Thanks to the collaboration with the Berlin beekeeper Erica Mayr, in recent years we have approached urban beekeeping. Since September 2020 we finally have adopted from Erika, our own two beehives which are located on the roof of the Zeughof complex in Kreuzberg. Our primary purpose is to learn about bees and how their organism works, with particular attention to drones and their edible aspects.
In spring the bees will pollinate the city’s plants and flowers. We will leave the honey they produce almost completely at the bees’ disposal. We will only extract a few jars to try it and test its healthiness. In these months we are studying. For the moment the bees are fine and are ready to face the winter. During the autumn we supported them with a syrup made by us, based on water, sugar and lemon.
There is the presence of Varroa mites but in very small quantities. We used formic acid to keep the mite under control. The only problem encountered so far has been the wasps that have repeatedly attacked the hives to plunder them. The bees had to fight to keep the intruders out of the hive and away from their food. To moderate the attacks, we placed jars of apple juice (loved by wasps and not bees) near the hives, to keep the wasps as far as possible away. Given the mild temperature, the wasps thrived until the end of November, subjecting the bees to great stress. If you want to know more about our bee project, we are available for any further questions or information regarding our hives
Here a really nice ARTICLE about the edible aspects of bee drones, written by a dear colleague from the YMBE PROJEKT and published on TAZ.de