“If the bee disappears from the surface of the earth, man would have no more than four years to live”.- Albert Einstein.
I thought I would share a few honey bee facts that help folks realize how amazing these little critters really are….
JUST THE FACTS
1. Honey Bees are the only insect that produces food eaten by humans.
2. Honey is the original “super-food”. It’s the only food that includes enzymes, vitamins, minerals, water, and pinocembrin (an antioxidant associated with improved brain function).
3. Honey Bees’ wings beat 200 times per second and they can fly at 15 miles per hour.
4. Each worker produces approximately 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in their lifetime.
5. Foraging bees fly 55,000 miles to product one pound of honey.
6. They are fuel efficient. It would take approximately 1 ounce of honey to fuel a bee’s flight around the world one time.
7. A single honey bee visits 50-100 flowers on each trip out.
8. A colony of bees consists of 15,000 to 70,000 bees.
This little lady with the yellow dot is the queen!
9. Worker bees live for only 6 weeks in the summer months as they literally work themselves to death.
10. Queen bees can live 4-5 years, but are most productive in their first 1-2 years.
11. A queen bee can lay up to 1500 eggs per day and she determines if she lays a fertilized egg (female worker bees) or an unfertilized egg (male done bee).
12. Drones (male bees) die after mating. L
13. Honey bees are not aggressive by nature, but getting stung does hurt. But, it would take 1100 stings to be fatal.
I don't suggest you try this, but this guy was not harmed by these gentle creatures!
14. Honey bee account for over 70% of all crop pollination.
~ Bobby