Survival
The Bee Story
As I started to work with bees and find ways to help them, it became clear that everything they did was for survival. For honeybees, survival is everything.
In a beehive, the queen is the boss. She lays the eggs that keep the hive going. Without her, there can be no hive. The drones are the males of the hive and are a bit mysterious. We know that their main job is to fly to the congregation area to meet up with new queens and fertilize them. In the hive, they also regulate the temperature and humidity. They seem to be the heating, ventilation, and cooling machines. The worker bees are females, and they do pretty much everything. From keeping the queen fed, to feeding the babies, cleaning up, protecting the hive, and collecting food, they do it all. In the late fall, a different kind of worker bee, the winter bee, is born. It can stay alive for up to 6 months and has special features to survive the winter here in Canada. The summer bees only live for about 6 weeks.
In the spring, the hive builds up its stores of food whenever flowers are blooming. First, with blossoms from maple and willow trees, then dandelion, golden rod, and asters in the fall. Bees bring in many different types of pollen and nectar because that helps them survive and fight disease. Stores of honey and pollen are needed in case something happens, such as possible drought, cold or inclement weather and eventually, the winter here in Canada.
The queen will increase the number of eggs she lays as the amount of food increases. The bees also tell her when some extra flowers are going to bloom 3 weeks from now, so she lays more eggs to produce a workforce to collect that extra food. The hive must get ready to store as much food as possible to survive.
In May or June of each year, there are so many bees in the hive that there is no room left. Swarming is a way for the hive to create a sister community and reduce the population by one half. So, 40,000 bees in a hive become 20,000. With one swarm, a hive becomes 2. But if there is only one queen in a hive, how do the bees create the second one that will stay behind in the old community?
To create new queens, the workers select a few healthy babies and start feeding them a different type of food. Royal jelly is the magic that turns a regular worker baby into a queen.
Sixteen days later, the new queen hatches. If the other queens hatch at the same time, there is a fight. Only the original queen and the one new queen that has survived the battles are allowed to move on. To start the swarm, the old queen very quickly gathers with about half the bees. The workers fill up with honey for the trip to their new home. The swarm then leaves the hive and clusters on a branch of a tree some 500 feet or so from the main hive. The swarm looks a lot like a football made from bees. There are now two families of bees created from the one. This is a crucial step to honeybee survival.
Most swarms don't make it. There is a lot of risk once they leave the hive. Only one out of every five swarms will make it into the next spring.
So, bees work to be sustainable by their swarming behavior, creating enough new families with strong genetics to ensure that the community of honeybees in that area will survive.
Over the years, however, as beekeepers try to stop bees from swarming, we've encouraged some dumb bee behavior.
Sometimes, we try too hard to help our bees. Here's an example of a dumb behavior we see in our bees that leads to their downfall. It's like you having a large credit card balance that you can't pay off and deciding to go on a lavish trip to Europe. Pretty dumb and likely to lead to your money downfall as well.
As a Servant Beekeeper, I want our hives to swarm whenever they want to. Most bees that we have purchased, however, come from a tradition of not being allowed to swarm. Beekeepers may try to stop that, by removing queen cells or even clipping the wings of a queen so she can't swarm and fly away with the bees. It is all well-intentioned and designed to help with the livestock type of beekeeping. If the bees don't produce enough honey, the farmer/beekeeper can't keep the bees and you won't be able to buy honey in the grocery store.
But by stopping the bees from swarming, I think that the bees have forgotten, in some instances, how to do it.
On our farm, I have watched swarms sit on the ground instead of in a high tree branch away from most danger. A hive that swarms and sits on the ground is easily eaten by predators and pests. When full of honey, the workers can't sting. They are helpless if attacked. Swarms that sit on the ground almost never make it.
I've also watched bees swarm in late April when it's very cold outside. In one case, a swarm sat out for 3 days while temperatures dropped to -5C. It rained on them, too. I don't think they made it.
This is just one example of how we, as humans, can encourage bees to do dumb things. The best answer I think is to try to only help them when that help won't mess them up. "Do no harm" if you will. Sometimes, as a Servant Beekeeper, it's hard to know when to step in and try to help or leave them alone. I guess that's a lifetime of learning we all have to do. Maybe, when in doubt, I should just leave them alone. The more we do for them, the more likely we stop them from being smart.
It's a lot like how you handle money. The more you let other people make decisions for you or try to "help you", the more likely you are to fail and not be smart with your money.
The bees also work to ensure that each hive survives by collecting as much food as they can find. Guards watch over the entrance for pests and enemies. When watching my bees, I noticed that when conditions were ideal, the bees worked hard and sent out massive numbers of bees to collect food.
As farmers used to say, “make hay when the sun shines”.
On rainy or cold spring days, few bees will fly to gather nectar or pollen. As a result, when the weather is perfect, they must work to take advantage of those opportunities. That is another part of their survival strategy.
Bees survive because everything they do is focused on that one goal. Survival.
For bees, pollen and honey are their money. They store it so that they can survive during difficult times and have enough to live through 6 months of cold weather and winter. Their survival strategies help them be ready.
Smart Money Lesson
We all need to be ready for an economic winter. You may get laid off, or your business suffers to the point where you can't pay yourself for months.
To be relaxed, you will likely need up to 6 months of living expenses in cash, or short-term notes that you can easily access. This is money to pay your bills, groceries, and gas. It's not money to go out to eat in a restaurant or buy clothes you don't need. It's for needs, not wants.
If you are like most Canadians, you may have a problem doing this. How can you save 6 months of living expense money when you have very little left after you get paid?
If you are healthy and young, there are many things you can do now to "Make Hay when the Sun Shines". One choice is to take on a second part-time job. Working an extra 10 hours per week would add some $800/month, or $9,600 per year to your savings account.
A second strategy is to take a small amount from your bank account where your salary or allowance is deposited and transfer it to a savings account. If you take out $100 each pay period, and have 2 per month, over a year you would have saved $2,400.
What you will see almost immediately is that you will adjust your spending to adjust to the amount that you have available.
Maybe the next month you try to transfer $125. Your money stress is reduced as you have more money in reserves for your survival.
So, to match the bees and their storage of honey for survival, you need to have a savings of at least 6 months. Calculate the amount you would need each month and multiply by 6. This should be your savings goal for the next year or two. Now as you start saving, what can you do with the money to keep it safe but grow it a little faster?
Today as I write this, the Government of Canada will pay you some 3.5% interest on a short-term Treasury Bill. The 3.5% means on $1,000 you will earn $35/year in interest if you keep investing that money every 30 days. After 30 days, the government will pay you back $1,002.91, the $1,000 you initially lent them, plus the $2.91 you made in interest. The money you loan to the Federal Government is guaranteed by them, so this is considered a safe way to park your money. After 30 days, if you need the money, it will be there for you. So, to do this strategy, keep one month of needed savings in a regular bank account, and the rest loan to your government 30 days at a time.
Being smart with your money means you have savings of 6 months or more to cover your bills. It also means that you place that money into a safe place such as 30-day Canadian Treasury Bills or a high interest savings account.
Investment Lesson
Like the bees, having access to 6 months of cash is part of your survival strategy. Having that cushion is an investment in your mental health. You will notice reduced stress as your reserves of cash build up. Invest in yourself and your family with less stress and the security of knowing you will survive. If you are still in school, having money in a bank account will improve your self esteem and confidence. Regardless of your age, having money in the bank to take care of yourself and survive is the best investment you can make. Only secured bank accounts or a Canadian Treasury Bill is what I recommend here.
