A beekeeper, whether a casual hobbyist or a large commercial producer, can not be successful unless they fully understand the life cycle of the honey bee.
The honey bees life cycle is a unique and fascinating process.
It all starts with the egg. The hives queen bee lays an egg in one of the cells constructed for the soul purpose of laying eggs. Once queen has laid the egg and moved on to lay another (during the spring months the queen can lay an average of 1900 eggs daily) the egg is attached to the cell with a mucus strand.
When the egg hatches a larvae emerges. Nurse bees are in charge of caring for the young larvae. They feed the eggs bee bread. Bee bread is a strange mixture of gland secretions and honey. The larvae will go through five distinct growth stages. After each of these stages the larvae sheds its outer skin. When the larvae is six days old, a worker bee comes along and caps the larvae, caccooning the larvae in its cell. The larvae stays the in the cocoon for for eight to ten days, when it emerges from the cocoon it is a fully formed young bee.
The average length of life average honey bee depends on what purpose the bee fulfills in the hive. A queen bee can live for two years providing that she was able to get herself inseminated with enough sperm during her nuptial flight. A good strong queen bee can lay as many as 2000 eggs a day. She is in charge of killing her sisters and mothers. The queen bee doesn't have to worry about taking care of herself, she is always surrounded by an entourage of worker bees who feed her and remove her waste. It is not uncommon for the elderly queen bee to leave the nest in the springtime when the rest of the hive is getting ready to swarm. Experts believe that the queen produces some sort of pheromone that prevents the hives workers bees from becoming interested in sex. A queen bee who has not made her nuptial flight is called a virgin queen. Drone bees are male bees that live only to impregnate queen bees during the queens nuptial flight.
After mating with a queen the drone dies. During the winter months, a worker bee can live up to one hundred and forty days old. During the summer months the worker bee is lucky to live for forty days, the short summer life span is because the worker bees are literally worked to death. The worker bee's duties are wide and varied. Worker bees called nurse bees are in charge of caring for the young larvae, other workers are sent out to gather pollen to be made into honey. Some workers spend their time capping off honey combs, other workers are responsible for taking care of the queen. Worker bees are in charge of starving the unwanted drone bees and cleaning the hive. There can be any were from twenty thousand to two hundred thousand worker bees in a single hive. Worker bees are always sterile. If a worker bee lays an egg it becomes a drone bee. Workers bees are the bees that people see defending the hive.
The survival of the bee hive depends on the hive having a healthy queen that is laying eggs. If something happens to the queen the hive will die.
The California almond industry is attracting the interest of beekeepers all over the country. The almond orchard's demands for honey bees is so strong that many beekeepers in Florida have actually defaulted on their contracts with local watermelon producers to bring their bees to the west coast where they lease their hives and bees to the almond growers.
Almonds were first found growing a long way from California's sunny landscape. The first almonds were found in China and central Asia. Franciscan Padres first brought almonds to California in the middle of the 1700's, before the American revolution. Sadly Padres efforts were unsuccessful. It wasn't until the early 1900's that almond lovers discovered that California's Central Valley had perfect growing conditions for genetically improved almond orchards. Nearly a half million Californian acres are devoted to growing almonds. It is estimated that there are six thousand almond growers in the state.
Today, California is the only place in North America where almonds are successfully grown for commercial use. The reason that California is so successful for almond producers is the climate. Almond trees love hot summers and cool winters. Almonds don't like sub-zero temperatures. Because almond trees are not self-pollinating they require the use of bees in order to produce almonds. Every February, when the almond trees are in bloom, beekeepers set up hives in the orchard so that the growers can enjoy a lucrative harvest. The inability to self-pollinate force almond producers to plant multiple variety's of almond trees.
Almonds are harvested when the split in the shell widens enough for the nut to dry. This typically happens between the middle of August and early October.When the hull is completely open its time for the almond harvest to begin.
When its time to harvest the almond crops, orchard owners have the orchards swept so that they are completely free of debris. Once the orchards are debris free, the mechanical tree shakers are brought in . The mechanical tree shakers gently shake the trees. The almonds fall from the trees. The almonds are left on the ground to finish drying. When the almonds are dry they are swept into rows where they are gathered by a machine and deposited in the huller.
Nutritionally almonds have a lot going for them. There are only seven grams of fat in one ounce (a single serving of almonds is one ounce). Almonds do not have sodium and cholesterol free. Almonds are an excellent way to get magnesium and vitamin E. Almonds are also a source of Riboflavin, Phosphorus and copper.
Seventy-five percent of California's almond crop is exported.
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