• A worker will only live for about six weeks whereas a queen can live for up to five years.
• After her mating trip, the queen will keep laying eggs for the rest of her life at a rate of up to 2,500 eggs per day.
• The queen can select whether she fertilises an egg or not – if she fertilises the egg she creates a worker, if she chooses not to, a drone is the result.
All in all it was a pretty fascinating evening; so much so that as I left the classroom in deep thought, I managed to fall down all the stone steps to my car. This happened just as another group of people were walking out of the main building only to see me perform a stuntman-like somersault down the steps and land on my feet. It must have looked amazing aside from the fact that I landed on wet leaves and so skidded along before promptly falling on my derrière. Not my proudest of moments! But I did say I was clumsy.
NOVEMBER 7
I must be addicted. Never before in my life have I ever taken homework seriously, but on Wednesday we were given the task of reading some leaflets about bee diseases ahead of next week's lesson, and here I am tonight dutifully sitting in front of the fire with a lovely glass of red wine (maybe that is the difference from my school days) reading the leaflets word for word. My God, bees are not having a good time of it; my God, there are so many diseases.
Shockingly, not only did I do my homework but I also found myself reading around the topic; something my parents and teachers could only have dreamed about when I was a child. I was going online to find out more about the diseases just so I was better prepared for next week… Quite scary really, but I am already excited about starting next year.
NOVEMBER 11
I knew tonight was going to be a rather sombre occasion as I had learned about the diseases but I never realised quite the impact it would have. I would advise you now to go and get a nice strong drink to prepare yourself for a rather melancholy read!
I was expecting to hear that bees were getting the equivalent of the human cold and that reports in the media were being slightly exaggerated; such is my optimistic attitude to life. What I wasn't expecting was the fact that for once our media are rather downplaying the problems. It is more like Armageddon for the global bee population as a pneumonia virus sweeps through it.
David was very good at explaining the issues but the frustrating thing for him as a bee inspector and, from the sounds of it, for every beekeeper alive, is that there is no complete diagnosis. It did get a bit technical so my revision certainly paid off. In brief, it sounds as if the bees' immune systems are weakened as larvae, probably by a mite called varroa. This is a vicious little bed-bug-like mite that, if seen up close under a microscope, would give children nightmares for weeks. They weaken the larvae such that, as adult bees, a whole host of secondary diseases make their move and kill them off.
From the sounds of it upwards of 30–50 per cent of hives are being affected every year at the moment, with colonies literally 'collapsing'. Apparently beekeepers are finding hives either abandoned, with no bees in them at all, or there is a slow and gradual decline in numbers until they all die a painful death, unable to look after themselves.
It seems pretty desperate. I needed a drink after the session and so popped to the local pub with some of my new beekeeping buddies. Some of them who had kept bees before had experienced colony losses themselves. It is amazing how attached people get to their bees and obvious how upsetting it could be to see them simply disappear.
A pint seemed to nullify the feelings of sadness at the situation and made me more determined to do what I can to help. Back home now, though, the enormity of the situation hits me again. I feel a call to arms is needed! Hence I have decided to set up a Facebook page for other beginner beekeepers (www.facebook.com/beginnerbeekeepers) to see what or who is out there. It will be nice to be able to speak to other beginners out there, to share experiences however good, bad or – in my case – stupid they may be.
NOVEMBER 15
A few weeks ago, you may remember, I sat in bed contemplating using a pair of compasses to measure my bees' flight path on a map. This was before I thought better of it as I was lying there next to my sleeping wife. I would definitely have been in the dog house if I dropped the compasses and stabbed her in the back while she slept. Quite pleased I didn't go through with that plan in hindsight.
Even using those rough estimates from before I still can't quite believe the size of the area in which they fly. I also can't quite believe that despite the fact I live in the arse-end of nowhere, with cows and sheep for neighbours, there are sixteen pubs within the area. Today I was able to put the two maps needed together and review the pub situation more closely. What an excuse to have a drive around, especially as I have never even seen half of them, let alone been in them.