A brief history of bees and beekeeping Presentations

A brief history of bees and beekeeping

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Too many historic beekeepers to cover I will try to stick with the ones that were a real turning point in beekeeping. People have been keeping bees and robbing bees since there have been people. They have been cutting into trees to get honey and plugging the hole with boards or the piece they cut out and coming back later for more for millennia. Somewhere along the line they decided to cut off the trunk where the bees where and take it home. Then to make upside down baskets (skeps) to put bees in.

1568 Nicol Jacobis publishes Gründlicher und nützlicher Unterricht von der Wartung der Bienen Translated from the forward of the 1660 edition: Nicol Jacobi (from Schlesiers/Weyland) in the year 1568 published a superior treatise in three books, written with proven experience with bees titled Thorough and Useful Lessons in the Maintenance of Bees (Gründlicher und nützlicher Unterricht von der Wartung der Bienen). This was republished with artwork and figures in 1614. From a hardworking homesteader you can learn thoroughly how you can created a fruitful and beneficial beekeeping business. Here it is presented in the proper order and distills it down to the basics. Comments, additions and editing provided by: Mr. Christoph Schrot from Grimmâ-Misnicum, Pastor Langen-Leube from Oberhain Leipzig, Friedrich Lanckisch, and reprinted by: Johann Erich Hahn 1660 under the title Die rechte Bienen-Kunst.

Jacobis writes about grafting queens, walk away splits, box hives and skeps He was aware that queens could be made from worker larvae and explains how to do walk away splits, raise queens, how to keep bees profitably and how to be “a good bee father”.

Francis Huber 1721 -1786 C. P. Dadant on Huber: “Is it necessary to mention the great value of Huber’s observations? Very few beekeepers have failed to hear or read of the great naturalist. He enriched the public mind with a number of observations, very few of which have proven incorrect. Langstroth called him “The prince of apiarians”… It is useless to recall how important a work Huber’s “New Observations” has been. Many people imagine that they have discovered things in beekeeping that this wonderful man had already described, with the help of his faithful wife and devoted secretary, Burnens, for Huber was blind. ”

Maurice Maeterlinck on Huber “I will not enumerate all that apiarian science owes to Huber; to state what it does not owe were the briefer task. His "New Observation on Bees, " of which the first volume was written in 1789, in the form of letters to Charles Bonnet, the second not appearing till twenty years later, have remained the unfailing, abundant treasure into which every subsequent writer has dipped. And though a few mistakes may be found therein, a few incomplete truths; though since his time considerable additions have been made to the micrography and practical culture of bees, the handling of queens, etc. , there is not a single one of his principal statements that has been disproved, or discovered in error; and in our actual experience they stand untouched, and indeed at its very foundation. ”-- Maurice Maeterlinck, The Life of the Bee

Who was Huber? Francis Huber 1750 -1831 Born in Switzerland Started losing his sight at 15 Proved virtually every practical fact we know about bees. Wrote New Observations on Bees

How does a blind man make observations? “I am much more certain, ” said he one day to me smiling, “of what I taste than you are, for you publish what your own eyes only have seen, while I take the mean among many witnesses. ” --Memoir of Huber by Professor De Candolle

A true scientist Took much of the speculation of his day and constructed experiments to prove or disprove them. Made repeatable experiments so others could verify his discoveries Invented devices and hives to allow the appropriate observations Measured things carefully Carefully distinguished his actual observations from his assumptions

His collaborators Francis Burnens (his servant) Pierre Huber (his son) Maria Aimée Lullin Huber (his wife) Jean Senebier (a chemist) Charles Bonnet (a naturalist) Christine Jurine (a naturalist/artist/dissector) John Hunter (a naturalist)

His discoveries Details of the mating of the queen Details of the forming of swarms Details of the making of emergency queens Details on drone laying queens Details on laying workers Details on the production of wax Details of the construction of comb Details of the respiration and ventilation of the colony Details of the way bees guard their hives

Proofs Proved that queens mate with drones (which was still in dispute) Proved that the queen mates outside the hive Proved that there are drone laying queens Proved that there are laying workers Proved that bees breath (which was still in dispute) Proved how they ventilate the hive Proved that wax is not made from pollen

Proofs (cont. ) Proved that nectar is the needed ingredient for wax Proved that bees secrete wax scales from nectar Proved that the scales are not true beeswax but are the primary ingredient Proved that propolis comes from poplar buds Proved that comb is reinforced with propolis and other secretions of the bees

Proofs (cont. ) Proved that bees need contact with the queen to know that she is there (was on the verge of proving pheromones and QMP transfer by trophalaxis) Proved that bees can smell Proved that they need their antennae for many things Proved that all workers are female Proved that combs have a “beespace” between them

Inventions Invented the movable comb hive. Invented many different observation hives to observe many different things including the construction of comb

Huber’s leaf hive

Huber’s leaf hive

Huber’s leaf hive

Huber’s leaf hive

Leaf Hive Frame

Leaf hive

Leaf hive open

Cutaway side view of comb in frame

Leg

Structure of comb

Transition comb

Jan Dzierzon 1811 -1906 The most significant contribution was parthenogenesis. He discovered that drones come from unfertilized eggs. He wrote one of the seminal books on modern beekeeping, Rational Beekeeping, which covers almost all aspects of beekeeping and is full of his observations and advice. He invented a movable comb hive after Huber but before L. L. Langstroth.

Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth 1810 -1895 L. L. Langstroth is often credited with inventing the movable comb hive. He never claimed this, in fact he said “The use of the Huber hive had satisfied me that, with proper precautions, the combs might be removed without enraging the bees, and that these insects were capable of being tamed to a surprising degree. Without knowledge of these facts, I should have regarded a hive permitting the removal of the combs as quite too dangerous for practical use. ”

Langstroth The biggest contribution to beekeeping from Langstroth, besides his excellent book on beekeeping and bees, The Hive and the Honey Bee, was that his hive, being frames hanging in a box with beespace around them, was the first really practical hive. Granted you had to leave off all of the “do dads” that his patent lists, but it is hive, stripped to its essentials, that took over beekeeping in most of the world today.

Moses Quinby 1810 -1875 Wrote Mysteries of Beekeeping Explained. Was the first successful commercial beekeeping in the US. Kept 1200 box hives (not movable comb) until forced to go to movable comb by law. Invented the bee smoker with bellows that we use today.

G. M. Doolittle wrote about and popularized grafting for queen rearing. He learned grafting from Huber’s book. Huber learned it from Schirach learned it from Jacobis. But it was Doolittle whose name stuck because he wrote about it and popularized it. He was an exceptional beekeeper who wrote several books on beekeeping and many articles for the bee journals that changed a lot of how bees were managed and how queens were raised.

A. I. Root 1839– 1923 An Ohio entrepreneur who developed innovative techniques for beekeeping during the latter 19 th century, a period when the practice played an important role in the economy of many communities in the U. S. He founded his own company, which continues in business to the present day. His wideranging interests and curiosity led him to become the only eyewitness to publish articles about successful airplane flights made by the Wright brothers in Ohio in 1904 -1905.

A. I. Root started Gleanings in Bee Culture magazine which is still published today as Bee Culture. He also published The ABC of Bee Culture and later editions changed the name to The ABC & XYZ of Bee Culture. This book was the most common encyclopedia of beekeeping in the U. S. and was popular all over the world. It was arranged like an encyclopedia as it was alphabetical by topic. This is updated and republished to this day.

Charles Dadant It would be more accurate to call this a dynasty. Charles Dadant (1817 -1902) come to the US at age 46 (1863) and after teaching himself English and growing his hobby of beekeeping into a business. He contributed articles to the U. S. and European bee journals and eventually took over as editor and owner of The American Bee Journal. He often translated bee books from French to English and English to French as well as writing his own books. He brought 250 Italian Queens to the U. S. in 1874 which contributed greatly to the genetics of bees in the U. S.

Camille Pierre Dadant 1851 -1938 C. P. Dadant was 12 when he came from France to the U. S. His native language was French but he quickly learned English and eventually wrote beekeeping books and articles in English and translated books from French to English such as Huber’s New Observations on Bees and Letters to Huber. The family business published and updated “The Hive and the Honey Bee” by L. L. Langstroth and continued this to today.

Karl Von Frisch 1886 -1982 Studied and documented the dance language of the bees.

A chronology of equipment Trees—always Log hives—always Skeps—always Box hives—since boards existed Movable frame hives—At least late 1700 s Warre’ hives—early 1900 s Top bar hives—As long hive in 1970 s. Foundation—since 1857 Extractors—since 1864

A chronology of new pests and diseases Wax moths—late 1800 s Chalkbrood— 1968 Tracheal mites— 1984 Varroa mites— 1987 Africanized honey bees— 1990 Small hive beetles— 1996

Contact Michael Bush bees at bushfarms dot com www. bushfarms. com www. youtube. com/c/Michael. Bush. Beekeeper www. patreon. com/Michael_Bush Book: The Practical Beekeeper