HAVE YOU EVER WONDERED HOW BEES MAKE HONEY?
Honey bees are one of God’s most fascinating creations. During the adult life span of a worker bee (about 45 days during the summer months) she will make countless trips to collect nectar from numerous flowers to produce approximately 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey. The worker bee extracts nectar from flowers and stores it in “honey sacks” located in the abdomen and then deposits the nectar into honeycombs located in the bee hive. The worker bee then fans the nectar with her wings to evaporate excess water. When the honey has aged wax is used to seal it in the comb.
Fast Facts
Worker bees will make over 154 trips for 1 teaspoon of honey
One hive consists of large groups of 30,000 to 60,000 bees.
To produce 1 pound of honey, bees fly a distance of more than 3 times around the entire world.
To produce 1 pound of honey, bees must visit over 2 million flowers.
A worker bee’s adult life span is approximately 45 days
Over an entire lifespan, 1 bee will make about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey
WHO’S THE QUEEN BEE?
There is only one queen bee in each colony or hive of bees (30,000 to 60,000 bees). There are three kinds of bees in each hive: workers, drones and the queen. Worker bees comprise the majority of the population in each hive. There are tens of thousand of workers, hundreds of drones, and just one queen.
Fast Facts
Queen is only bee capable of laying eggs
Queens may lay up to 2,000 eggs each day
The queen is attended by other works and never leaves the hive
Drones are the only males
They also are attended by the workers
The Drones only purpose is to mate with the queen after mating the Drone dies
Workers are all sterile females, workers are responsible for many tasks including: producing honey, feeding other bees, collecting pollen, making beeswax, & maintaining the hive.
Benefits of Honeybees
Honey bees are very beneficial to man. Not only do honey bees produce a surplus of honey which we enjoy as the oldest, and most natural and ready to eat sweetener, but also, and perhaps more importantly, they are excellent pollinators. Many of the foods we eat are directly or indirectly dependent on pollination by honey bees. The value of honey bee pollination to U.S. agriculture is more than $14 billion annually according to a Cornell University study. Crops ranging from nuts to vegetables and as diverse as alfalfa, watermelon, cantaloupe, cranberry, squash and sun flowers all require insect pollination. Pollination is important to the farmer because it means high yield, and better quality. With the amount of acres that are used for food production, farmers can't depend on feral honey bee colonies. That's why farmers rent colonies from beekeepers who maintain strong colonies. So the honey bee is a very essential part of our agricultural practice today. I heard it once said "The honey bee is the back bone of agriculture". It’s also important to know that as important as the honey bees are to us, beekeepers are finding it harder to maintain strong colonies due to the invasive pests like Varroa and Tracheal mites, and now the small hive beetles. Beekeepers are battling these problems with difficulty, and continually looking for more effective ways.
Benefits of Honey
Not only is raw honey delightfully sweet and delicious, but it also has many benefits. Raw honey actually helps to strengthen the immunity system. It is a source of anti-oxidants which helps fight against cancer. If you struggle with allergies, raw honey can be beneficial. Perhaps its because of the small amount of pollens that end up in the honey. Raw honey has characteristics in it which fights infection and helps in healing sores. That's why if you have a sore throat you can take some honey and it will sooth and help heal the sore throat. Also, by rubbing raw honey on sores and cuts, it helps and speeds the healing process. You can also use honey as a moisturizing mask for your skin as well as your hair. To use it as a conditioner, mix the honey with olive oil. Be sure though to rinse your hair thoroughly before you go out side, other wise, you might have some friendly visitors trying to reclaim their honey if there is no other nectar source available.