Bees appear as a very cute image in many comics and film and television creations, and when we were young, we often sang childish songs such as "Little bees, buzzing, flying to the west, flying to the east".
But in fact, I am very afraid of bees, no, to be precise, I am afraid of "bees", because I can't tell what bees, wasps, wasps...
Whatever bee it is! Anyway, every time I see these "buzzing" small animals, I will hide far away, not to mention the matter of beekeeping.
It turns out that a very effective way to overcome the fear of something is to try to understand it.
Just like for the fear of bees, after watching "The Secret of Beekeeping", not only the fear of bees has been greatly reduced, but even the strange idea of raising and trying.
This little thing of the bee is actually quite cute!
In "The Secret of Beekeeping", the author Yves Güstein is a cartoonist who has been beekeeping for 20 years, he uses anthropomorphic techniques, let the little bees "personally" uncover the secrets of beekeeping with the attitude of the owner and witness, he is really very serious about teaching you how to "beekeeping"!
Worker bees, male bees, queen bees take turns to appear, the physiological characteristics and living habits of the bees are described in detail, but also tell the intention to try beekeeping and want to understand how to raise and manage them, the little bees you sing I appeared, together to create this original ecological beekeeping diy a book.
The bees are small, they look inconspicuous, and it seems that a strong wind blows through them, which can make them shake. But in fact, the role of small bees is so big that we can't imagine, so it is not an exaggeration to say that without pollinators such as bees, we may not even be able to eat.
Why?
In The Secret of Beekeeping, Yves likens the earth to a huge "digestive tract", and all the creatures on the earth are masters of plant cooking, including our little bees.
So what role do bees play in this dish?
First of all, they spread pollen for plants, let the pistils and stamens complete the mating of cross-pollination, act as a small "matchmaker", become a vital part of the life cycle, so that the plants can flower and bear fruit smoothly, we can feast our eyes and mouths, because of this, bees are the most ideal pollinating insects for various crops, and are also known as the "wings of agriculture".
Secondly, the pollination of bees not only ensures the life cycle of plants, but also makes plants more vigorous and vital, adding to the wonderful fun of changing seasons to nature, and the little bees sing the song of "buzzing" bees in groups, flying through the flowers between the leaves, becoming a unique landscape in nature.
Bees use their small bodies to maintain ecological balance and diversity of plant species, while also improving the yield and quality of crop returns, so the great scientist Albert Einstein predicted: "If bees disappear from the earth, humans will only live for four years, without bees there will be no plants, without plants there will be no animals, there will be no humans", it is really not exaggerated.
The hive is the home of the little bees, the previous hive has a variety of shapes, beekeepers have also tried to use a lot of materials, today's hive looks much neater on the outside, and the more common Lang's hive mentioned in "The Secret of Beekeeping" looks like a rectangular wooden box.
Many beehives look unpretentious and not famous, but what we don't know is that there is a big world hidden in the small hives.
In this world, everything is carried out in an orderly manner, the structure of the hive is rigorous, the bees of different "work species" perform their duties, coupled with the careful care of beekeepers, the Trinity ensures that they brew their own pure natural honey.
Little bees who do their part
Depending on the content of their work, the body and physiological structure of bees with different responsibilities will also change, mainly in the structure of the mouth organ and abdomen.
Among them, the busiest is the worker bee, they play different roles at different stages of life, the life of the worker bee can really respond to the "worker" word in their name, busy and busy, all their lives are working.
From hatching to cleaning, as the trophic glands develop, they become nursery bees to care for newborn babies, and then continue to take on the role of wax bees, warehouse keepers, and hive guards.
From the 21st day of hatching to the end of life, the worker bees focus on the honey collection workload, they are heavy and diligent, so their life is very short, even only 6 weeks of life in the summer, it can be said that many worker bees are exhausted.
Relatively speaking, male bees seem to have a much easier job, and they have only one task – mating with queen bees! It sounds like a beautiful thing, but it comes at the cost of your life.
On weekdays, it seems to be idle, eating with worker bees to feed, and on the day of the queen's wedding flight, she mates with their queen in the good weather of wind and warm weather, however, the male bee after mating with the queen will leave the genitals in the queen bee's body, and then he will die immediately.
Not only that, male bees do not have stings, they do not sting, and their position in the hive is also very embarrassing, and male bees that do not successfully mate with queen bees will be expelled by the worker bees, and even bite them to death and starve to death.
The price of "spring supper moment" is really not small.
A well-structured bee house
In the bee's home - the interior of the hive, in fact, there is a very elaborate structure and composition, and including the beehive lid, the sub-cover, the successor box, the bottom box and the bottom plate and other structural compositions, each component has a very important role, in order to brew a jar of good honey, these are indispensable.
Not only the inside of the hive, but also the placement of the hive position is also very important, if you are not careful, you may cause the little bees to get lost, deviate from the route and can not return home.
So when placing the hives, don't line them up, and mark the surface of the hives with different shapes and patterns. If there are few beehives and there is no suitable place, they can be lined up after painting them different colors, all to help them "navigate" and ensure that the bees can return home smoothly.
In addition to the work and organization of the bees, as well as the mysteries of the "Bee House", "The Secret of Beekeeping" also introduces all aspects of beekeeping knowledge such as how to take care of the apiary, drive away predators, and artificially divide the bees, which is both professional and vivid.
The anthropomorphic narrative is so interesting that I don't even feel bored reading a popular science book, like reading a comic book.
What do you think? Let's follow the little protagonists of "The Secret of Beekeeping" and try to brew our own pure natural honey!