The History of the Ridgway Apiary and Information on our Honey Bees
The Ridgway Community Apiary (RCA) was created in March 2021, by four pioneers - Angela Hawse, Vicki Hawse, Fred Boyle and Judy Hazen - because of their mutual love of and endless curiosity towards honey bees. The Ridgway Town Council approved their request for the community apiary, and it was established on an 80’ x 80’ plot of town land on Green Street adjacent to the Ridgway Community Garden. The fences were built entirely from donated materials and community volunteer labor combined with high school volunteers. Colorado Parks and Wildlife Department donated all material for the electric fencing. Southwest Institute For Resilience (SWIRL) sponsors the Apiary under the umbrella of their 501c3 non-profit status. Dana Ivers donated most of the non-electric fencing, and the posts came from the town when they replaced the footbridge at Cottonwood Park. A very grassroots origin. The Apiary has enjoyed abundant and unceasing support from both the Town Council and Town Staff, as well as town residents. It has been a total joy to have residents come to the members excited about the honeybees in their gardens or in town parks on the dandelions.
A major part of the RCA mission is education to all who are interested in learning the importance of pollinators and with that education to increase awareness and support of our invaluable pollinator friends. About 70% of all the food we eat is dependent on pollinators, and they have so many obstacles to their survival in the present day. While climate change is challenging all wild animals, in part by impacting the destructiveness of their natural disease and parasite predators, humans are presenting bees with many other, larger challenges. Chemicals such as insecticides are often fatal to bees and neonicotinoids insecticides are especially destructive. As described in this article from Science, Pesticides can harm bees twice—as larvae and adults: Impacts on pollinators may be worse than thought, pesticides can have both acute and accumulative, chronic effects on different parts of the bee life cycle. Fungicides and herbicides more often cause sublethal impacts weakening bees and can also potentiate the impacts of pesticides and other toxins. Unfortunately, the full impact of these compounds have not been well studied. Even large doses of electromagnetic radiation, such as that present near cellphone towers, has been shown to harm bees, in part by interfering with, their internal navigation system. In short, declines in our native and honey bee populations and falling hive survival rates are alarming, and we all must do our part by avoiding the use of these chemicals and working to lessen other threats.
The functional aspect of our apiary is to provide a safe, supportive environment for both beginning and experienced Bee Hosts. An electric fence keeps out the bears. We are working to build community around Bee Hosting, and to give folks new to it confidence and knowledge. The Ridgway Community Apiary requires all members practice natural, chemical free beekeeping. The town of Ridgway has the potential for being honored as a Bee City USA. Bee City USA is a national recognition given to communities who host, promote and educate the public about pollinators and their benefits. Beekeeping is the traditional title used for what we do, but our Bee Master, Fred Boyle has come up with what we all agree is a more appropriate title - we are Bee Hosts. As Fred says, “a kept thing is never happy.” Our role is to provide a safe haven for bees to thrive.
Bees are truly fascinating insects, and here is a bit about bees to help whet your interest! There is only one queen in a beehive or bee colony, and she is in charge. She communicates to her hive with pheromones (scents). When the queen first emerges from her cell, she spends a week or so in the hive maturing. Then she takes her first flight, a mating flight. She goes up into the sky and encounters groups of drones - the only males in the colony. Drones hang out in the sky in large clusters from mixed hives waiting for the virgin queen to arrive. She will mate with several drones, and perhaps take a few separate mating flights. Once a drone mates with a queen, he dies. The drones only purpose that we are currently aware of - is reproduction. They do not work in the hive and are fed and cared for by the females. Sounds like a pretty good deal, eh? But in the fall, all the drones are kicked out of the hive as all resources are to keep the queen alive. The drones can not live long without the support of the hive.
After the queen has taken enough mating flights to fill her spermatheca, which is a reproductive organ where she will store a lifetime supply of sperm from the drones she mated with. She will live the rest of her life in the hive, laying eggs. The only other time she would fly is if her hive swarms. So she is the mother of all the bees in the hive. And besides the drones, all the other bees are females. They are the workers. Some are nurse bees, who tend to the eggs and larvae, some are tending to the queen, some are cleaner bees, to keep the hive clean, and the ones we all see are the foragers. Who gather pollen and nectar all day long. The foragers communicate back in the hive with what is called the “waggle dance,” it is literally a dance that communicates to the other foragers where they found great pollen. They somehow get navigation coordinates through the waggle dance.
Actually, each female bee goes through a succession of doing all the jobs in the hive. Their final job is foraging, and they will do that until they die. A female honeybee lives about 40 days. And it is a brief, but intense life. They do not sleep. they forage until their wings start to fall apart or some part of their body just wears out. The queen senses when winter is approaching and she starts to lay winter eggs. The winter worker bees will live the entire winter, but they rarely leave the hive, their purpose is to keep the queen alive. So even though they live longer, they probably never see a flower or much daylight for that matter.
This is a simplified version to give you an idea of the life of a bee. Hosting Bees becomes a lifelong journey and passion for those of us smitten by it. We would love to have you join us.
A major part of the RCA mission is education to all who are interested in learning the importance of pollinators and with that education to increase awareness and support of our invaluable pollinator friends. About 70% of all the food we eat is dependent on pollinators, and they have so many obstacles to their survival in the present day. While climate change is challenging all wild animals, in part by impacting the destructiveness of their natural disease and parasite predators, humans are presenting bees with many other, larger challenges. Chemicals such as insecticides are often fatal to bees and neonicotinoids insecticides are especially destructive. As described in this article from Science, Pesticides can harm bees twice—as larvae and adults: Impacts on pollinators may be worse than thought, pesticides can have both acute and accumulative, chronic effects on different parts of the bee life cycle. Fungicides and herbicides more often cause sublethal impacts weakening bees and can also potentiate the impacts of pesticides and other toxins. Unfortunately, the full impact of these compounds have not been well studied. Even large doses of electromagnetic radiation, such as that present near cellphone towers, has been shown to harm bees, in part by interfering with, their internal navigation system. In short, declines in our native and honey bee populations and falling hive survival rates are alarming, and we all must do our part by avoiding the use of these chemicals and working to lessen other threats.
The functional aspect of our apiary is to provide a safe, supportive environment for both beginning and experienced Bee Hosts. An electric fence keeps out the bears. We are working to build community around Bee Hosting, and to give folks new to it confidence and knowledge. The Ridgway Community Apiary requires all members practice natural, chemical free beekeeping. The town of Ridgway has the potential for being honored as a Bee City USA. Bee City USA is a national recognition given to communities who host, promote and educate the public about pollinators and their benefits. Beekeeping is the traditional title used for what we do, but our Bee Master, Fred Boyle has come up with what we all agree is a more appropriate title - we are Bee Hosts. As Fred says, “a kept thing is never happy.” Our role is to provide a safe haven for bees to thrive.
Bees are truly fascinating insects, and here is a bit about bees to help whet your interest! There is only one queen in a beehive or bee colony, and she is in charge. She communicates to her hive with pheromones (scents). When the queen first emerges from her cell, she spends a week or so in the hive maturing. Then she takes her first flight, a mating flight. She goes up into the sky and encounters groups of drones - the only males in the colony. Drones hang out in the sky in large clusters from mixed hives waiting for the virgin queen to arrive. She will mate with several drones, and perhaps take a few separate mating flights. Once a drone mates with a queen, he dies. The drones only purpose that we are currently aware of - is reproduction. They do not work in the hive and are fed and cared for by the females. Sounds like a pretty good deal, eh? But in the fall, all the drones are kicked out of the hive as all resources are to keep the queen alive. The drones can not live long without the support of the hive.
After the queen has taken enough mating flights to fill her spermatheca, which is a reproductive organ where she will store a lifetime supply of sperm from the drones she mated with. She will live the rest of her life in the hive, laying eggs. The only other time she would fly is if her hive swarms. So she is the mother of all the bees in the hive. And besides the drones, all the other bees are females. They are the workers. Some are nurse bees, who tend to the eggs and larvae, some are tending to the queen, some are cleaner bees, to keep the hive clean, and the ones we all see are the foragers. Who gather pollen and nectar all day long. The foragers communicate back in the hive with what is called the “waggle dance,” it is literally a dance that communicates to the other foragers where they found great pollen. They somehow get navigation coordinates through the waggle dance.
Actually, each female bee goes through a succession of doing all the jobs in the hive. Their final job is foraging, and they will do that until they die. A female honeybee lives about 40 days. And it is a brief, but intense life. They do not sleep. they forage until their wings start to fall apart or some part of their body just wears out. The queen senses when winter is approaching and she starts to lay winter eggs. The winter worker bees will live the entire winter, but they rarely leave the hive, their purpose is to keep the queen alive. So even though they live longer, they probably never see a flower or much daylight for that matter.
This is a simplified version to give you an idea of the life of a bee. Hosting Bees becomes a lifelong journey and passion for those of us smitten by it. We would love to have you join us.