Bats and Birds and Bees
Life is Better with a Buzzzzzz !
By Capt. Dale
This is going to be a monthly short article about bees and the fun, cost, profit and the heartbreak of raising them.
First a little bit about me. I am by no stretch of the imagination an expert on Honey Bees. Never trained, never took courses and for the most part just stumbled along on my own. After all, how hard can it be, they have already survived millions of years without me ! After 4 years of raising Honey bees I slowly came to realization that they can raise themselves. My job is to keep the predators under control.
“Predators you say?.” Yes, everything on this planet eats something else and they all just love honey! I now think of the Beekeeper as the giant at the gate standing between the honey bee and the varroa mites, tracheal mites, hive beetles, ants, wax moths, yellow jackets, robber bees, mice, skunks, muskrats, bears, well you get the idea. It’s an endless list. If I do my do diligence and keep all the predators away though out the summer then I get to come in and steal the honey!
There is a lot of information on U-tube and books you can buy. Only about 20% is helpful most of this information is from some beekeeper in the mountains of Washington State or some other place thousands of miles away. I get a kick out of the videos of opening up hives with nothing but a bikini on. Please don’t try it. Some of the information in these videos are helpful, keep in mind that things are different here in Florida and can be very different at your location.
Having a back yard hive can be a lot of fun and very beneficial for your flowers and garden. In time you will have plenty of wax for candle making, lip balm, honey and soap for gifts and several other things you can make from the hive. How special would it be to receive a gift that was hand crafted by you (and your bees).
Hopefully I have sparked an interest in Beekeeping.
I truly believe that the Honey Bee is one of Gods best gifts to us.
Bats Bats Bats
By Brad Spacone
How did I end up writing an article on this website? Through mutual friends I met Sonny and Mary Anne Bishop a few weeks after I was asked about building some bat houses for their property. They thought it would be a good addition to their sustainable projects. Why? Because of what bats can bring to the property. Before going further, a short introduction. My name is Brad Spacone and I moved to Land O Lakes in 2000. I became interested in bats some years ago because of the benefits they bring.
In no way, do I consider myself an expert on this misunderstood mammal. I do however have over 200 Brazilian free tailed bats (also known as Mexican free tailed) that roost where I reside. I did bring this up as I have seen many empty bat houses. Building the bat houses is easy but as they say in real estate location, location, location.
Enough about me and back to the bats.
What are bats and how do they help us? Like us they are mammals (that can fly) with almost 1000 species. They also make up one-fifth of the mammal population. I’m sure you have heard “blind as a bat”, they use Echo location (sonar) to consume up to 600 insects per hour. They eat many insects such as the mosquito which carries Encephalitis, West Nile, and Zika virus to name a few.
Bats are called natures little pest controllers. Their waste is called guano which makes for great organic fertilizer. They have a very low percentage of rabies about 6%. Not bad for a species that makes up a fifth of the mammals.
Enough for now but stay tuned.
For more information on Florida's 13 species of BATS, check out the Florida Bat Conservancy