Joint decision for company bees
In the fall of 2021, our employees were able to decide in the RTS newsletter which environmental project RTS Wind AG should support in the future. They had the choice of four topics: Marine conservation, flowering meadows, beehives and animal sponsorships. We know that this is only a small step, but if everyone makes a small contribution, much more is done than if not. It is as simple as that. That’s why we also want to become active. On this page we would like to report how 1 year with our company bees went.
Why are bees so important?
The preservation of bee colonies is existentially important for the balance of our earth. Bees pollinate our plants when they collect pollen from flowers. Only in this way can plants reproduce. Where there are no bees, the flora (plant world) dies, ecosystems collapse and animals lose their food basis. No invented technology can adequately replace the work of bees.
April 19th 2022
Our two bee colonies move into the headquarters of RTS Wind AG in Bremen. The honey chambers are set up.
In the future, around 50,000 bees will fly over an area with a radius of five kilometers to collect pollen. With each bee, we now ask ourselves if it is one of ours.
Our bees fly over an area of 5 kilometers radius.
May to June
April to July is the most productive time for our bees. This is when honey is produced and the hive is at its largest. A bee becomes about 6 weeks old in this period, the work is hard and dangerous. Our beekeepers visit the bees about every 2-4 weeks, check the size of the swarm (it must not be too big or too small).
Each comb must be checked to see how the bees are doing.
July – The honey harvest
In July, our beekeepers harvested the honey. 26 kilos of honey have produced our bees, it turns out later.
The bees get a food supply and are treated against varroa. The varroa mite lives as a parasite on the honey bee. For the winter, the flight holes of the hives are reduced.
Winter
The bees hibernate in their hive and warm themselves by forming a cluster through which they regulate the temperature in the swarm. Winter bees live much longer than summer bees – 3-6 months.
While our bees are cuddling, our trainees are in the process of labeling our RTS honey, which has come to us bottled in small jars, and sending it to our customers and business partners as a small Christmas gift.
As a conclusion, we can say that we are very satisfied with our decision to get two bee colonies at the headquarters. The bees are rented from bee-rent, which means that they are professionally looked after all year round. It is nice to watch them and the visit of the beekeepers is always a little event for our employees.
At the same time, we are happy to support biodiversity in the Überseestadt. The former port area is currently being revitalized and built up as a modern district. Currently, there is still little nature, so the work of our bees on site is all the more important. At the end of the year it was nice to hold our own honey in our hands and distribute it. Unfortunately, 26 kilos of honey were still too little to give everyone a jar, we would actually need four colonies.
Nevertheless, we hope that everyone enjoys the reports about our bees. For this year we have decided to make the place where the beehives are located more beautiful. This is completely unimportant for the bees, but nice for the people who come to visit them. We will report on social media and in our newsletter how things are going.
We are already looking forward to the coming bee year and spring, when we can again watch our bees flying in and out.