Saturday, May 20th is Bee Day

In an attempt to focus attention on the plight of bees and their great importance to food production worldwide, the UN has proclaimed May 20th as International Bee Day.

In this connection, the Green Museum's beekeepers' guild will be present at the museum on Saturday, May 20, to talk about the bees and show off the hives.

They will be there from 12:00 to 16:00.

A little about the history of the bee

The honey bee is native to Denmark and has played an important role in pollination since the Ice Age.

Since the Bronze Age (1,800-500 BC), honey and wax from wild honeybees have been used. It is believed that actual beekeeping began in the early Middle Ages, around 1100 AD, when the honeybee became a domesticated animal, living close to farms and houses. The earliest hives were hollow tree trunks, while from the 16th century, beehives made of straw also began to be used.

In the Middle Ages, honey was used as a sweetener and for brewing mead, while wax was especially used as a candle in Catholic churches and monasteries. Until we had domestic sugar production based on sugar beets in the mid-19th century, honey was the most important sweetener in Danish households.

In the late 19th century, beekeeping was modernized by keeping bees in hives with loose combs. Whereas previously the bees had to be killed when the honey was to be harvested from the honeycombs, the combs could now be removed from the hive. The honey was then released by placing the combs in hand-operated honey centrifuges.

In the past, beekeeping was mainly done by farmers, teachers and craftsmen in the countryside. After several years of decline in beekeeping after World War II, beekeeping has been on the rise again since the turn of the millennium. Today, it is mainly younger people and families living in cities who keep bees. Many have beehives in their gardens, allotments, backyards or even on the roof terraces of high-rise buildings in larger cities.

Exciting knowledge about bees (primarily found on the website biavl.dk – which is the website of the Danish Beekeepers' Association).

• Bees and other insects that pollinate crops have a major economic impact on Danish society. It has been estimated that their pollination is worth approximately DKK 3 billion to the income of agriculture and fruit growing.
• The value of bees' pollination of agricultural crops is 30-50 times greater than the value of their honey.
• Bees and other pollinators are vital for food supply, sustainable agriculture, the environment and biodiversity.
• It is estimated that there are around 100,000 bee colonies in Denmark.
• 30-50 kilos of honey/bee colony/year can be harvested – however, the yield varies greatly and depends on factors such as the weather and the supply of flowering plants.
• Over the past 50 years, agriculture worldwide has become more dependent on pollinators, with agricultural production of pollinator-dependent crops quadrupling.
• Globally, three out of four crops depend on pollinators. The FAO estimates that 100 crop types account for 90 percent of the world's food supply – 71 of these are bee-pollinated.
• The work of bees and other pollinators contributes positively to biodiversity. Worldwide, 87.5 percent of flowering wild plants depend on pollinators.