Materials Needed:
Flexible tubing that is three feet long
Cotton
two and a half gallon bucket
Step one
Find a place to put your bumblebee box. Make a hole in the ground that is four to six inches deep and put the bucket in it with the bottom facing up.
Step two
Make a big enough hole in the side of the bucket. Put cotton inside the bucket. Do not put a lot of cotton in the bucket because it will get in the tubes and clog them up so the bumblebees will not be able to get in.
Step three
Take the three to four feet long tubing and stick it through the hole in the bucket and dig a hole big enough for the tube so it looks like the tube is going under ground because the bees like their homes under ground. This is so the bees can get into the bucket.
Step four
You have finished your bumblebee habitat!
How to Build a Mason Bee Hive
Materials needed:
Someone to supervise and/or help (optional), 
A hook or string (to hang the bee box), 
A Skill saw or any other power saw (if you have a piece of wood bigger than a 4x4x6 block of wood) 
The first step is that you need to draw dots of where to drill the holes for the bees. The holes should be spaced 3/4 in. apart and at least sixteen holes on a box.
Put on your safety goggles! The next step is that you have to put on the 5/16" drill bits on to your drill and start drilling in the holes where you drew the dots. The holes should about as deep as the drill head.
The third step is that you have to use your hook or string to hang up the bee box on a tree branch.
A DESCRIPTION OF HONEY BEES
THE WORKER
The honey bee is born in an egg from the queen in a wax brood cell. It hatches after three days and turns into larva. Nurse bees feed it royal jelly to keep it alive for the first day, then for six days they feed the larva honey and pollen. Then the larva becomes a pupa. The first pupa is can’t do anything. During the sixteen days as a pupa, it is trapped in a sealed cell, it grows into a worker bee, wich is always a female. Finally ther bee comes out on the 20th day. Workers do everything exept mate and lay eggs. They collect the pollen, make the honey, collect water, heat the hive and keep the hive cool.
The Drone
The drone is a male bee. They are a full adult in twenty-one days, and they are bigger than the workers. Thye have very large eyes and have no stinger. All they do is mate with the queen as they are being fed by the workers. They either die while mating or they are expelled from the hive by winter.
THE QUEEN
Before the death of the queen, she will lay her last egg. This will be the new queen . The nurse bees will then make the eggs food sorce royal jelly. After sixteen days, when the new queen emerges she will kill all of the that live in olther collonies around hers. In the first seven minutes, she will mate with up to 7 drones. After that, the queen will spend her time laying eggs, up to 2000 a day!
Pesticides
There are many pesticides that effect bees. Most are insecticides, people want to kill grubs, mole crickets, and other bugs, but they forget that the bee is an insect. Here are some pesticides that kill bees: Baygon, Furadan, Lannate, Lannate LS, Mesurol, Nudrin, and Sevin. For more information on pesticides, please visit:
This is also copied from the internet so believe it to!
The Bees' Needs
Honey bees are mysteriously vanishing across the country, putting $15 billion worth of fruits, nuts and vegetables at risk.
Like carrots? How about cucumbers, broccoli, onions, pumpkins, squash, apples, blueberries, avocados, almonds or cherries? These crops, among others, can't grow without honeybees, and a mysterious die-off of these hard-working pollinators could put $15 billion worth of U.S. crops at risk -- not to mention put a damper on your diet.
Beekeepers sounded the alarm in 2006. Seemingly healthy bees were simply abandoning their hives en masse, never to return. Researchers are calling the mass disappearance Colony Collapse Disorder, and estimate that nearly one-third of all honey bee colonies in the country have vanished.
Why are the bees leaving? Scientists studying the disorder believe a combination of factors could be making bees sick, including pesticide exposure, an inadequate food supply, and a new virus that targets bees' immune systems. But more research is needed to determine the exact cause of the bees' distress.
Bee Friendly, Bee Safe: Here's How
Bees play a central role in our food supply. Congress has held hearings on the issue of vanishing honeybees, but needs to take quick action to support further scientific research into Colony Collapse Disorder, and help beekeepers affected by the disorder to revive their hives so our crops can keep growing.
You can help keep bees healthy by making your yard and garden colorful, diverse and pesticide free. Here are some tips on how you can Bee Safe:
- Bee Native: Use local and native plants in your yard and garden. These plants thrive easily and are well suited for local bee populations, providing pollen and nectar for bees to eat.
- Bee Diverse: Plant lots of different kinds of plants in your yard. Plant diversity ensures that your garden attracts many different varieties of bees and gives them a range of flowering plants to choose from throughout the year. Make sure your yard plants vary in:
- Color: Bees have good vision and are attracted to several different colors of flowers.
- Shape: Different species of bees are better suited for different shapes of flowers. Give your bees some variety!
- Flowering times: Having a sequence of plant species that flower throughout the year helps sustain the food supply and attract different species of bees.
- Bee Open to Pollen: Pollen is bee food. Genetically engineered pollen-free plants trick bees into thinking they'll find food, and then leave them hungry. (Don't worry, flower pollen isn't a big contributor to most people's allergies.)
- Bee Pesticide Wary: There are many natural methods to control pests in your garden. Researchers believe pesticides are a contributing factor to Colony Collapse Disorder. Moreover, some insecticides are harmful to bees and wipe out flowers that provide bees with food. If you must, use targeted pesticides and spray at night -- when bees aren't active -- on dry days.
- Bee a Hive Builder: Building your own bee hive is easy and fun. Creating a wood nest is a good place to start -- wood-nesting bees don?t sting! Simply take a non-pressure treated block of wood and drill holes that are 3/32 inch to 5/16 inch in diameter and about 5 inches deep and wait for the bees to arrive.
This is a link to www.wikipedia.com, it is very informative.
Colony Collapse Disorder, a poorly understood phenomenon involving the abrupt disappearance of the worker bees in a beehive or Western honey bee.
(More)Scientific name: Common Name: About the Flowers:
Achillea millefolium | Common Yarrow | |
Berberis spp. | Barberry | |
Borago officinalis | Borage | |
Calendula spp. | Pot Marigold | Visitation is variable. |
Carpenteria californica | Bush Anemone | |
Ceanothus 'Julia Phelps' | Wild lilac | |
Ceanothus 'Ray Hartman' | Wild lilac | Bumble bees adore this plant. |
Ceanothus thyrsiflorus | Lilac, Blue Blossom |
|
Cercis occidentalis | West. Redbud | Excellent nectar source, but short lived. |
Clarkia unguiculata | Elegant Clarkia | Plant in 1-2 meter diameter patches for best attraction. |
Collinsia heterophylla | Chinese Houses | Plant in shade or partial shade. |
Coreopsis maritima | Sea Dahlia | Beautiful flowers, but relatively low bee attraction. |
Echium candicans | Pride of | An attractive Spring nectar plant. |
Encelia californica | Bush Sunflower | |
Erigeron glaucus "Wayne Roderick" | Dead-head flowers. Other cultivars less attractive. | |
Eschscholzia californica | California Poppy | Mainstay pollen source for many bee species. |
Gilia achilleifolia | | |
Gilia capitata | Globe Gilia | |
Lavandula spp. | Lavender |
|
Layia platyglossa | Tidytips |
|
Linaria purpurea | Toadflax | Attracts many bee species. |
Marrubium vulgare | Horehound | Dead-head and water occasionally. |
Mentzelia lindleyi | Blazing Star | |
Nepeta spp. | Catnip | |
Pelargonium graveolens | Scented Geranium | Relatively low, but consistent, bee visitation. |
Penstemon heterophyllus | Penstemon | Plant in patches greater than one meter in diameter. Likes occasional water. |
Penstemon '' | Penstemon | |
Phacelia californica | CA Phacelia | White flowers are small, but very attractive to bumble bees. |
Phacelia campanularia | | |
Phacelia grandiflora | Large-flower phacelia | |
Phacelia tanacetifolia | Tansy Phacelia | One of the best pollen / nectar sources for several Spring bee species. Pollen is purple! |
Phacelia viscida | Sticky Phacelia | |
Rhamnus californica | Also attractive to beneficial flies and wasps. | |
Salvia brandegei | Brandegee Sage | |
Salvia chamaedryoides | Germander Sage | Likes occasional water. |
Salvia greggii | Autumn Sage | |
Salvia 'Indigo | Salvia Indigo | |
Salvia mellifera | Black Sage | |
Stachys bullata | CA Hedgenettle | Dead-head and water occasionally. |
Verbena lasiostachys | West. Verbena | |
Colony
Collapse Disorder
The Honey Bee (Apis mellifera),
the Mason Bee (Osmia lignaria), and the Bumble Bee (Bombus
Hortorum) are
being affected by a deadly virus known as Colony Collapse Disorder, or C.C.D.
This virus is affecting and killing bees over 27 states in the
Pesticides
There are many pesticides that effect bees. Most
are insecticides, people want to kill grubs, mole crickets, and other bugs, but
they forget that the bee is an insect. Here are some pesticides that kill bees:
Baygon, Furadan, Lannate, Lannate LS, Mesurol, Nudrin, and Sevin. For more
information on pesticides, please visit:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide_toxicity_to_bees.
A
DESCRIPTION OF HONEY BEES
THE WORKER
The honey bees are born as an egg from the queen
in a wax brood cell. Three days after the egg hatches into a larva. Nurse bees
feed it royal jelly to keep it alive for the first day, then for six days they
feed the larva honey and pollen. Then the larva becomes a pupa. The first pupa
is inactive and can’t do anything. During the sixteen days as a pupa trapped in
a sealed cell, it grows into a worker bee, wich is always a female. On the
twentieth day, the worker comes out of the cell. Workers do everything exept
mate and lay eggs. They callect the pollen, make the honey, collect water, heat
the hive and keep the hive cool.
The Drone
The drone is the male bee. They became a full
adult in twenty-one days, and are larger than the female. Thye have very large
eyes and have no stinger. They have no work to do, all they do is mate with the
queen as they are being fed by the workers. They either die while mating or
they are expelled from the hive by winter.
THE QUEEN
Before the old queen dies, she lays an egg in a
large queen cell. The nurse bee feeds the egg only royal jelly. In sixteen days
the new queen emerges, killing all queens in other collonies around her. In the
first seven minutes, she mates with seven or more drone bees to lay more eggs.
There are many possible reasons for Colony Collapse Disorder. One possible reason of CCD is pesticides. If you spray pesticides on plants you are hurting the bees because bees eat the nectar that they get from the flowers. Another possible cause of CCD is malnutrition. Malnutrition is when there is an extremely low amount of honey. There is also a virus called Israeli Acute Paralysis that may be the cause of CCD. Some beekeepers have found that in their hives. The virus got to the
If the bees keep disappearing at this rate then bees will cease to exist in 2035. 80% percent of bees have died in six months. 100,000 bees are gone in
Scientists are now closely looking at the country’s commercial bees. In the valley beekeepers have to rent honeybees. Bees are disappearing in thirty-five different states in the
Honey bees are disapearing, but why? Actualy, the reason is not clear yet. They could be dying by mites, or viriuses, even of malnutrition. Some ideas like cell phones have been said that it is not an idea any more. Here are some reasons why honey bees our diseapering:
- They could be dying of malnutrition,
- A virus similar to aids is The Israile Acute Paralysis Virus (IAPV), which came from Israil, then Australia or Asia got the virus. Then their bees got to America, then are bees got infected. The virus eats away at the bees and leaves nothing, plus it grows fungus inside them.
- Another possibility is the Varroa mite, also called the Vampire mite. Like the IAPV, the Varroa mite eats the honey bee, all of it also.
Those are the three most reasons why bees are disapearing. The thing about the Varroa and the IVAP is that when the honey bees get infected they leave the hive, and do not return. On this blog please post comments if you have information on why honey bees are disapearing.
Thanks
As you may know we are doing this, to help save the honey bees. What is making the honey bees die or disapear?
Most people agree that the culprit is C.C.D.
I'm going to give you the full song since I only gave you the chorus in the last entrie.
chorus
Honey bees please come home
We need you here at the honeycomb
That colony collapse disorder
Is crossing ever border
So honey bees, please come home
Why are the adult bees dissapering?
Is it from climate change or pestisides?
Are you feeling sress from malnutrion?
We need you and our crops to stay alive chorus
We want you to continue pollinating
And we'll do our best to solve this mystery
Until then we'll eat organic honey
And build a hive where you'll be safe and free chorus
This blog is for our class's Environmentality Challenge. We will talk about C.C.D ( Colony Collapse Disorder) and the dissapering bees. This is a really big problem and we hope to make a difference.
We wrote a song about it with the help of Mr. Cooper, here is the chorus
chorus
Honey bees please come home
We need you here at the honeycomb
That Colony Collapse Disorder
Is crossing ever border
So honeybees, please come home
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