Science Weekend The Netherlands, Bees and Bread.
Sunday 2 October 2022
Bees, Bread & Energy
A bee colony is a superorganism. It has a very high calorie requirement. In summer, a bee colony consists of about 50-60,000 workers who consume about 1,800 calories a day (roughly equivalent to an 800-gram loaf of bread) – the same as an adult human. In winter their numbers decrease – and so does the calorie intake, then the superorganism is more like a cat or a small dog in terms of calorie consumption. [ read more ].
Distances
A honeybee can fly up to six miles at a speed of 15 miles per hour (24 km/hr). The average worker bee produces about 1/12th teaspoon of honey in her lifetime. A beehive will fly more than 40,000 (65,000 km) miles, more than once around the earth, to collect 450 grams of honey. [ read more ]
Honey
A 1980 study found that mixed flower honey from different regions of the United States typically contains the following:
Fructose: 38.2%
Glucose: 31.3%
Maltose: 7.1%
Sucrose: 1.3%
Water: 17, 2%
Higher sugars: 1.5%
Ash / Minerals: 0.2%
Other/undetermined: 3.2%
Honey Bee
Bees are best known for the honey that the honey bee makes. The honey bee is kept in the Jeugdland gardens, but there are many other types of bees.
High-protein Bee Bread
The bees collect pollen in clumps of pollen and store the pollen that is not directly consumed in cells (this can sometimes involve whole windows with only pollen). It is good to realize that this is actually pollen that (to obtain a pollen clump) has been made wet with nectar (which also contains good bacteria). The thus “moist” pollen undergoes a fermentation, which results in the so-called protein-rich bee bread in about 2 weeks. The ‘good bacteria’ are probably mainly involved in this fermentation.
Evolution of bees (vegan wasps!)
Bees evolved from ancient predatory wasps that lived 120 million years ago. Like bees, these wasps built and defended their nests and gathered food for their offspring. But while most bees feed on flowers, their wasps ancestors were carnivorous.
Hive Temperature
The optimum core temperature of a honeybee cluster in a winter hive is 95°F (35°C). 81°F (27°C, nice sourdough fermentation temperature!) is the average temperature observed on the inside of a bee cluster, while 48°F (9°C) is the average temperature of the cluster’s outer shell. [ Read more ]
How many KG of honey can you harvest per colony ( honeybee)
The beekeeper determines how many honeycombs (and which ones) he/she removes. Beekeepers leave from 20kg of honey per hive in mild climates to 60kg or more in regions with harsh winters, helping the colony cope with problems caused by lack of food, bad weather or drought.
[ read more]
Queen Elizabeth & Bees
When The Queen Died Someone Had To Tell The Bees
A message that the royal beekeeper informed Queen Elizabeth II’s bees of her death was mocked, but it has been a tradition for centuries.
[read more NY times]
Bees & Danger of Monoculture
‘Like sending bees to war’: the deadly truth behind your almond milk obsession
Bees are essential to the functioning of America’s titanic almond industry – and billions are dying in the process
[read more]
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Science Weekend The Netherlands
Sunday 2 October 2022
Organisation:
Baking Lab Amsterdam
Youth Country Amsterdam
Imker Melle Koch