Conservancy Book Review Eight
Following the Wild Bees
The Craft and Science of Bee Hunting
Thomas D. Seeley
Book review by Karen Madoff
Karen is a full-time resident of Kiawah Island, a Certified naturalist in Ohio, an Old Master Gardener and a newbie beekeeper.
If honeybees, the world’s most important pollinator of crops, could choose their own homes what and where would they be?
Since the mid-1800s, thousands of honeybees have not had a choice. Worker bees and queens, raised for commercial beekeeping and sent to apiaries, have usually been placed in hive boxes. Passing a farm, you can often spot these boxes from the road. White and square, they are vertical apartment houses for bees. However, these apartments were created to make the removal of honey from the hive easy, not to make an ideal home for bees.
The author, Dr. Thomas Seeley, a Cornell University biology professor and researcher on the behavior and social life of honeybees, understood that feral honeybees often had better survival rates than commercial honeybees and wondered if one contributing factor for this success was being able to create their hives without human interference.
Honeybees are incredible animals. After a bad fall, which opened a long gash in my leg, the Wound Clinic used Medi-honey, which is 80% Manuka honey, to keep the wound moist and bacteria free. It has been a break-through treatment for wounds that are difficult to heal. Bees also produce propolis, another amazing product they use to seal their hive, to prevent pathogenic bacteria and fungi from infecting the hive.
By following wild bees, Dr. Seeley discovered several bee preferences in home selection, and yes, bees can be fussy. As Dr. Seeley explains, “….a honeybee swarm carefully selects a nesting cavity that provides sufficiently protective and roomy living quarters. It makes this choice by means of a sophisticated process of group decision-making that includes collective fact finding, open sharing of information, vigorous debating, and fair voting by the 300-500 bees in a swarm that function as its nest-site scouts.” Aren’t you glad you don’t go house hunting with bees?
These discoveries can help beekeepers understand bees better and may even bring about alterations that improve the homes we create for them. In addition, the book gives insight into a bee’s world, how they keep themselves safe, how they communicate, how scout bees help with finding new hive options for their swarm, how to catch a swarm of wild bees, and more.
Wild bee hunting has been used for millennia, as humans sought out that delightful, sweet, treat. It is easy and anyone can do it with a bit of patience. This book provides the step-by-step instructions for you to go on your own hunts. Beyond the pure joy of the hunt is the quiet opportunity to spend time surrounded by nature. Seeley invites you to find a field of wildflowers near a wooded area, bring a folding chair and packed lunch, and prepare to enjoy the sights and sounds of your surroundings. Watching bee, butterflies and other insects stop by in a field of wildflowers is a pleasure all of its own.
The South Carolina Bee Association has had Dr. Seeley speak At Trident Community College in 2019, a presentation well attended by beekeepers throughout the state. He is held in high regard by bee community members throughout the country. This book is short and sweet, perfect for the naturalist, or for those just looking to understand the lives of honeybees a bit better.
From the Kiawah Conservancy
Last year “Conservation Matters,” a regular program presented by the Conservancy, featured Debbie Fisher, a member of the Charleston Area Beekeepers Association. For more information on our “Conservation Matters” and “Symposium” programs, please email webmaster@kiawahconservancy.org.
Other books by Thomas Seeley: Honeybee Democracy (2010), The Lives of Bees (2019)
Readers may be interested in the documentary, “The Pollinators,” available on Amazon Prime and reviewed by the New York Times last year: “The trials of the humble honeybee are magnified to epic proportions in [this] meticulous, magnificent documentary …. the film presents a thoroughly researched look at the causes and effects of the rapidly declining bee population, essential for the food supply in the United States…. [The film} shows how parasites, pesticides and the lack of biodiverse habitats within industrial farming have created an increasingly hostile environment for the bees to do their work.”