple flowers are bisexual, stigma matures 2-3 days earlier than the anthers. The life span of the flower, depending on the grade, is 4-8 days. After cross-pollination by bees even self-pollinated varieties give higher yield of better quality fruits, sugar content increases by about 1%, acidity is reduced by 0,2-0,8%.

Organizing the bees for pollination of pome and stone crops, you should keep in mind, that in cold weather, which often comes at a time of flowering gardens, bees work within a radius of 200-300 meters from the location of hives. With the increase of distance the visiting and fruit yield decrease.

In case of the high number of flowers and low growth of the trees, you need to provide cross-pollination of the first-day-blooming flowers  and to limit the pollination of flowers, blossoming in the following days, which will ensure shedding of excess ovaries and will not cause the periodic fruiting.

Pollination by bees is carried out for 2-3 days in a favorable weather. If there is not so many flowers, pollinate all the flowers or a substantial part. To do this, the bees are in the garden the entire period of pollination.

Beehives are brought into the garden in the beginning of flowering. Place the families in groups of 15-20 hives, at a distance of no more than 300 meters from each other. In commercial orchards with high density of the planting hives are arranged by one-two in one row of a garden. The bees stay in one place for 4-5 days, that is, as long as 50-60% of the total number of buds bloom. Then at night replace the hives. The transportation of apiaries and replacement depend on the timing of flowering of varieties, prevalent in the plantation. You should move apiaries for at least 3 km, to avoid returning of the bees to the previous location. Under this condition, the bees will frequently visit flowers in the period of maximum flowering of a garden.

Pear female generative organs mature before the anthers, which prevents self-pollination of the flower.

There are few self-pollinated varieties, but they give a higher yield of better quality fruits after the cross-pollination with pollen of other varieties. Planting of special varieties of trees-pollinators and cross-pollination by bees are necessary.

Plum is one of the most important and widely used stone fruits.

Most varieties of plums are unable for self-pollination. With proper organization of pollination by bees yield increases by 2-3 times.

Apricot and peach are also responsive to the cross-pollination. Some varieties of apricots need the appropriate varieties of pollinators.

Cherry is represented by many varieties. Some of them may not be pollinated by its own pollen, as the stigma out of the bud before maturing of male generative organs. The flowers of some varieties do not form pollen. Many varieties are incompatible, thus a careful selection of varieties of pollinators is needed. Cross-pollination significantly increases the yield and quality of cherries. In case of free pollination of flowers of cherry the fruit-setting is 11.1%, and with isolated flowers – 0.33%, the average percentage of fruit set with bees is 15%.

Raspberry is one of the most common fruit plants.

Raspberry flower can be pollinated with its own pollen, but the best pollination occurs with the participation of insects, because heavy sticky pollen can not be carried by the wind, and the pistils in the flowers much longer than the stamens. In a complex raspberry fruit each individual fruit can develop only as a result of fertilization of isolated ovary. In case of a lack of pollinating insects only a part of ovaries of the flower is fertilized, and you get small, underdeveloped, irregularly shaped fruits of poor quality.

Black and red currant can be pollinated with their own pollen, but it is better with insects, the leading role is played by honey bees.

Without insects only a small number of flowers form the ovaries. After pollination by bees yield increases by 18-44%.

Gooseberries have flowers, adapted to cross-pollination, as the anthers ripen before the stigma of the pistil.

Adhesive and relatively heavy pollen can not be transported by wind. Fruit-setting without insects can range from 9 to 35.6%.

Strawberries. Most varieties have bisexual flowers, which can be pollinated within the class. But there are kinds, in which the stamens are underdeveloped and pollination is possible with pollen of another variety, so you need to plant a pollinator-varieties with well-developed male generative organs. To pollinate one hectare of strawberries you need 1-1.5 bee family.

Citrus. Tangerines and oranges give bees a lot of nectar and pollen, insects willingly visit them.

Cross-pollination of flowers by bees significantly increases the yield of citrus and improves the quality. For 1 ha of citrus trees you need 2-3 families.

Grapes. Most grape varieties have bisexual flowers and are self-pollinated. Some varieties without the pollen of other varieties can give only small seedless berries. Wild grapes is dioecious, its pollen is carried not only by the wind, but by insects. Wind as a pollinator is ineffective. His strength is sharply reduced in plantations, especially when the wind direction is perpendicular to the rows of grapes.

Transfer of pollen by insects increases the yield and quality of grapes. The flowers attract bees with pollen and nectar flavors. Bees like to collect pollen from the grapes.

To pollinate one hectare of grape you need one bee family. The hives are placed in such a way that the bees fly along the rows and down-up. You can reinforce the collection by taking the pollen from the nests with the open brood.

Pollination of  Cucurbitaceae and vegetables. Melons are typical entomophilous plants with large bright dioecious flowers. Watermelons, melons, pumpkins and other cucurbits have flowers with only the female generative organs, and with only male ones. Bees  increase yield of melon by several times, and increase the number of formed fruits.

Vegetable crops require cross-pollination by insects to produce seeds and fruits. Seeds, obtained by the cross-pollination by insects, are larger, growth vigor and germination are higher.

Testes of most vegetable crops bloom early, when there is not enough wild pollinators, so you need 1 family of bees for 1 ha.

Pollination of forage grasses. You need to intensify the pollination by bees, train them to fly to the smell of flowers. Training of bees and other techniques increase the pollination of flowers, thus increasing the yield of grass seed by 2-3 times.

Training of bees in the hive. Every morning during the flowering period you should place in each hive 100 g of sugar syrup, infused on the flowers of pollinated crops (eg, clover). Syrup prepared as follows: take 100 grams of sugar per each family of bees, and dissolve it in an equal amount of boiling water.

After cooling,  put corollas of freshly picked flowers of clover (1/3 of the syrup) in the solution. After 1¹/₂ – 2 hours syrup gets flavor of flowers. Distribute syrup every morning by 100-150 ml per family for the entire period of pollination. Before placing corollas in the syrup, grind them in a mortar. In this case, you need less corollas. During training the quantity of flights of bees increase by 5-7 times.

The red clover pollen is brown. It is markedly different from the pollen of other plants, blooming in the same period. Mix 1 liter of syrup and 10-50 g of pollen. Mix it at first in a small amount of syrup, and then mix with syrup, made for the whole apiary. Syrup can ferment quickly, so it is cooked before consumption.

Scaling up the bees to collect pollen. Pollination can be improved by increasing the quantity of open brood in the cells, while reducing the quantity of bee bread. It is recommended to take the frames with bee bread or remove the pollen brought by bees from their legs. In this case,pollination is increased by 2-3 times, and the yield of seeds – from 2.6 to 4.7 quintals per 1 ha. You can increase the amount of open brood in the bee family by putting of one or two frames with the larvae of other families, or making the queen to lay eggs. To do this you can give sugar syrup – 1 liter per family per day within 10-12 days.

Pollination of individual plants. Bees and bumblebees pollinate clover, and the bumble bees pollinate it better, but the number of them during the flowering period varies widely. It is safer to use the bees to pollinate clover, although they collect only a fraction of emitted nectar. The fact that the clover nectaries are located at the base of corolla, the average length of the flower tube is 9.4 – 10.5 mm (0.3”). The average length of the proboscis of bees is 6.5-7 mm (0.2”), so the bees do not always reach the nectar of these flowers. In a humid warm summer the nectar in the flowers rise by 1.5-2 mm(0.1”).  The nectar of clover aftermath in dry weather is more accessible for the bees. Clover gives bees a lot of pollen.

Bees are placed directly at planting or within 500 meters of it. When you place an apiary within 600 m, the collection of seeds is reduced by 15-20%. Best results are obtained when you place at least four – six bee colonies per 1 ha. People use a variety of techniques to strengthen the pollination. You can place 10-20 hives per 50 hectares of clever. Apiary should be delivered in the beginning of flowering period.

Pink and white clover are cultivated as forage and pasture plants separately or mixed with others. Bees like to visit them, as the flowers produce a lot of easily accessible nectar.

White biennial sweet clover is not only yield fodder crop, but also a first-class honey plant. By mowing and planting of one-year clover you can achieve the flowering in autumn when there is no harvest. The number of bees used for honey yield from sweet clover is sufficient for its pollination. It is only necessary to deliver and correctly set hives.

Sainfoin. After pollination by bees the seed yield increases by 2-2.5 times. Pollination of sainfoin is not difficult.

Alfalfa has one feature, associated with pollination, its flower is designed so that one visit is not enough for pollination to occur. The generative organs of the flower (pistil and stamen) are closed by petals of a boat and are in a locked state. To  pollinate it, insect needs to make some effort to release the stigma of the pistil from the mucous membrane and bring pollen, so a bee should shove proboscis into the center of the flower between sail and keel, and put legs on the wings of the corolla.  A boat – generative column – breaks out of the petals and hits the base of the proboscis, and then presses to sail.

Wild solitary bees are active pollinators of alfalfa. During the evolution they anatomically and biologically adapted to pollinate alfalfa. However, the difficulty of using wild pollinators is that they cannot be trained, and the number of them annually decreases because of the intensification of agriculture and the use of pesticides.

During an abundant selection of nectar, the bees like to visit the flowers of alfalfa and often open them, but for a more effective pollination of this crop it is recommended to use strong bee colonies with lots of open brood (5-6 frames) in the loungers and double-hulled hives and 10 frames in multiple hives.

Bees are transported to seed fields in 3-4 days after the onset of flowering. 2-3 days before placing the bees you should mow around the field of alfalfa and mow cross swaths every 500-600 m. Bees are placed around the field and on the swath by groups of 50-60 families, providing a counter-pollination. To improve the efficiency of alfalfa pollination you can use the same methods for enhancing pollination activity of bees as for pollination of red clover. You need 8-10 bee colonies per one hectare. Alfalfa seed crop after pollination by bees reaches 3-5 centner per 1 ha.

Broad Beans are cross-pollinated and self-pollinated leguminous crop. Flowers of broad beans open in the afternoon, so the bees visit them mainly in the evening hours. Bee visits up to 250 flowers during one flight. Bees increase the number of pods and weight of broad beans. Yield of beans is increased by 30-35%. Bees collect 18-30 kg of honey from 1 ha.

Pea is also leguminous crop. It can be self-pollinated and cross-pollinated. Flowers abundantly secrete nectar, attracting a large number of bees and other insects. Main pollinators are honey bees. Bees increase the yield almost by 2 times.

The use of bees for simultaneous pollination of multiple crops. You can bring bees to the fields with buckwheat and clover, clover and sunflower. In such cases apiary is placed directly on the field of the crop, which is less visited by bees. When both crops are actively visited by bees, apiaries are placed between fields of these crops.

Monitoring the quality of pollination. Indicator of pollination efficiency is attendance, that is, the number of working bees per unit of area or per number of flowers (Table 47).

Attendance of crops is defined as follows. Measure an area of 100 m long and 1 m wide. Passing along the area back and forth, the observer counts the number of working bees, which then is divided by 2 to get the average. If the scan reveals that the the quantity of working bees in the field is less than recommended, it is necessary to take measures to improve the efficiency of pollination.

Ligularia sibirica (L.) Cass. It is a perennial herb of Aster family (Asteraceae), 30-125 cm (10-50”) tall. It has ribbed bare stem, in the bottom it is the reddish-purple or green, 15 mm (0.6”) thick. Basal leaves are cordate or ovate, with a deep neckline, jagged, large, 24 cm long (10”), 15-20 cm (8”) wide, on long petioles. The leaves are mostly green, sometimes there are forms and varieties with burgundy or brown leaves. Cauline leaves are smaller than basal, on short petioles. Bracts are slightly pubescent outside. Rhizomes are shortened, with thick lobes of adventitious roots. Peduncles are thick, the lower are longer than the upper. Inflorescence is simple, racemose, consists of 10-50 baskets with the diameter of 2.5-4.5 cm (1-2”), flowers are yellow. It is winter-resistant, winters without shelter. It is a good honey plant. It flowers in July and August. It actively secretes nectar and pollen, so is eagerly visited by bees.

Valeriana officinalis L.It is a perennial herb of the family Valerianaceae, 50-150 cm (20-60”) tall with short thick rhizome with numerous brownish-yellow roots. Stem is erect, hollow, cylindrical, grooved, at the bottom it is purple almost to a half. The leaves are pinnate, opposite, root, on long petioles, upper are sessile. The flowers are pale pink or pale violet, fragrant, clustered in semiumbels at the tips of stems  and lateral branches. It grows in the meadows, forest edges, in lower places. The soil does not matter. It grows often near swamps and rivers. It flowers in July and August. The flowers produce nectar, but since there is a lot of honey plants blooming in that time, the bees are not particularly active in visiting this plant. From one plant the bees produce 0.0137 g of honey. Honey productivity is 20-100 kg per 1 ha. It is used as a sedative for nervous agitation, insomnia, nervousness of cardiovascular system, spasms of the gastrointestinal tract, widely used  in mild forms of neurasthenia and psychasthenia, menopausal disorders and certain diseases of the liver and biliary tract . Often pit is used with other sedatives, heart and antispasmodic. In folk medicine, Valeriana tincture is used for headaches and inflammation of the sciatic nerve (sciatica). Valeriana is an effective medicine in case of high activity of the thyroid gland.  Prolonged use and overdose can lead to drowsiness, depression, decreased efficiency. These side effects disappear quickly when you stop taking Valeriana.

Oregano – Origanum vulgare L. It is a perennial herbaceous essential oil and honey plant of the family Labiatae, 30-60 cm (15-30”) tall with an oblique rhizome. Stems are erect, four-sided, reddish, branched at the top, soft-hairy. Leaves are petiolate, opposite, oblong-ovate, entire. The flowers are small light purple or lilac-pink, two-lipped in the sinuses of dark red bracts, are collected in corymbose paniculate inflorescence. The whole plant is covered with hairs, very fragrant. The fruit splits into four rounded brown nuts. It grows in full sun, in dry, sandy soils, among bushes, forest edges. It blooms from July until the first frost. Flowers secrete nectar, are actively visited by bees. Honey productivity from 1 ha is 80 kg. Honey is flavored, has amber color with a greenish tinge. Oregano contains quite a large amount of selenium, which prevents and slows the aging of cells. Oregano stimulates appetite, the activity of the intestines, improves digestion, relieves spasms of the stomach and intestines, relieves nausea, vomiting and headache, increases menstrual bleeding and has a diaphoretic, diuretic, cholagogue, expectorant, analgesic, sedative, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic and wound healing properties . Infusion of oregano is taken in case of colds, coughs, asthma, pulmonary tuberculosis with sputum and other respiratory diseases, diseases of the stomach and intestines, to regulate menstruation when there is a delay. Oregano is used as a mild sedative and sleep aid, is used in case of a bad mood and even mental confusion. The infusion is also recommended to use in case of the absence of appetite and as an aid to improve digestion in case of a lack of stomach acid and gastric atony. The infusion calms overexcited sexual organs. Outwardly oregano is used in the form of baths, wash, lotions and wet compresses in case of rickets, scrofula, itchy rashes, abscesses, boils and other skin diseases. Infusion of oregano can not be used during pregnancy.

Burnet drug – Sanguisorba officinalis L. It is a perennial herb of the family Rosaceae with the height of 20 – 80 cm (8-30”). Stem is mostly solitary, slightly branching in the upper part , hollow, glabrous, erect, up to 1 meter (40”). Root leaves are large, pinnate, with 7-25 toothed blue-gray  from the bottom leaves, upper leaves are smaller, sessile. The flowers are small, dark, almost black-purple, assembled in oval, 1-3 cm (1”) long heads on long stalks. At the edge of the concave receptacle there is glandular disc, secreting nectar. Fruit is achene. It does not grow in its natural state. Burnet can be grown in gardens, orchards or in home gardens. It flowers in July – August. Bees actively collect pollen from the flowers and nectar.  Decoction of the roots and rhizomes and grass infusion stop active bleeding (uterine, gastrointestinal, pulmonary, hemorrhoids, etc.), narrowing the blood vessels, slowing peristalsis, stop seizures, relax and stop inflammation and have astringent, soothing and strong bactericidal effect. Volatile roots kill germs of typhoid and paratyphoid group for 15 minutes, and dysenteric group – after 5 minutes. Decoction of the roots helps in case of dysentery and diarrhea. Outwardly decoction of rhizomes and roots is used in the form of wet compresses for various inflammatory processes of the skin and as a rinse in case of the inflammatory processes of the mouth and throat. Grass infusion or decoction of rhizomes and roots are used for the seating ten-minutes baths in case of external hemorrhoids.

Coriander seed – Coriandrum sativum L.It is an annual plant of Celery family (Apiaceae). It flowers in June, July and August, depending on the time of sowing. Petals are white or pale pink, clustered in an umbrella. The flowers produce nectar and are actively visited by bees. Honey productivity is 60-120 kg per 1 ha, in favorable weather – 200-500 kg per 1 ha. Its seeds contain up to 15% essential oil, which is used in perfumery.  Coriander is sown at different times in order to prolong the period of honey flow. Seed rate is 1.5-2 g of seeds per 1 m2.

Maral root (Rhaponticum carthamoides) – (Willd.) Iljin.It is a rhizome perennial herbaceous plant of aster family (Asteraceae) in height 100-180 cm (40-70”). Underground plant organs have a specific smell, composed of dark brown horizontal branching rhizomes with numerous thin, coarse roots up to 20 cm (8”). Rhizome forms from 5 to 20 vegetative shoots, with a rosette of 3-4 large, stemmed leaves, 60-100 cm (30-40”) long, 6-21 cm (2-8”) wide. Leaves are pinnately. 1-2 generative shoots have hollow, ribbed or almost naked stems 100-150 cm (40-60”) tall, with a small sessile leaves. Baskets are apical, single, with a diameter of 4-8 cm (2-4”). Tubular flowers are bisexual, pentamerous, violet-pink. Seeds are elliptical, gray-brown, ribbed, 6-8 mm (0.4”) long, 3-4 mm (0.2”) wide, with a short fringed edges. It is propagated by seeds and vegetatively, but vegetative propagation is predominant. In its natural state it grows in the alpine and subalpine meadows. This plant is frost-resistant. It blooms in June. The seeds ripen in August. Flowering lasts 15 – 20 days. Bees take nectar and pollen from the flowers. Honey productivity depends on the meteorological conditions and is 83-120 kg per 1 ha. The roots and leaves of this plant are well known in folk medicine. By its action maral root is similar to ginseng. It is used as a tonic for fatigue and loss of strength. Liquid extract and tincture of the root are used in medicine as a stimulant in case of functional disorders of the nervous system, mental and physical fatigue, reduced work capacity, impotence, chronic alcoholism. Contraindications to the use are not established, there are no side effects and cumulative properties.

Melissa (lemon mint) – Melissa officinalis L. It is a herbaceous perennial rhizome essential plant of Lamiaceae family with a height of 45-90 cm (15-35”), with a pleasant lemon scent that attracts bees. Stems are quadrangular, branched. The leaves are opposite, ovate, crenate-serrate, pubescent. Flowers are irregular, two-lipped, white. Calyx is campanulate.There are four stamens, pistil with upper ovary and long style. The fruit consists of four small egg-shaped nuts, enclosed in a cup. It grows among shrubs, forest edges, on wastes. It is cultivated in plantations of medicinal and essential oil plants. It flowers for 30-40 days. The flowers secrete nectar well. Honey productivity is 130 – 200 kg. Melissa enhances appetite, the activity of the digestive organs, has a mild laxative and diaphoretic action, stops nausea and vomiting, breaks wind in stomach and intestines, stops spasms, reduces and eliminates pain, has a positive effect on the heart, calms and strengthens the nervous system. The plant also regulates sexual activity, has a calming effect during overexcitation of sexual function, reduces pain in the heart, stops shortness of breath, the attacks of tachycardia, helps in case of decreased blood pressure, slows heart rate and breathing. Outwardly leaf infusion or tincture of shoot tips are used as a rinse for toothache and gum disease, as well as herbal pillow-packs in case of rheumatism, bruises and sores. Due to the fact that the plant is very fragrant, people rub the hives to attract swarms, as well as hands before working with the families of bees.

Borage – Borago officinalis L. It is an annual honey plant of Borage family (Boraginaceae), 40-90 cm (15-30”) tall. Stem is branched, covered with stiff hairs. The lower leaves are ovate-oblong, petiolate, wrinkled, upper – oblong-lanceolate, sessile. It smells like fresh cucumbers. It has pinkish buds. The flowers are beautiful, blue, drooping, small, with 5-petal, conjoined, rotate corolla, gathered in curls. It grows wild as a weed in gardens, vegetable gardens, in landfills, cultivated on plantations. It flowers from June until frost and secretes nectar and pollen very ample. Bees actively visit the plant, even during small drizzle. Honey collection is very high. From 1 ha of plants you can get 230-300 kg of honey. In favorable weather it increases up to 850 kg per 1 ha of continuous thickets. Seeds, sown in late April – early May, bloom in the second half of June, after about 40 days, and give the bees honey until the autumn. Borage is hygrophilous and grows well on fertile soil, forming many flowering shoots. It can be trimmed, as it forms new shoots and flowers. Borage increases secretion of urine and sweat, stops rheumatic pain, reduces the intensity of the inflammatory process, regulates the activity of the heart, strengthens the nervous system, improves metabolism in case of various skin diseases. Borage has demulcent, enveloping effect, moderating irritation. Infusion of herb is used in case of the weak activity of the heart and heart neurosis, various nervous disorders, rheumatic and other pains, muscular rheumatism, inflammation of the kidney, fever and skin diseases. The infusion is used as a laxative, diaphoretic, emollient, coating and anti-inflammatory. Borage is eaten in a salad.

Ordinary bruise – Echium vulgare L.It is a biennial plant of the family Boraginaceae, 30-90 cm (10-30”) tall, stem is erect, height is 30-50 cm (10-20”), sometimes 90 cm (30”), whole plant is covered with hairs. The leaves are lanceolate, 5-10 cm (2-4”) long, leaves are sessile, linear-lanceolate. The flowers are beautiful, small, funnel-shaped, bright blue (with pink buds), gathered in curls, and then in paniculate inflorescences. Fruits are brownish nuts. It grows as a weed between cultivated plants. In the wild it grows in the raw and waste places. It blooms from June to September. Flowers abundantly secrete nectar and pollen and are actively visited by bees. From one hectare you can get 250-300 kg of honey. Honey has very high quality, light amber color and has an excellent taste and does not crystallize. Bruise has a calming effect on the nervous system, reduces cramps, causes coughing up of phlegm and has antitoxic action. Infusion of the herb is used in case of the “falling sickness” (epilepsy) and bites of poisonous snakes. In scientific medicine infusion of the herb is used as an expectorant and sedative for coughs, especially whooping cough. Internal use of ordinary bruise requires great care.

Phacelia – Phacelia Juss. The most common is Phacelia tanacetifolia Benth. – an annual herb of the family Hydrophyllaceae. The first blue flowers appear in 30-40 days after sowing. Bees actively take the nectar and pollen. Honey harvest is 120-500 kg per 1 ha. Honey is a light green or amber, has a pleasant aroma and delicate flavor.

Remove the frame from the package carefully, try not to push out the bees, and make sure that the bees do not fall on the ground. Frames with brood should be placed in the middle of the nest, and the frames with honey and bee bread – to the edges. Try to find the queen. Then there can be no doubt that it is there. If the uterus is found on the frame, then this frame should be lowered to the hive with particular care. The queen at the bottom of the package should be carefully taken for wings and moved on the frames. Take the queen into the hands without hurry. The slightest push or wrong move – and the ancestor of the bee colony may die. You can simply shake the remaining in the package bees into the hive, turning it over the hive and knock with a hand the plywood sides and bottom. But you can put a package in front of the hive close to the notch, so the bees can move to a new home by themselves. Since the frames of the package (from 2 to 6) occupy only a part of the hive, put a dividing board next to the last frame, which will be a mobile wall of the hive. The sides and top of a bee nest should be well insulated. Keep in mind that if the insulation presses firmly to the dividing board, the latter can move and pull over the frame. Make sure that does not happen. If the weather is warm and there is a small harvest, you can immediately add to each family 1-2 frames of artificial combs. But what if you decided to purchase bees in your place? The best time to do it is the spring. Full bee family, bought in the spring, during the flowering of gardens, is already involved in the pollination of fruit trees, and later may give rise to a new family and produce honey and wax. Bees in the spring are bought and sold with the frames, stocks of honey and brood. At this time, the bees are valued particularly highly. In late May, June and even July you can also purchased swarms. Most expensive swarms are in May. This swarm can develop the big family during the summer, and also collects a lot of honey. Cheapest swarms are in July and August, which appeared after the main harvest or at the end of it. These swarms are needed to be fed during the winter. Value and cost of swarms depend not only on the time of purchase, but also on the weight. A good swarm weighs 2.5-3 kg or more. This swarm can be immediately put on 6-8 frames of artificial honeycombs.

How to choose the bee family in the spring? First of all, beware of weak families, occupying only 3-4 frames after the winter. Only in rare cases these families develop well. Most often, even after a month and a half after the beginning of the season, such a family occupies not more than 5-6 frames, while the family, which spent the winter on 7-8 framework, had already cramped in the 12-frames hive. Check to see if there are feces on the frames and combs, as well as on the walls of the hive. Do not buy sick families. You must find a queen and pay attention to its appearance. The queen should be large, have all the legs and good strong wings. If the edges of the wings are uneven and even torn, then you can almost certainly say that this is the old queen – do not buy this family. If the queen does not have at least one leg, then do not buy it. Pay attention to the amount of brood within: in the beginning of May it should be at least 4-5 brood frames. You can buy bees in the fall or late summer. At this time the cost of the bee colony is the cost of feed stocks. Bees themselves are inexpensive. But buying at this time is associated with certain risks. It is hard for an inexperienced beekeeper to keep a new family during the winter. So it is better to buy bees in the spring, even though they are more expensive.