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Bee Ware

Of The

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Fun Facts About Honeybees

Bees pollinate 80% of the world’s plants including 90 different food crops.
1 out of every 3 or 4 bites of food you eat is thanks to bees.
The honey bee is responsible for $15 billion in U.S. agricultural crops each year.
Honey is the only food that does not spoil (bacteria can’t grow in it, and because of it’s low moisture content and low pH – honey can last indefinitely).
Bees maintain a temperature of 92-93 degrees fahrenheit in their central brood nest regardless of whether the outside temperature is 110 or -40 degrees.
The honey bee is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.

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More Fun Facts About Honeybees

Bees fly a few tenths of a mile up to 6 miles to gather nectar.
Bees leave the hive 15 times per day and visit around 100 flowers each time – that’s 1,500 flowers a day!
Bees can collect up to 4-5 pounds of nectar each day.
4 pounds of nectar = 1 pound of honey
8 pounds of nectar = 1 pound of beeswax
1 lb of honey = visiting two million flowers and flying 55,000 miles.
The average worker bee produces about 1/12th tsp of honey in her lifetime.
The 6 sided hex shape of honeycomb is the strongest shape per material weight.
Bees can not see the color red (it looks green to them), but they can detect ultraviolet reflectance.
Americans consume about 1.31 pounds of honey per person annually

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Threats to the Bees

CCD (Colony Collapse Disorder): Over the last 3 years, more than 1 in 3 honeybee colonies has died nationwide. After WWII there were 5 million honeybee colonies… now there are only half that many (2.5 million).
Pests: Threats to the bee are Wax Moths, Varroa Mites, Tracheal Mites, American Foulbrood, Colony Collapse Disorder.
Fear: “The most common concern about honeybees is bee stings. Honeybees are not aggressive by nature and are unlikely to sting. Only 0.4% of Americans report an allergy to insect stings in the U.S., and almost none of these are caused by honeybees. In addition, less than 1% of the US population is at risk of systemic reaction to stings by honeybees. Severe reactions from the sting of any one insect in a year are 1 in 5,555,556. The chance that someone will be hit by a car is 59.3% higher.” (JustFood.org)

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Plants Loved by Honeybees

Native and old-fashioned “heirloom” varieties
Borage, sage, mint, thyme, lavender (and most other herbs too)
Butterfly bush, daisies, honeysuckle, sunflowers, blackberries, raspberries
Pears, peaches, apricots, apples
Maples, willows, poplars, locusts

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Queen - an adult, mated female (gyne) that lives in a honey bee colony or hive; she is usually the mother of most, if not all, of the bees in the beehive.^[1] Queens developed from larvae selected by worker bees and specially fed in order to become sexually mature. There is normally only one adult, mated queen in a hive, in which case the bees will usually follow and fiercely protect her.

Drones - Male bees stay in the hive. Drones do not have stingers and gather neither nectar nor pollen. A drone's primary role is to mate with protect an unfertilized queen.

Worker Bees- Female bees. The worker bees leave the hive everyday to collect pollen.

Who Lives in the Hive?

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We All Need Bees To Survive!

So...what can we do to help save the Honey Bees?

Plant bee-friendly flowers like thyme, bee balm, borage, mint, poppies or sunflowers
Use organic weed killers such as vinegar. Pesticides kill beneficial plants and bugs, and they pollute the soil.
Don’t disturb nests.

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Honeybees are disappearing at astonishing rates. Not to be a **buzzkill**, but here’s a not-so-fun fact. In the past decade, the US honeybee population has been decreasing at an alarming and unprecedented rate. Bee mortality rates in commercial production have more than doubled in the last decade, and in 2015, 40% of bee colonies were reported lost in just a single year. There are a variety of factors causing Colony Collapse Disorder, and scientists everywhere are working to prevent further loss of bees. Keep reading to see how you can help.

[Source: The case of the vanishing honeybees.]

Teded

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How Do Bees Make Honey?

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Meet The BeeKeepers at the NYPD

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8 Ways to Kill Weeds Naturally

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Health Benefits to Eating Raw Honey (Unpasteurized)

It contains antioxidants and phytonutrients that protect your body’s cells from damage as you age.
It contains B vitamins and folate, which your body needs to function properly.
It serves as a natural cough suppressant and can help soothe a sore throat.
Raw honey is said to help reduce seasonal allergies.

Bees use pollen from the same flowers and trees that make you sneeze and sniffle in the spring and fall. When you eat honey produced by local bees, you’re eating some of the allergens that make your eyes water and your nose run. Over time, your body builds up immunity to these allergens so your seasonal allergies won’t be as severe.

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