Just the Facts

The number of bees in a hive varies according to availability of nectar and pollen from less than 5000 to more than 100,000.

During honey flows foraging bees wear their wings to shreds over 2 weeks and become prey for ants and other insects.

Foraging bees will make round trips of approximately 4 kilometres to and from the hive.

Bees communicate to their fellow bees the source and location of nectar so the foraging bees concentrate on one flowering species at a time.

When a nectar source is abundant, 90% of the honey/pollen will be from that source.

Each hive has one queen who bequeaths the hive to a daughter.

A queen bee will lay up to 2,000 eggs a day.

The queen’s attendant bees groom and feed her, up to 80 times her weight daily.

Honey bees evolved between 150 - 180 million years ago.

Bees can carry nearly their own weight in nectar and pollen.

Bees attempting to enter a different hive will be killed as intruders although bees returning with nectar may be admitted.

All bees in a hive share a common odor, emanating from the queen’s pheromones.

Bees communicate by vibration and chemical cues. They are deaf to most sounds and are mute.

Beekeepers migrate hives between forest and agricultural crops to ensure year-round hive strength and honey production.

Honey bees will sting in defense of their hive or their lives.

A cave painting in Spain dated to 15,000 B.C. shows 2 men climbing to a cave containing bees and removing a honeycomb in a basket.

In 3000 B.C. Egyptians kept written records of beekeeping activities.

Egyptian hives were transported down the Nile on barges to access floral sources.

Roman law declared that bees were the property of the man who placed them in a hive, not the person who owned the land.

About pollination

As bees move over flowers, pollen sticks to their bodies and is transferred to the next flowers visited, to pollinate seeds.

Pollinated fruit and seeds are up to 30% larger and have better germination.

Many flowering plants or trees depend upon insect pollination before fruit or seeds will form.

One bee can pollinate 18000 flowers per day.

Beekeepers move hives several times a year so bees can visit seasonal nectar sources or pollinate crops.

Flowers provide nectar to encourage pollination. Once this has been achieved, nectar supply stops.

The world faces continual famines without adequate pollination of trees and agricultural crops.