Honeybees
Sweet Facts
Did you know...
- honey bees are the only insects that produce food for humans consumption?
- honey bees are responsible for a third of the food we eat?
- bees are disappearing at an alarming rate and that our entire agricultural system may suffer greatly? (http://www.vanishingbees.com/)
- a single hive may contains up to 50,000 bees?
- during honey production periods, a bee's life span is about 6 weeks compared to up to 6 months during the winter months?
- honey bees visit about 2 million flowers to make one pound of honey?
- a bee travels an average of 1600 round trips in order to produce one ounce of honey; up to 6 miles per trip. To produce 2 pounds of honey, bees travel a distance equal to 4 times around the earth?
- honey bees will ‘swarm’ when they find themselves overcrowded and will collectively make a decision as to where their new home will be by taking a ‘democratic vote’? Watch it here!
- bees fly an average of 13-15 mph.
- bees from the same hive visit about 225,000 flowers per day. One single bee usually visits between 50-1000 flowers a day, but can visit up to several thousand.
- queens will lay almost 2000 eggs a day at a rate of 5 or 6 a minute. Between 175,000-200,000 eggs are laid per year?
- the average hive temperature is 93.5 degrees even through the winter months?
- beeswax production in most hives is about 1 1/2% to 2% of the total honey yield?
- about 8 pounds of honey is eaten by bees to produce 1 pound of beeswax?
- when a bee finds a good nectar source, she returns to the hive and communicates her findings in the form of a ‘waggle dance’ with complete information about the orientation, the distance and the quality of the source? Watch the waggle dance here!
Page last modified June 5, 2012
