All About Honey Bees

Pollination - 1/3 of the fruits and vegetables we eat are pollinated by the honey bee.

Honey bees are broken into three types or castes: the queen, the workers, and the drones.

There is generally only one queen in a colony. Her only job is to lay eggs. She can live for several years, but most live for a 2 or 3.

All worker bees are female. They are resonsible for building and maintaining the colony, gathering the nectar and pollen, they feed and care fore the queen and drones, and raising the brood. They live only a few months.

All drone bees are male. They hang out until the afternoon when they go to try to meet with a queen. In lean times workers will throw out the drones from the hive.

A single honey bee will only produce 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her life.

By definition, honey contains less than 18.6% water. The other 81.4% is sugars.

Honey will not spoil if kept sealed. No bacteria can grow due to the lack of moisture.

Why shouldn't infants under 1 year old eat honey? Honey can contain small amounts of botullism spores. They stay dormant in the honey because of the lack of moisture. Once the honey is eaten moisture levels rise, and the infants immune system is not developed enough to fight them off.

A beehive can contain up to 60,000 bees during the spring and early summer.

Honey bees maintain a temperature of approximentaly 93 degrees Fahrenheit in their brood nest all year long.

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