Bee-lieve It or Not, It’s True!

Agriculture depends greatly on the honeybee for pollination.

Honeybees account for 80% of all insect pollination. Without such pollination, we would see a significant decrease in the yield of fruits and vegetables.

  • The practice of honey collection and beekeeping dates back to the stone-age, as evidenced by cave paintings.
  • Common honey varieties in the United States include alfalfa, clover, buckwheat, orange blossom, and sage.
  • Honey is sweeter tasting than most other sweeteners. Thus, you may use less honey than other sweeteners called for in some recipes.
  • Cleopatra of Egypt regularly took honey and milk baths to maintain her youthful appearance.
  • Because of the multitude of floral sources from which honey originates, no two honeys are exactly alike in flavor, color, and nutritional content.
  • The complex mix of sugars in honey provides an energy boost, but enters the bloodstream more slowly to provide a lasting source of energy.
  • Honey bees are the only insects that make food for human consumption.
  • A honey bee flaps her wings more than 11,000 times per minute.
  • In her lifetime, a worker honey bee will make just 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey – it will be good.
  • Honey is a naturally fat-free energy source.
  • Honey bees are social insects, with a marked division of labor between the various types of bees in the colony. A colony includes one queen, 300-3000 drones (males), and 50,000- 60,000 workers (female) – it is good to be queen.
  • The queen bee is the only sexually developed female in the hive. After emerging from her cell, she will mate with approximately 18 drone (male) bees which will last her entire life span of nearly two years. A productive queen can lay 3,000 egg in a single day.
  • Drones have no stingers. They do not collect food or pollen and their sole purpose is to mate with the queen. In fact, if the colony is short on food, the drones are the first to get kicked out of the hive!
  • The worker bees are sexually undeveloped females. Their life expectancy is approximately 28-35 days… The workers feed the queen and larvae, collect nectar, guard the hive entrance, and help to keep the hive cool by fanning their wings.