Did you know….

There are three types of bees in the hive:  the queen, workers, and drones

The Queen:

* Will live normally between 1 and 4 years.

* Consumes royal jelly provided by the workers

* Has a non-barbed stinger

* Without a queen, the colony will eventually die

* Develops in 16 days, from egg to emergence from the queen cell.

The Workers:

* Worker are all females.

* Can number between 40-60,000 in a strong hive.

* Performs a multitude of tasks to include: Tending to the queen, feeding larvae, feeding

drones, nectar ripening, producing heat, collecting water, house cleaning guard duty,

field collection of pollen and nectar, to list a few.

* Will die if she stings. Has a barbed stinger that if left behind after stinging.

* Will live 6-8 weeks in the summer, working until her wings give out.

* Will live 4-6 months in winter when not actively working/foraging.

* Develops in 21 days from egg to emergence.

The Drones:

* Sole responsibility is fertilization.

* Leaves hive for 2-3 hours each day.

* Has no stinger

* If the workers stopped feeding them, they would die of starvation.

* Develops in 24 days from egg to hatching to emergence.

General Bee Facts

* A single honey bee may collect 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

* To make 1 pound of honey, bees may need to fly 50,000 miles.

* Honey bees may forage up to 2-5 miles from the hive.
* Bees do not hibernate, but cluster for warmth. They remain active all winter.

* Bees will maintain an internal cluster temperature of 92 degrees in the coldest part of winter while raising brood.

* Bees will disconnect their wings allowing then to pump their wing muscles to create heat

* Bees fly outside the hive normally when temperatures rise above 50 degrees.

* A beekeepers main tools are a protective veil, smoker, gloves, and a hive tool.

* Smoke inhibits alarm pheromone from alerting other bees of danger. They also gorge themselves with honey in preparation of possibly fleeing a wildfire, taking as much resources with them as possible.

* A beekeeper will harvest extra honey that bees store beyond what they need to survive. The record harvest for one colony is 404 pounds, by the Aebis Family in 1974.

* Raw honey contains many beneficial minerals and vitamins. Honey also has antibacterial properties and anti-oxidant benefits. Many claim allergy relief by using local honey that contains pollen.

* There are many varietals of honey. From orange blossom honey, award winning tupelo honey, clover, alfalfa, blueberry, to apple blossom.

* Honey comes as extracted, liquid, creamed. or in the comb.

* We only produce about 30% of the honey we consume in the U.S.

* Local beekeepers produce the best “green” sweetener you can buy….local honey.

* Besides honey, you can harvest pollen, propolis, and beeswax.

* Directly, honey bees pollinate the flowers of 1/3 of all fruits and vegetables.

* Indirectly, honey bees pollinate 70% of the food crops, through seed production, etc.

* There are 1/2 the number of beekeepers there were 25 years ago.

* There are 1/3 less beehives as there were 25 years ago.

* For every 100 beekeepers, 95% are hobbyists, 4% sideliners, and 1% are fulltime or commercial beekeepers.

* Beekeeping dates back at least 4500 years.

* Beekeeping can be a sustainable endeavor.

* Renting bees to farmers in need of pollination generates a source of income.

* Beehives are kept on farms, in backyards, on balconies, and high-rise rooftops, all across the country.

* There are local, county, state, and national bee associations.

* Honey bees are kept or managed in all 50 states.

More Interesting Bee Facts Here:

http://mentalfloss.com/article/53691/13-fascinating-facts-about-bees