CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- Right now, the Chicago Honey Co-Op's 50 colonies of bees are wintering, in clusters.
"They protect the queen in the middle of that cluster, keep her warm, and then they will themselves cycle in and out of that cluster because the ones on the outside will be colder," explains Sydney Barton, operations manager of Chicago Honey Co-Op.
She got interested in bees about 15 years ago when she helped someone stock a hive with a package of bees.
"I didn't want to close up the hive, I was so fascinated. I thought, 'This is really cool,'" she said.
For instance: How bees tell other bees about a nectar source.
"That's called the 'waggle dance,'" she said.
The bees are just living for the day when the temperature warms to about 50, with a lot of sunshine.
"Because they don't defecate inside their hive," Barton said. "They will wait until they can go out and do what's called the 'cleansing flight.' And then they'll come back in."
Besides selling honey, the Honey Co-Op makes candles from beeswax.
The long-term prospects are not assured, Barton said, given that it's becoming harder for beekeepers to keep their hives alive during winter.
"A lot of it has to do with possibly inbreeding," she said. "I think we need more diversity in the gene pool for honeybees. More diversity means healthier."
