• Honey collection and beekeeping are depicted in Stone Age cave paintings.
• Honeybees are not native to the United States. They came from Europe with the early settlers.
• During the summer, a worker honeybee lives about 6 weeks and gathers enough nectar in that time for 1⁄12 of a teaspoon of honey. She may live 4 to 6 months in the winter.
• A queen bee can live for 3 to 5 years. She mates only once (with several drone bees) but remains fertile for life, laying up to 2,000 eggs per day.
• In the winter, 20,000 to 30,000 bees live in a hive; in the summer that number jumps to between 60,000 and 80,000.
• Honeybees have an amazing sense of smell. They communicate, find their way home (each hive has a specific odor), and locate food using their 170 odorant receptors.
4 Comments
What is the plants and natural food sources for the Bee’s in Europe?
We must have controls for companies like Monsanto who could possibly devastate the honeybee population
I enjoyed the information about bees. I didn’t know that they weren’t native to the United States. My husband and I just moved to a rural area and the local health food store has had a shortage of honey this year due to the decrease in bee population in central Oregon. We are gathering information so that we can keep bees next year and help repopulate the area as well as supply honey for ourselves and those who use it medicinally.
I look forward to reading more.
Sincerely,
Marie
That is wonderful Marie! Hopefully more people are being inspired to keep bees from our articles!
Kindly,
Keeping Backyard Bees Team