Interesting Facts about HONEY BEES

Honey bees  are a subset of bees in the genus Apis, primarily distinguished by the production and storage of honey and the construction of perennial, colonial nests out of wax. Here are some interesting facts about Honey :-

1. It takes 12 bees their entire lifetime to make one tablespoon of honey.

2. A hive of bees will fly 90,000 miles, the equivalent of three orbits around the earth to collect 1 kg of honey.

3. Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel threatened and they die once they sting.

4. The Queen bee lays around 2,000 eggs per day! She can also select the gender of the larvae. Most larvae that will be produced will be female.

5. Honey bees are the only insects that produce something that humans eat. It is also the only food that never spoil !!!!

6. Honey Bees never sleep !!!!!

 7. Honey is the only food that includes all the substances necessary to sustain life, including enzymes, vitamins, minerals, and water; and it's the only food that contains "pinocembrin", an antioxidant associated with improved brain functioning.

8. Honey bees communicate with one another by "dancing"

9. Honey bees have 6 legs, 2 compound eyes made up of thousands of tiny lenses, 3 simple eyes on the top of the head, 2 pairs of wings, a nectar pouch, and a stomach.

10. The honey bee's wings stroke incredibly fast, about 200 beats per second, thus making their famous, distinctive buzz. A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour.

11.There is only one queen per hive. The queen lives 2-3 years while worker bees only lives 6-8 weeks.


12. It takes one ounce of honey to fuel a bee's flight around the world.

13.The bee's brain is oval in shape and only about the size of a sesame seed, yet it has remarkable capacity to learn and remember things.

14.  A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 honeybees and one queen. Worker honey bees are female, live for about 6 weeks and do all the work.

15. The queen bee can live up to 5 years and is the only bee that lays eggs. She is the busiest in the summer months, when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength, and lays up to 2500 eggs per day.

16. Each honey bee colony has a unique odour for members' identification.

17. The queen of hive is made, rather than born.

18. It is estimated that 1100 honey bee stings are required to be fatal.

19. During winter, honey bees feed on the honey they collected during the warmer months. They form a tight cluster in their hive to keep the queen and themselves warm.