After finishing Caring for the Keani Oral Presentation on April my bees finally arrived! We first waited for a sunny warm day to hive the bees as that's the best time to introduce them into their new home. Working under seasoned bee keeper Mark Laker he helped me get the bees into their hive by shaking them out of their Bee bus. Next we hung the queen (who comes packaged separately) in between the frames. This is done so that the bees establish a colony because they will stay with the queen. To get the queen out workers must eat through a piece of candy to free her. Once this is done the hive should start to become fully functional. After a few days of letting the bees settle in we noticed that there went many bees coming in and out of the hive and that upon further inspection a majority of the bees where in a huge pile on the bottom of the hive! The bee hive got taken inside and sealed ( so that bees wouldn't fly around inside) and after a few days the bees started to act more lively while there was still a large amount of dead bees. Luckily most survived. The reason the where acting this was was because the bee hive I built has to much air flow and the temperatures at night where too cold for them luckly, Mark lent us an extra beehive so we could transfer them to the new hive that would better insulate them. A few days later the bees were looking good again. Through out this process I have learned a ton of super interesting bee facts about the operations and practices of bee colonies like if theres not pollen or sprouting plants for bees to collect pollen form, bees will fly to trees and collect last years pollen which is one reason bee hives a the landfill can be successful. Now we are just waiting for the bee colony to look stable enough to transfer to the landfill. One the hive is established and thriving, we can relocate them. June 21, 2021After several weeks of routine checkins with the bee hive they are recovering and growing at a healthy rate! They have also begun to collect pollen, make honey, and are starting to grow in number. After talking with the landfill they agreed to host my hive this Monday through the summer. I have all ready begun to take a "before" count of the numbers and behaviors of the different bird species at the land fill and I'm excited to see the what affects the bees have on this environment. After touring the entire landfill with the director, we've chosen a place that will be away from general public traffic but still an area that the eagles and other birds hang out. I've begun by taking a count of the bird in a specific area that I'll take a count of the same area when the hive is place which is also in the immediate vicinity of the hive. Due to safety concerns for the public and the workers at the landfill we are unable to place the beehive in the perishable cell where a majority of the birds love to frequent for the food, however, there is an area in a cell with non-perishable waste that the birds also frequent to wait for truck deliveries. I'm hoping this will be a good place that takes into consideration the needs of workers, the general public, and my hypothesis. July 9, 2021The bees have been moved to the landfill and I can't wait to see how they do and their environmental impact. Like before I added the bee hives, I'm taking the same area counting in the same plotted space of land and the only variable I can control is the bees. There have been several weeks between the start of the experiment with counting the birds. Now the bee hive has been added and the bees can BEE used to figure out how they play into the ecosystem. The reason it took longer to implement the bee hive than expected was that the weather had to BEE sunny and warm to make the transition easier, and to make sure that they than had enough honey, polling and bee bread to support themselves if the landfill was closed and I couldn't care for them imeditaly. To transport the bees the previous night when all the bees returned to the hive for the night and we plugged them inside so that the bees would BEE there for our transport and not get lost. than we moved them to the landfill and opened it up to the bees who where very excited to BEE free! July 15, 2021Anecdotal evidence and this is very generalized but in this area of the dump the number of birds in the counting area are as follows: (Counts are taken the same days every week, at the same time to try to reduce the number of variables) Before Bees (based on 9 readings over three weeks) Eagles Average - 6 Seagulls Average - 8 Ravens Average - 2 While I don't have enough readings to give an accurate average at this point in the study this morning readings were as follows; Eagles - 3 Seagulls - 4 Raven - 2 There were definitely fewer birds in the counting area. They also appear to be staying a shorter time, before I would notice that the birds would perch in the trees and not be phased by the car driving by, stopping and counting them. However, now when I pull up to also open the hive and check on the bees some of the birds will leave their perch. My guess is this has less to do with the human, and more to do with opening a beehive full of angry bees to check on them. It will be interesting to look at averages. July 20, 2021The beehive is thriving. It's a healthy established hive, they're producing honey and while the count continues I"m waiting or more data before averaging them to look for trends and patterns. I did have my first bear attack on the hive today and while it was frustrating for me to brave a hive full of extremely angry bees because they'd been swatted around by the bear, I did notice there were no birds in the area. They took their anger out on everything around them (and rightfully so). The hive is restated in the same place, secure as it can be and let's just hope the bear learned that it will not be an easy meal. July 29, 2021
August 4, 2021With the recent bear attacks I've averaged the numbers from before and after the beehive. While these are averages, accounting for fluctuations in weather and human activity, numbers were taken over a three week period at the same time during the various days of the week that the site was visited. Before Bees (based on 9 readings over three weeks) Eagles Average - 6 Seagulls Average - 8 Ravens Average - 2 During Bees (based on 9 readings over three weeks) Eagles - 2 Seagulls - 3 Raven - 0.5 While not a full academic study, anecdotally there was a reduction in the number of birds. This could be in part due to the bees but it's also important to remember that during the month of July there is significantly more fish waste in the rivers from human activities of participating in the largest subsistence fishery in the state of Alaska. This could naturally reduce the number of birds at the landfill. I would like to point out however, that when the bees were especially feisty after bear attacks and aggressively angry there were no birds in the counting area. A longer study over multiple season would need to be conducted, however, I do believe there is a correlation between the bee presensce and the reduction of birds in the area. August 12, 2021Before Bees (based on 9 readings over three weeks) Eagles Average - 6 Seagulls Average - 8 Ravens Average - 2 During Bees (based on 9 readings over three weeks) Eagles - 2.4 Seagulls - 3.2 Raven - 0.5 After Bees (based on 9 readings over three weeks) Eagles - 4.5 Seagulls - 6 Raven - 1.7 It appears that bird numbers came back slightly after the beehive was removed from the counting area. This could be a result of their presences (or lack thereof) or it could be a result of the subsistence fishery on the Kenai and Kasilof river ending at the end of July. Both could also have an influence on bird numbers. It's hard to say without a longer study over multiple seasons and years. I want to thank the Kenai Peninsula Borough for allowing me to place a beehive on the landfill property and alerting me to the bear attacks on the hive. They were both accommodating to my questions and mindful of their workers, wonderful to work with and insightful as to the typical behaviors of the birds that they see day in and day out. They allowed me to explore science in a new and exiting way which has got me thinking of a sustainable way to use bees at the landfill to deter birds without placing the public or the landfill workers in situations where they're at risk of bee stings. October 1, 2021I recently came across an interesting site that indicated that beekeepers live longer than non-beekeepers and this got me to thinking, is there something that the bees give off that might deter the birds and not just the threat of a stinging?
This website cites several studies that indicate telomere length, general health and the consumption of bee products that may contribute to longevity in humans. In further researching I found a few other studies (this one is extremely interesting) and sites that indicate that bees give off an alarm pheromone. This pheromone communicates in plant-pollinator-predator interactions and could this pheromone be used to deter bees without putting the general public or the workers at the landfill at risk of adverse bee interactions while still deterring the birds from the landfill? If I had the resources and mentor to help with his, I think this would be the next step along with a longer study on this topic of reading my full potential as a bee czar and trash revolutionary.
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