Tuesday, December 18, 2012

Buying Bees - Where to Buy Honey Beehives and Beekeeping Equipment for Profit Along With Good Advice

By David H Duncan

It must be a great feeling bringing in that first harvest of honey and giving away jars of "home-made honey" away to friends and family or even to sell! Maybe it's the fact that bees create a food product that's enjoyed by millions of humans every year with many people using honey to sweeten food as a much healthier way than sugar! It is the ideal way to generate honey while also providing wax and other bee products.

WHERE TO BUY

Firstly, you will need to learn how to buy honey bees for your hive. There are three ways to buy honey bees including packaged bees, bee nucs, and established bee colonies. You can purchase bees by finding established colonies for sale from a local beekeeper. These colonies consist of bees and the hive together.

Bees usually come in packages of 9,000 to 22,000 with Queens coming in their own package. You may even find in your area an old beekeeper who is cutting down and can be a good source of a healthy stock, equipment and... advice all at a reasonable price!

Alternatively, bees can be bought through local beekeepers associations who can offer you advice training and support and also advise you on equipment required such as hives, smokers, protective clothing and the type of bees required for your area. They may also offer you a good deal as a new member!

Local beekeeping associations can be located on the internet along with local suppliers. Having said that, do make sure before purchasing packaged bees that they are from an established supplier always check the suppliers credentials online. Look at how long the company has been in business and for any complaints lodged against the business. Examine the company's return or guarantee policy to make sure it fits your needs. It is also worth bearing in mind that bees and the weather work to their own timetable they must be healthy and strong before release.

EASE OF LOCATION

Cities all over the world are lifting bans on beekeeping and making it easier for people to have their own honey beehives. You no longer need lots of space or land to keep bees. Hives can be kept in an average size garden or even in a back yard! Importantly though, do avoid causing problems for your neighbours meaning you should check with local by-laws about beekeeping before you establish your colony.

ALLERGIES

Local honey may also help in the management of allergies because bees make honey from local allergens. People who ingest this locally grown honey may find that they have increased immunity against these allergens including hayfever. Honey bees are also important pollinators for flower and vegetable gardens.

HEALTHY OUTDOORS HOBBY

Nowadays many people find it's hard to find a reason to go out and exercise. In beekeeping, you'll find a great way to get outside, get some exercise and fresh air while learning more about nature! There's no doubt buying bees and the required equipment is a worthwhile and profitable hobby and can truly make a huge positive impact on your life!

If You're ready to have fun with this exciting and profitable outdoor hobby and enjoy fresh Home-Harvested Honey and would like more detailed information, please visit my website below.

David Duncan is a successful freelance writer and the author of http://www.buyingbees-forprofit.com

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Cockroach Physiology

By Swee Guan Teoh

Ever wondered how a cockroach's body works? Or do these little creatures repulse you enough to make you want to obliterate them from existence? Perhaps learning more about these insects and studying their physiological structure and functions might help in finding methods for controlling and getting rid of these pests.

Most people are able to recognize a cockroach even when they're scurrying along from a distant. The sight of their blackish, brownish flattened body and long, prominent antennae is enough to send a human being shrieking and screaming 'cockroach alert'! Adding to the 'squirm factor', when encountering a male cockroach, you may notice some that have wings that barely allow them to fly, even though some do try!

The head of the cockroach is where it's eyes, mouthparts and antennae are, as well as it's brains. As important as the head may seem, a cockroach is able to surprisingly live for over a week without its head! This is because, most of its nervous system function occurs in nerve ganglia which is found all throughout its body. Besides that, the roach doesn't breathe through its nose or mouth, but rather it breathes in air through the holes in their sides called spiracles. The air then travels through tubes called tracheae, which feeds the organs and tissues with oxygen. You may not be able to suffocate a headless cockroach but once it has lost its head, it will eventually die from lack of water, their most treasured substance.

Cockroaches are able feel and smell using their long, movable antennae, which are made out of many tiny hair-covered segments. An experiment conducted by Makoto Mizunami and Hidehiro Watanabe of Tohoku University took advantage of the cockroaches' obsession with sugar to test their sense of smell via their antennae and to observe their responses. The experiment showed that their minuscule brains were able to remember and associate, through the sense of smell and respond, just like dogs and humans, by salivating.

Cockroaches may have a very limited eyesight but they are extremely sensitive to changes and movements in light and also to sound waves, which they detect through sensory hairs located at their tail, the lower part of their abdomen. A nerve inside of the cockroach helps its sensory organs detect a movement that is less than a millionth of a millimetre - a fraction of a hair's-breadth! This explains how these little creatures can scuttle away at such a high speed when you even come close to it, let alone try to catch and squash them. Perhaps there ought to be a capturing device that can move discreetly at a speed higher than those roaches!

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Why Are Cockroaches Such Stubborn Pests?

By Swee Guan Teoh

There is no denying that cockroaches do a great job in living up to their title as pests. The sight of these little creatures are repulsive, abhorrent and even the thought of them can be rather revolting. Most people detest these vermin and a majority develop some form of phobia towards them. You can probably count on your fingers, the number of cockroach lovers that exist in this world. Most 'cockroach experts' have earned their title as scientists and from the experiments or research that they have done on the subject. The rest probably work for a pest control company of some sort. Bottom line, we can all agree that cockroaches are pests.

Why do we hate these seemingly harmless looking insects? Why don't we find them cute and cuddly, but rather, creepy and crawly? Why then, should such pests, that are nothing but a nuisance to the human race still be part of the food chain? The reality is that cockroaches are extremely filthy insects, because they live everywhere and anywhere and eat almost anything. These dirty little creatures contaminate food and surfaces that they touch, destroy paper products and fabrics, leaving stains as well as unpleasant odours wherever they live. Worst of all, because of what they eat and where they scurry about, cockroaches are carriers of diseases that can be harmful to humans hence a huge threat to our health and well-being.

A cockroach infestation at home certainly is not a glamorous event but rather, a serious problem that needs to be dealt with. Being completely clean and tidy does not at all mean that you are safe from cockroach visitations. These rascals can enter even the cleanest of homes. Roaches may have followed you home without your knowledge, perhaps in a grocery bag or you may have unintentionally brought home with you some roach eggs that were soon to be ripe and ready for hatching. Their flattened and versatile bodies allow them to enter homes through pipes, tiny gaps, doorways and cracks. Of course, these unwanted visitors are more likely to stay longer and make themselves at home in places that are dirty, especially where there are food scraps lying around, as well as warm, moist and dark areas.

The challenge we face with getting rid of these pests is that cockroaches are one of the hardiest insects on the earth. Even though they thrive on water, food and warm shelter, which are their three basic necessities, there are some cockroaches that have been known to live up to three months without food and up to one month without water. Besides that, some are able to survive 45 minutes without air and when submerged underwater for half an hour, still recover without drowning. Due to their stubborn will to live, it is not a simple or straightforward procedure to completely eradicate these pests once they have infested an area.

Cockroaches - Pests That Threaten Human Health and Well-Being

By Swee Guan Teoh

Cockroaches may seem like delicate little insects but they are not quite so delicate in nature. They are unpleasant, disgusting, a threat to our health and are infamous as household pests. Roaches invade homes, scurry about every nook and cranny where they can find food, water and warm shelter and take residence anywhere they fancy. These pests can get out of control especially once they have infested an area, and it is quite possible that each home could have from 900 to 330,000 of these insects wandering about in hidden areas. We're talking about an invasion by a battalion of squirmy, chemically infused 'soldiers'!

Cockroaches establish their presence and form colonies in homes, restaurants, offices, schools, hospitals, warehouses, public areas especially anywhere that there is food preparation and areas of storage. Besides their obsession with food products, it is known that cockroaches are attracted to paper products as these creatures emit a type of pheromone (chemical attraction) that is absorbed very well by paper. Hence, this pheromone acts like a map that leaves behind evidence, like a trail for the other roaches to locate one another and follow the pathway, to and fro. Who needs a GPS system when you have cockroach pheromones!

The fact that these roaches leave trails everywhere they tread is no laughing matter. The idea of them scurrying around fecal matter and waste disposals areas, and then scurrying off into the kitchen where food is prepared and stored can be quite nauseating. To make matters worse, cockroaches are known to taste food with their feet. Hence, by simply crawling onto surfaces that have contact with food, they easily spread the bacteria and dirt that they carry with them. With not very much effort at all, these creatures effectively spread harmful diseases like dysentery, typhoid and various other food-poisoning related illness to humans. Cockroaches have also been found to trigger allergies that cause acute asthma attacks. These vermin ought to be eradicated from our households in order to stop such filthy pest activities that only cause harm and damage to our bodies and healthy living.

In order to stop the damage and health risks brought upon humans by these pesky little creatures, there are numerous solutions and pest control methods that have been innovated and implemented. One would not have to go far to look for professional pest control services, as well as do-it-yourself information and anti-pest products that are available on the market.

Interesting Facts on Cockroaches

By Swee Guan Teoh

e a cockroach, you just can't get rid of me." - Madonna, famous singer and actress.

The quote by Madonna is absolutely true. Cockroaches are, by far, one of the hardiest insects on this planet. There is nothing quite like the cockroach and its mysterious ability to survive the toughest of living conditions. Even in the film, Wall-E, a Pixar animation, a featured cockroach had survived and outlived all of humanity at the 'end of the world', having also survived getting squashed twice in the movie. This fictional depiction of a roach's survival even in a deteriorated world, is pretty close to the truth.

It has been said that if a nuclear war broke out, cockroaches would be one of the creatures that would survive. Their resistance towards radiation is connected to their cell cycle. Because of their cell divides only once a week, which is how often they molt, at the most, a large majority of them would not be affected by a sudden nuclear outburst. The Mythbustersperformed an experiment to bust the myth that cockroaches would be the only living things to survive a nuclear blast. The myth was proven to be false, as they found the flower beetles to have a far higher resistance towards extremely hazardous radiation, compared to the cockroaches, which didn't survive the maximum level of radiation they exposed them to. So even though cockroaches would outlive humans in a nuclear blast, they would eventually die from large amounts of it and lingering exposure to radiation.

Unlike humans, cockroaches can live without their head for a least a week and if their heart stops, it won't snuff them out! A headless cockroach will only die from thirst, because they eat and think using the other organs in their body. These heartless creatures don't actually have a 'heart' like we do, but rather one that consists of simple tubes and valves, pumping their blood back and forth. The roach's respiratory system also allows them to outlive humans when it comes breathing air. They have been found to survive 45 minutes without air and after being 'drowned' in water for 30 minutes by the Mythbusters, they all recovered, alive and kicking!

As energetic as these scuttling roaches may be, these insects are only active for about four hours in a day, as they spend 18-20 hours resting, almost as many hours as a koala bear sleeps for each day. One can probably imagine why a female cockroach would need so much rest, as she mates only once in her life and stays pregnant for the rest of it!

It's not so easy to eliminate these hardy roaches, even with life-threatening chemicals, as they have these white starchy substance that consists of nutrients that help neutralize and lessen the effect of any chemical substances that may threaten to kill them!

Superstorms and Mosquito-Borne Disease: What Are Mosquitoes Good For?

By Paul C.R. Monk

Superstorm Sandy raises issues as to climatic change, but also to the threats a warmer climate may bring in the aftermath of great downpours. This time, thank goodness, the autumnal temperatures will leave mosquitoes mostly dormant, and people cold but relatively safe from mosquito-bearing disease.

It is the female that will annoyingly hum around your ears at night. It is the only song she knows and she does it so that males-who do not hum, just listen-can locate her. And of course it is the female that causes us to continually slap our own faces on warm summer evenings, especially when the air is muggy, ideally between 15°C (59°F) and 30°C (86°F). She needs to gorge herself with nutrients found in the blood of vertebrates (birds, amphibians, us and other mammals) to be able to bring her eggs to maturation.

To prevent the blood from clotting in the process she injects an anticoagulant substance via her saliva. It is this substance that causes an allergic reaction that leads to those ungracious itchy lumps on your forehead, arms and legs as well as other unmentionable places. And in this way she transmits disease.

So What Use Are Mosquitoes?

1. A Regulator. It is precisely her ability to spread disease that makes her capital to nature's self-regulating system. She plays a major part in reducing the populations of many species, especially that single most prolific one of them all. I mean, man, of course. In fact, Centers for Disease Control estimate that mosquito-borne diseases kill something like 2 million people a year, which is very sad for those who fall victim to them but there are ways of reducing their presence and so people's exposure to disease.

2. A Gatekeeper. Right up till the last century mosquitoes were part of nature's defense strategy against human aggression. For thousands of years they successfully acted as a deterrent from invasion of tropical areas like the Amazonian forest where their presence kept human intrusion and destruction at bay. They were the gatekeepers of sacred lands. Then man invented pesticides and in doing so has become guilty of gradually destroying the medicine cabinet of future generations, and perhaps sowing the seeds of his own demise.

3. A Food Source. Mosquitoes constitute an important source of food for many aquatic birds, amphibians, fish and insects in water where they live before becoming adults. If they were no longer allowed to breed a pond would be pretty much like a broth without the tasty bits! And, as adults, they constitute an abundant food source for birds, dragonflies and other creatures. Getting rid of mosquitoes would be like getting rid of plankton in the ocean, it would leave a huge gap in the food chain.

4. A Pollinator. Between bloodthirsty forays females will do as males do and settle on a flower and sup up honeydew and nectar, their staple diet. This of course helps towards pollination.

Would We Gain From Life Without Mosquitoes?

True, mosquitoes create discomfort and transmit disease, but let's be fair, though they rank high on the world's mass killer list, they are certainly no more harmful to people or to the environment than humans themselves. In fact modern man is the most destructive single living species on earth. Life without mosquitoes might be something we all wish for sometimes, but if we got rid of them to the point of extinction then the world might well become a hungrier, more ravaged, and less flowered place.

Paul C.R. Monk

www.strangemetamorphosis.com/story/

Influenced by the works of French naturalist Jean Henri Fabre, Paul has been an enthusiast of entomology for many years. He is also a fiction writer, his forthcoming book is about a boy who undergoes a strange metamorphosis.

Visit his website at the above link for more features about bugs and the book.

Buying Bees - Where to Buy Honey Beehives and Beekeeping Equipment for Profit Along With Good Advice

By David H Duncan

WHERE TO BUY

EASE OF LOCATION

ALLERGIES

HEALTHY OUTDOORS HOBBY

If You're ready to have fun with this exciting and profitable outdoor hobby and enjoy fresh Home-Harvested Honey and would like more detailed information, please visit my website below.