First honeybee activities on La Gonave
When we setup our hives on La Gonave, most of the honeybees will be in the form of brood. Brood are the honeybee larva that are put into the cells from the queen. Within the frame will be some drone, worker, and queen comb. This is the best way for the island to develop it's initial honeybees.
Some may question why not put full active hives on the island. When you look at 80,000 honeybees foraging for food, it can potentially tax out the food system we are developing on the island. That would then mean death to the honeybee hive. So by starting with mostly brood and a few thousand honeybees say, 8,000, you have enough that can take care of the hive, and build up the hives food stores.
Logistically transporting full hives can be difficult due to getting from the mainland to La Gonave is done by boat. So transporting a heavy hive will be very difficult. Having a few frames of honey, brood, and bees will be easier and safer to move.
Major crops will be planted during this time. Given that it takes a month for the brood to develop into a honeybee, the timing has to be done correctly. In fact most of the initial food that will be foraged by the bees will be wildflowers that we planted on the island. By the middle and end of next year (2016), the honeybees will also be foraging on crops.
We will eventually also have observation hives which will show the inside of a hive, and the workings of the hive. We may even have a live cam where you can view the hive 24-7.
We are in the final stretches of this journey.
Go Gonave!
Some may question why not put full active hives on the island. When you look at 80,000 honeybees foraging for food, it can potentially tax out the food system we are developing on the island. That would then mean death to the honeybee hive. So by starting with mostly brood and a few thousand honeybees say, 8,000, you have enough that can take care of the hive, and build up the hives food stores.
Logistically transporting full hives can be difficult due to getting from the mainland to La Gonave is done by boat. So transporting a heavy hive will be very difficult. Having a few frames of honey, brood, and bees will be easier and safer to move.
Major crops will be planted during this time. Given that it takes a month for the brood to develop into a honeybee, the timing has to be done correctly. In fact most of the initial food that will be foraged by the bees will be wildflowers that we planted on the island. By the middle and end of next year (2016), the honeybees will also be foraging on crops.
We will eventually also have observation hives which will show the inside of a hive, and the workings of the hive. We may even have a live cam where you can view the hive 24-7.
We are in the final stretches of this journey.
Go Gonave!
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