Busy Bees 🐝🍯 | Weird But True Full Episode | ‪@natgeokids‬

Hey guys, Charlie here. You know my sister, Kirby. Hey. Today we're hanging out in our hometown, Chicago, with hundreds of thousands of honeybees. Did you know that honeybees can recognize human faces? Or that the queen bee can lay over a thousand eggs a day? Smoker's going. It's time for Weird but True. This is almost the prettiest garden ever gardened. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Hey guys. Hey, I'm glad you're here. I basically have the world's greatest garden. Basically, but not quite. I'm having trouble with one particular area, and it's driving me crazy. I've grown lettuce, big poppy flowers, small colorful flowers, basically everything you could ever want. It's incredible. Everything except fruit. It's like no matter how hard I try, I can't grow fruits. What's going on? Kirby, where are the pollinators? The what? The pollinators, like the honeybees. Charles, do you want to get stung or something? No bees allowed. You need pollinators, especially honeybees, to get fruits. I've done everything else by myself, so why would I want to rely on stinging little pests to get me fruit? First off, they're not going to sting you. Second off, I'm telling you, Kirby, you can't live without bees. They're super pollinators. I'll tell you all about it, because today we're unraveling the world of... Bees. Charles, this is a kamikaze mission. We're going to get stung. You don't have to worry about that, Kirby. Oh yeah? Tell me why. Because bees aren't the angry stingers that you think they are. There are a whole bunch of players in the pollination game that you're confusing them with. Welcome back, sports fans. Chip Shimmers alongside Bob Frost. Pleasure to be here, Chip. Pleasure to have you, Bob. Today, everybody's talking about who's going to win this year's Pollinator League MVP. Bob? You know, Chip, it's blasphemous. We're still having this conversation. The undeniable best pollinator in the league is the honeybee. I agree, Bob. Let's break down our players. Wasps versus bees. Bees are fuzzy and plump. Wasps are hairless and skinny. The bees use their fuzzy hairs and plump bodies to collect pollen and... Boom shakalaka, we got pollen in the hive. They call them the clumsy carpenter because... They drop the hammer. Now, check this out. Same game across the garden. Now, most wasps don't seek out pollen. They're insectivores, which means they eat other insects. Whoa, that one cost them five minutes in the penalty box. They call them weak old leftovers because... They're disgusting. You know, Bob, it seems like this season wasps have been playing very emotionally. It's egregious, Chip. Some wasps are very aggressive. They might sting animals over and over and over. But bees are much less aggressive. They will only sting if the hive is in danger. That's it for today. Chip Shivers. Bob Frost. Catch you next time. So it sounds like bees, the fuzzy ones, aren't the mean ones. Correct. Cool. They're nice. But why do I need them to make fruit? Well, bees collect pollen to make stuff like honey. And when they do that, they're pollinating your flowers. It's all right in here. A worker bee lands on a flower and collects pollen from this part, the anther. Then it flies to another flower to collect more and deposits some of that pollen from the first plant right here on the stigma, where it forms a seed and eventually a fruit. This needs to happen for fruit to grow. If there's no transfer of pollen, there's no seed, no fruit, and one sad Kirby. That's what's going on in your garden. I mean, that sounds pretty easy. I just need to transfer pollen between flowers. All I need is like a cotton swab. How hard can it be? It's very hard. Doubt it. A tiny little insect can do it. Kirby, it's almost like these bees have pollination superpowers. Bees are tiny, but they can collect pollen as far as six miles from the hive. One honeybee pollinates thousands of flowers a day, and they don't need a lot of food to make the trip. It would only take one ounce of honey to fuel a bee's flight around the entire world. That's this much. This is all the fuel that a honeybee needs to travel completely around the world. That's crazy. Yeah. Well, where the heck are they, then? Oof. About that. What? They're disappearing? Like crazy. Since when? Since for a long time. We take you back like a gazillion years ago to the 1940s. The 1947 bee count is in. There are six million managed beehives in the United States. Dig it. The 1970 bee count is down to four million. U.S. bees vanish without a trace. From Weird But True World Headquarters in Chicago, this is Earth News Tonight with Charlie. Good evening. We begin tonight with the 2016 bee count. We're down to just 2.5 million hives. Where are the bees? Joining us to answer that question is a scientist. You look like my sister. You look like my brother. We theorize these losses are due to mite infestation, pesticide usage, or natural forage loss. Do you have a name for this phenomenon? Well, in some cases, bees are disappearing quickly, seemingly at random, and in catastrophic numbers. So, we've decided to name it Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD. Whoa. Colony Collapse Disorder? Yeah. Entire hives are disappearing all across the country. My garden's a goner without the bees. We've got to do something. Yeah, but like what? I guess if the bees won't come here on their own, we've got to bring them here ourselves. What? I need to become a beekeeper, and I know exactly who to call. Jana Kinsman. She's an urban beekeeper, and she's right here in Chicago. Cool, cool. Let's go. We're off to learn Beekeeping 101 at Bica Bee, and to get there, we don't have to go far. Illinois is home to 500 species of bees, and they don't all live out in the countryside. Weird but true, a bumblebee beats its wings 200 times per second. Hey guys, we made it. Yep, took us like 20 minutes to get here. We're here to meet up with Jana Kinsman. She's a professional beekeeper. And her bees aren't in some garden or forest or something. They're here on the south side of Chicago. They're actually on the roof of this building. What do you think, Curb? Take the stairs? Meet Jana Kinsman, founder of Bica Bee. She visits her beehives all over Chicago by bicycle so she can help keep the city green. Her favorite weird but true fact is... Over 90% of a honeybee colony is female. It's nice to meet you. Hey, nice to meet you guys. Nice to meet you. Here's the situation. We're trying to attract some bees to Kirby's Garden because there are no pollinators here. And apparently, you're the person to talk to about bees, right? That's correct. Alright, here's my main question. We're right outside Chicago, on the roof of a building, and you keep bees here? I do. Sounds like entirely kind of counterintuitive. You'd think that, right? I wanted to keep bees, but I didn't have a backyard. So my friend gave me space on the roof to keep my bees, and there's a ton of diversity here. What do we do when bees are coming at us and I get scared? Don't be scared. Be relaxed. We also go very slow while we're in the hive. And for the most part, it's just a very relaxing experience. So calm and don't freak out. And the bees will respect you if you respect them. Exactly. I'm sure you deck yourself out in those giant bee suits, right? No, I wear this. And I wear only a veil to protect my face. Just in case? Just in case. That's it? Yeah. To securely fasten our veils, we wear baseball caps, pop our collars, and tie the straps around our bodies to create a seal that's bee-proof. Ta-da. All right. Before we head over to the hive, Janet explains all the tools we need to know. First up, the smoker, which I don't really get the point of. What does it do? Does it just make the bees kind of sleepy, or what? Bees typically lived and hollowed out old trees. So if the bees sensed smoke, they just filled themselves up with honey, and then once the tree actually caught on fire, they would leave. So it's like they're packing up and getting ready to go. Yeah, they're just packing up to go. So what's great about the smoker is that it, of course, doesn't light the hive on fire. It just kind of tricks them into eating honey quickly so that we can go in and safely see what's going on. All right, cool. Each smoker is built to house a small internal fire that can be fueled by waste, like newspapers or egg cartons. A quick strike of the match, and... The smoker is ready to go. And then I have my hive tool to get the hive open, and my bee brush. That's it? Just in case. Those are all my tools. Amazing! Let's go see the bees! So these are your bees? Yep. Kerb, how you feeling? There are bees all over us right now. I feel fine. I feel calm. Relaxed. Respect the bees. They'll respect you. All right, let's dive in. Let's take a peek. So we're going to take our smoker and just give them a little bit of puff on the front, which is where they're coming and going from. Knock, knock. It's their doorbell. Knock, knock. I'm going to put a little bit of smoke underneath the top here as well. Oh, wow! So I'm using my tool to get this frame out carefully, moving slowly and evenly. Oh, that's so cool! Oh, man! Look how many bees there are. So most of the bees that you see are worker bees, and some of the bees, like this big fat guy right here, this is a drone. So different bees have different jobs. We have some friends who can help us learn about this just a bit more. Well, hi there. Welcome to Honey Bee Job Services. We work for the hive now, and we're so excited you want to work here too. We employ a lot of bees. Each hive holds 50,000 worker bees, 300 drones, and one wonderful queen. Does being a worker bee interest you? It's so fun. They work for every second of their entire lives, slowly rising up the ranks. These are the female bees. When they hatch, they get right to work, cleaning their combs. Then they're brood nurses, responsible for feeding the 9,000 larvae, 1,300 times a day, each. Next, they go into construction, building the hive, join the army and defend the entryway, and if they're good workers, they finally become foragers, gathering pollen and carrying water to the hive. The work never stops. Ever. Too much? Looking for something a bit easier? Maybe being a drone is the right job for you. These are the male bees. They mate with the queen and do absolutely nothing else. It's a breeze. Oh, but be careful. In the winter, drones aren't needed, so the worker bees kick them out of the hive. Oh, my. Get out of here, you lazy bees. Bye-bye. Too dangerous? Looking for something a bit more plush? I hear that the hive next door is looking for a queen bee. Being a queen is great. Everyone else works for you. All you have to do is lay your own weight in eggs every couple of hours, about 1,000 eggs every single day. So fun! So many eggs! Like any job, I guess it has its pluses and minuses. Well, once you decide, just drop an application in our mailbox. Thanks so much for stopping by. I want to see if we can find the queen. She has a much longer abdomen. She's very orange. She doesn't have too much black on her. She's there! Look at her! She's huge! She's huge. She looks completely different than everyone. This hive is super busy because it still has a lot of honey left to make, so we head downstairs to grab some honeycombs that Jana says are ready to harvest. So an hour ago, I probably wouldn't have walked up to these hives without thinking twice, and now we're shaking bees off their own honey. This is pretty awesome. One firm shake? Yep. You did it! And we brush the rest off? Bye, guys. So I think we should bring this honey upstairs and extract it. Yeah! Let's do it! Each of you guys gets a capping scratcher, which is the tool that we'll use to remove the caps. Capping scratcher. After bees convert the nectar they gather into honey, they seal it up to protect it with a thin wax covering called a cap. So with your frame of honey, take your capping scratcher and put it slightly under the caps and then pop them off like that. Okay. Oh, look at it flowing! You want to make sure you get every cap off, because if you don't, then that's honey that we will not get. And then when it gets full, you can scrape it off. All right, let's do it. All right, that looks pretty good. Do you want to put it in the extractor? You bet. All right. So you're going to put it straight down into that cage. Perfect. So this is going to spin, and all of the honey is going to get pulled out of the frame. It kind of works like a centrifuge, right? Exactly. Cool science word, centrifuge. That's a device that spins around and separates materials using centrifugal force. In this case, it's separating the honey from the comb. All right, let's fire it up. Ready? Let's go! So you can see inside, the frames are being spun around really fast. The honey is being tossed to the walls of this barrel, and once enough is there, it'll come out the spout into our bucket. All right, time. We're done. So do you guys want to try some? Yes. Just put your finger right under here, get a little dollop. Mmm, oh my gosh, it's so good. Why is honey so sweet? So honey is a concentrated form of flower nectar. So the bees gather it up, put it in the comb, and then by fanning their wings, they evaporate most of the moisture out of it. So it's like goopy sugar. Yes, they just super concentrate it to the point where it's not able to ferment anymore. So does that mean that honey never goes bad? Correct. They found honey in Egyptian tombs that was still edible. That's crazy. Keep a lid on your honey, and it'll last forever. That's absolutely unreal. Weird but true. Scientists in England taught bees to play soccer. Next up, Janna is taking us to a cool urban garden called the Pie Patch, where she keeps more bees. When you're heading out with the founder of Vica Bee, there's only one way to get around. So this is my friend's garden. It's like a little hidden treasure in the middle of the city. Yes. Because you're biking through houses and city blocks, and when you called it a farm, I was like, okay, we'll see. This is a farm. Yeah, it's huge, and there's so much stuff growing here. So how do these guys fit in? So bees visit flowers to gather nectar and pollen. In their little brains, they think, oh, I'm just getting a free lunch. But their hairy bodies are helping transport pollen from flower to flower, and pollen helps create new food. And also, honeybees communicate. For example, when one worker bee finds a really good resource for nectar, she flies back to her hive and does this thing called the waggle dance that communicates to her sisters, hey, this is where the good stuff is. That's so cool. Communicates via dance. Yeah, like a dance language. Let's look into that just a bit more closely. Begin with a prance to the flower and a delicate return to the hive. And now we begin the waggle dance. Excitedly, more excited! The dance is done in a figure-8 pattern, where in the middle, they wiggle their behind excitedly. More excitement! In a hive, upward means toward the sun. If a bee dances at an angle, that's the same angle a worker bee should fly away to find the flower. If the flower is to the left, they'll dance this way. If it's to the right, they'll dance this way. In order to communicate the distance of the pollen source, you must adjust the length of your wiggle. If the flower is close, they have a short wiggle. If it's far away, they have a longer wiggle. It's that easy! And moving on! Low like the wind. So without these bees here, this farm would kind of look like my garden back home. Without any fruit or anything like that. Yeah, kind of sad. Really sad. Yeah, they play a super important role in making all this food grow. Before we head out, Jana gives us a little taste of what adding bees to Kirby's garden could do. That's super good. They're delicious, Kirby. Right there. Ooh, this one's falling apart. It's so good. That's huge! God, how excellent is this? They planted these plants in here. Jana's bees came flying over, pollinated the flowers. Pick, right to the mouth. It's like straight from the mouth. Tastes delicious. Oh, I know! I can't stop. Thanks so much for showing us everything today. It's been absolutely amazing. You without a doubt have the nicest bees in the entire world. Don't tell them you said so. How are you feeling, Kirby? I'm feeling good, ready to get some bees back home. Looks like we've got some work to do. See you later, Jana. Thank you. See you in a bit. Hey guys. Check it out, 2 honey beehives. That's 100,000 honeybees. Go ahead, bees, pollinate my flowers and bring me fruit. Go bees, go! How amazing is this? Imagine what's going on in our backyard right now. In a world of Charlie and Kirby's backyard, one bee lives amongst her identical 50,000 sisters. I guess we're doing this. Until one day, she's promoted to a forager. Buzz, buzz, buzz. Searching for pollen, she suddenly buzzes across a flower. Pollen, yum! Pollination complete. To the hive! All that's left is one dance. One chance to show what she's got. Will the other bees receive the message? Was the pollination successful? Will this be the greatest movie of all time? Find out in Garden Wars, The Last Pollinator, a Charlie and Kirby production. Roll credits, secret teaser at the end, we make a bajillion dollars. I mean, I'd see it. Boom. But here's my question. You need bees to get fruit. True. I have bees here. Also true. But you said that the bees could travel up to 6 miles from the hive to get pollen. Again, true. So after all this, they still might not come to my garden? They might go to someone else's? Yeah. Then we gotta figure out ways to get them here and pollinate my flowers. Okay, I got a few ideas. Here's one thing you could do, plant flowers with certain colors. Scientists say bees often have an easier time identifying pollen in blue, purple, yellow, and white flowers, so they're more likely to attract bees. Bees also need water, so put a nice little water source in your garden. And be sure to include some corks. They act like floaties for the bees to rest on. Finally, if you really want to go extreme, you can build a bee hotel. This is a type of home that attracts mason bees. Take a piece of wood, grab a drill, and drill a bunch of holes of different sizes. They'll lay their eggs in there. Boom! Check it out! We got blue flowers, we got purple flowers, we got a mason bee hotel, and we've got a water feature with tiny little floaties that the bees can hop on and sip some water from. I officially have a perfect garden. And you'll definitely be able to grow some fruit. It's only too bad that we're gonna have to close up shop when winter rolls around. Winter. Trolls. We'll build a greenhouse. What? I'm gonna need my drill. Where do you think I could get, like, a ton of glass? All right, guys, looks like we've got a new project on our hands. Thanks so much for stopping by. Come by again when we discover more things that are weird... But true. We'll see you guys later. Really? Greenhouse? Totally.