GENERAL HONEYBEE INFORMATION

GENERAL HONEYBEE INFORMATION

- There are four major species of honey bees in the world. Australia has the species, Apis mellifera (which means “carrier of nectar”).
- Age of this species is 19 million years.
- An average beehive, at the height of the season, can hold between 50-100,000 bees.
- The average temperature of a hive is (93 -95 F)
- On average, a honey bee weighs 1/10 gram.
- Honey bee eggs are 1.6mm.
- A worker bee averages between 12-16 millimetres long. Queens and drones are slightly longer.
- Honey bees have 5 eyes, 2 sets of wings and 6 legs.
- Bees communicate by vibrations and chemical cues. They are deaf to most sounds and are mute.
- A worker bee visits between 1,000 flowers each collection trip.
- In one day, a worker bee might visit as many as 10,000 flowers.
- The average worker bee makes 1/12 teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
- A hive of honey bees must visit over one million flowers to make one kilo of honey.
- Bees can forage for nectar and pollen over a radius of up to 3 kilometres.
- The flight time required to produce 1 kilo of honey is equivalent to one bee travelling 4 times around the world.
- It would take about one ounce of honey to fuel a bee’s flight around the world.
- A hive of bees would have to fly over 30,000 miles to bring you one kilo of honey.
- Flight speed is about 25 kilometres per hour (12 mph).
- Normal wing beats are around 250 cycles/second, whereas buzzing wing beats are 400-500 cycles/second.
- A single hive can produce 15-30 kilos per fortnight on a strong nectar flow.
- Honey bees are the only insects to produce food for humans.
- Bees never sleep, but they do rest inside the hive.
- When a bee stings, it looses it’s stinger and dies.
- Pollinated fruit and vegetables seeds are up to 30% larger and have better germination rates than non-pollinated ones.
- Approximately one half of the human diet is derived directly or indirectly from crops pollinated by bees.
- Honeycombs have six-sided cells.
- When bees take nectar back to the hive, they fan their wings to get the moisture out of it. Then they seal the honey in the combs with wax which they make from special glands.
- Bees maintain a fairly constant temperature in the hive of about 22 degrees Celsius, by fanning their wings. Oh hot summer days, you will see them hanging in bunches out of the hives, trying to get cool.
- Bees carry pollen on their hind legs in a pollen basket, or corbicula.
- They can carry nearly their own weight in nectar and pollen.
- Bees natural enemies include mice, wasps, birds and small mammals.
- Bees attempting to enter a different hive will be killed as intruders, although bees returning with nectar may be admitted.