The Colony: A Perfect Ecosystem
Each beehive is an extraordinarily organized community. Honey bees live in colonies composed of a single fertile female — the queen —, several thousand males called drones, and a vast population of worker bees, sterile females who perform all the tasks of the colony.
In the height of summer, a healthy hive typically houses between 40,000 and 60,000 bees: a true miniature city, capable of producing the prized artisanal Sardinian honey that can be found on tables in Villasimius and throughout southern Sardinia.
Recognition: The Queen's Scent
Bees never live in a hive already occupied by another colony. They may enter out of curiosity or in an attempt to steal honey, but they are immediately repelled. Each bee carries the pheromone of its own queen: a unique chemical signal that allows fellow bees to instantly recognize who belongs to the colony and who is an intruder.
The Bees' "Home": Structure of the Modern Hive
The beekeeper provides bees with a home built to suit their needs. The modern hive consists of rectangular boxes inside which movable frames with parallel wax foundation sheets are hung. Starting from these sheets, worker bees build the hexagonal cells of the wax combs, where they raise the brood and store honey.
Worker bees produce wax through glands located on their abdomen, using it to form the walls of the combs and the caps of the cells — a completely natural process, without additives.
The Hive Zones
- The brood nest (lower part): here the queen lays eggs and nurse bees raise young bees. The temperature remains constant between 33° and 36°C, regardless of external conditions — crucial for brood development.
- The queen excluder: a metal grid placed above the brood nest, wide enough for worker bees to pass through but not the queen, who has a more voluminous body.
- The honey supers (upper part): reserved exclusively for honey storage, away from the brood-rearing area.
Mobile Beekeeping: Diverse Honeys, Guaranteed Biodiversity
Modern hives allow beekeepers to transport colonies from field to field following seasonal blooms. In Sardinia, this means being able to produce exceptional quality single-flower honeys — from asphodel to strawberry tree, from eucalyptus to thistle — while also promoting cross-pollination and the region's biodiversity.
