Honey Bee Facts
• Fossilised remains of the the honeybee have been found in deposits dating about 35 million years ago during the Oligocene period.
• Sealed honeycomb has been found stored in some of the pyramids in Egypt possibly indicating that beekeeping has been around for some time.
• The common or european honeybee, also known by its latin name of Apis (taxonomy class Genus meaning Honeybees) and mellifera (taxonomy class Species meaning Western honeybee), belongs to a group with four different sub-species. These are geographically distributed across the Central Meditteranean Sea & South West Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
• A honeybee has six legs (which makes them an insect), five eyes (two compound eyes and three simple eyes on the top of the head) and four wings (in two pairs).
• Bees are vegetarian feeding on pollen and nectar from plants and trees.
• The honeybee is the only insect to provide food for humans however its most important role is that of fertilising our crop-bearing plants.
• In the USA bees pollinate approximately 130 types of crops ranging from fruits, nuts, and vegetables. It is estimated that bee pollination adds approximately 14 billion dollars annually to the countries agricultural produce through increased crop yield and quality.
• Within the honeybee colony there are three castes (types) these are the queen (fertile female), workers (infertile females) and drones (males)
• Queen bees develop from female worker eggs. They develop into queens by the fact that they are continued to be fed royal jelly and other important substances (brood food) by the workers throughout the larval period of their lives which lasts for about eight to nine days. Workers are also fed royal jelly but for a much shorter period during their larval lives (about 36 hours).
• A colony is headed by one queen (exceptional circumstances prevailing). She is the mother of all the bees. Once mated she can lay up to 2000 eggs per day about five or six per minute. The eggs she lays will produce female (workers) or male (drones) bees. She lays her eggs in the cells prepared (drawn out) for her by the workers. The size of the cell determines whether she lays a fertilised egg or an unfertilised egg. A drone cell is larger than a worker cell and she will check the cell width with her legs before backing into it and laying the appropriate egg.
• A bee colony can vary in strength from between approximately 50,000 plus in the summer to around 5,000 to 10,000 in the winter
• A queen can live up to five years.
• Worker bees generally live for approximately six weeks during the summer months but considerably longer during the winter.
• Drones develop from unfertilised eggs layed by the queen (called parthenogenesis or virgin birth). They are considerably larger and louder than the workers. They don't possess a sting and are ejected from the hive by the workers at the end of the autumn when it is considered they are no longer needed.
• A drones primary function in life is to mate with an unfertilised queen. During mating the drone bee dies.
• Bees will generally only sting as a defence mechanism that is when frightened or attacked. Worker bees possess a barbed sting which is detached from the bee resulting in her death.
• Bees communicate by the use of chemical substances called pheromones and by body movement.
• Pheromone communication is complex however it is known that bees use it to indicate or mark nectar sites, water sources and sting areas amongst other things.
• Pheromones are secreted from the nasanov gland at the tip of the bees abdomen. Bees can often be seen exposing this gland and fanning their wings to distribute the pheromone thereby passing the message on .
• Bees can indicate where they have located food sources to the others by two distinct movement patterns often referred to as bee dances. A circular dance indicates sources without reference to specific distance or direction and a tail-wagging dance which indicates the exact distance and direction in relationship to the position of the sun.
• The average bee produces about 1/12 th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
• It is estimated that the nectar from about 2 million flowers is collected to make 1 pound of honey.
• A hive of bees can fly approximately 55,000 miles to make 1 pound jar of honey.
• Bees fly at an average speed of 13-15 miles per hour.
• Worker bees produce wax from eight small wax glands on the underside of the abdomen. To produce it the worker fills up with honey which increases her metabolism and body heat which allows the wax glands to secrete.
• About 8 pounds of honey is eaten by bees to produce 1 pound of beeswax.