BEE FACTS

• The scientific name for the honeybee is Apis Mellifera

• Bees are vital pollinators

• Our bees help pollinate many crops including apples, raspberries, blueberries, plums, pumpkins and more

• An estimated 75% of flowering plants depend on pollinators such as bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds

• There are five products produced by a hive: honey, beeswax, pollen, propolis and royal jelly

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

• Bees go through four life stages: egg, larvae, pupae, and adult

• Bees have five eyes

• Bees have two stomachs- one is used to store what they have eaten and the other is used to store nectar to bring back to the hive

• A strong active beehive usually has between 50,000 and 60,000 bees in the summer months

• Bees communicate using scent pheromones and by doing a dance that tells the other bees where to find food - this is often called the "waggle dance"

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THE QUEEN BEE

• There is only one queen bee in each hive

• A healthy queen can live between three and five years

• The queen is the only bee that lays eggs (normally)

• She will lay around 1,500 eggs per day - there are many factors that influence this number including temperature, season, population and available food stores

• Worker bees feed the queen a substance called royal jelly

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WORKER BEES

• Worker bees are always female

• They live, on average, about six weeks

• They have stingers

• If a worker bee uses her stinger, she will die

• Worker bees do all the work around the hive including cleaning, guarding, taking care of the queen, taking care of brood, storing pollen, nectar and honey, building honeycomb, and more

• Workers gather nectar and pollen

• They collect and carry pollen on their back legs to bring back to the hive

• A worker bee will visit between 50 and 100 flowers in a collection trip

• Pollen is used to feed baby bees

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DRONE BEES

• Drones are always male

• Drones do not have a stinger

• They are slightly larger than worker bees

• They have rounder, fuller abdomens and have very large eyes in comparison to a worker

• A drone's primary job is to mate with the queen

• Drones die after mating with the queen

• In the winter, the worker bees push the drones out of the hive - they are not as important as the workers and therefore the colony does not want to waste their honey stores on them

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HONEY

• A single bee produces about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime

• Bees produce honey by adding enzymes evaporating the water from nectar collected from flowers. They do this by flapping their wings, which has a drying "fan" effect

• The flavor of honey is entirely dependent on which flowers the bees visited to create it

• If properly stored, honey will never spoil

• When honey crystallizes, it can be restored to a liquid by gently heating it

• Honey has been found to have immense health benefits, including having antibacterial properties

• Honey should not be given to infants because their bodies are not capable of processing potential bacteria that is naturally present in honey- this can lead to infant botulism

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THE BEES ARE DYING-HOW CAN I HELP?

• Do not use pesticides/insecticides in your garden or around your home; if it will kill an ant it will kill a bee. This also applies to spraying for mosquitos

• Do not use weed killers that contain glysophate or similar chemicals - you can make your own weed killer by simply mixing 1 gallon of white vinegar, 1 cup of regular table salt, and 1 tablespoon of dish washing liquid

• Ensure that the flowers and plants you purchase from big-box stores have not been treated with neonicotonoids- some stores will label, some do not. Neonicotonoids have been identified as harmful to bees and have been banned throughout Europe

• Plant flowers that the bees like: aster, lemon balm, sage, lavender, verbena, zinnias, milkweed, etc.