10 Fun and Interesting Facts About Honey Bees

How Much Do You Know About Bees?

For a few years, my summer job was working for a local beekeeper. I would sell and package honey and I got to witness many interesting occurrences. I was terrified of bees before I started working there. Now I have not only gotten over my fear, but I have also become fascinated by bees.

Honey bees are very important to us and are responsible for a great deal of the world's pollination. I have compiled some very interesting facts that I learned working for a beekeeper. Hopefully you'll learn something!

1. Worker honey bees are all females.

Males do not know how to even feed themselves and their only reason for being in the hive is for reproducing with the queen. The males do not have a stinger and they are kicked out of the hive in the fall because there are no uses for them.

2. Honey bees are very clean.

I'd like to think they have slight OCD (like me). They want their hive (which they made themselves, hexagon by hexagon) to be immaculately clean. If something dirties their hive, they will immediately get the offense out. The only honey bee in the hive that uses the bathroom inside the hive is the queen. She never leaves the hive, so her faithful workers get her mess right out. Bees will also make sure that when their time comes, they will die outside of the hive.

3. There is only one queen per hive.

The queen lives 2-3 years as appose to the 6-8 weeks like the workers. The queen is made, rather than born. Worker bees will feed larvae royal jelly for a certain period of time. The royal jelly is secreted through the heads of the worker bees and is fed through their antennas to the larvae. The royal jelly has so many vitamins and nutrients it will allow for the larvae to become queens. Since there can only be one queen per hive, the potential queen bees will fight to the death until there is one queen remaining.

4. Honey bees are the only insects that make honey.

Bumblebees make a honey-like substance, but it tastes nothing like the sweet honey we know and love. They also make this in very small quantities. Honey bees though make honey in surplus so beekeepers are able to take a certain amount without hurting the bees or depriving them of food.

5. Honey bees never sleep.

No wonder worker bees have such a short lifespan!

6. Honey bees are the only insects that produce something that humans eat.

It is also the only food that never goes bad! Its sugar content is too high. Edible honey was found in King Tut's tomb!

7. Honey bee colonies each have a distinct odor.

The odor allows them to identify the members. Oftentimes, beekeepers will need to assimilate colonies. A way to do that would be to place bees from each colony into a paper bag together. The paper bag should have a divider so each colony stays on its own side. Being in the container together the smells will mix and they will not be able to recognize the other bees as enemies due to their familiar odor.

8. The queen lays around 2,000 eggs per day.

She can also select the gender of the larvae. Most larvae that will be produced will be female.

9. The average honey bee produces 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.

To make one pound of honey it would take 556 workers and 2 million flowers. 50-100 flowers are pollinated during one collection trip. About one ounce of honey is all it takes to give the honey bee enough energy to fly around the world (although the farthest they usually fly away from their hive is six miles).

10. Bees are responsible for 80% of the pollination that occurs.

So, next time you're eating any fruit or vegetable, thank a honey bee!

Bees are very important to us. If honey bees made a hive near your house that you want to get rid of, please do not use pesticides! Call a local beekeeper and you can have it removed!

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Learn More About Honey Bees

• How Smart Are Honey Bees?
  Honey bees are very smart despite having tiny brains. They can learn; they have good memories, and they can communicate using a unique symbolic language.
• Honey Bee Anatomy: Hairy Eyeballs and Other Amazing Facts
  The anatomy of the European Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) is truly amazing, from its hairy eyes to its clawed feet to its barbed stinger, powerful jaws, two stomachs, 24 "knees," and more.

This content is accurate and true to the best of the author’s knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.

Comments

Santo on July 07, 2020:

Bees are very amazing useful live beings. I have TRIGONA stingless bees in my garden.

San on June 22, 2020:

I have brazilian natives bees!

Bob on May 18, 2020:

Dumbos

KOOTNAI on January 29, 2020:

i am doing a great brain and this is so helpful

Hans on January 11, 2020:

Nice article. Very interesting. I love bees, am not afraid of them because if you don't annoy them they will not sting you. And I am thankful for the delicious honey they make!

??? on October 26, 2019:

I dont really like bees but I want to say thank you for the honey

Rrrrere on June 26, 2019:

I love bees

stupid on May 31, 2019:

0w0

i love bees

nicole summers unicorn on January 14, 2019:

I don't like bees but I don't care unless they are lose to me

pavan y on December 11, 2018:

i love this website

KHLOE on May 24, 2018:

i love this website we are learning about honey bees in schhool

Logan Hanna on January 30, 2018:

I appreciate your passion for honey bees and the interesting lives they lead. However, I do have a problem with the insultingly incorrect portrayal of a very serious mental illness.

Please take the time to educate yourself on this topic with these reliable sources:

https://www.psychologytoday.com/conditions/obsessi...

https://greatist.com/live/what-is-ocd-not-a-neat-f...

hi on November 03, 2017:

why do honeybees have hair on there eye

unknown on November 02, 2017:

How do you know if bees can sting you ? Also, how can you tell if they are nice or mean.

Hi on November 02, 2017:

hey everyone

Pavan arora on September 18, 2017:

Nice

twizz on August 11, 2017:

WTF bro i already know this crap

pervaysia on April 18, 2017:

love bees when pollinate

Shabeh Cheema on April 16, 2017:

i like the question

Sadsack on December 20, 2016:

It's a trade-off. Wild bees make extra honey because they regularly have it stolen by bears, birds, mice, other insects, etc. which makes it hard to survive (the thieves also tend to eat the bees and bee eggs/larva for protein. When humans take care of them, we know to not take all the honey and not hurt the bees while doing so. (Some of the bees get squished even if you're super careful, but not in the huge numbers that get eaten in the wild.)

Beekeeping and agriculture mean that it's within humans' best interest to use our accumulated knowledge of bees to keep them alive and safe from predators and illness. Even if a new threat for which they don't have a natural defense crops up or travels in from another part of the world, humans will do all sorts of things to fix the problem and protect their bees.

So it's evolutionarily advantageous for the bees to trade excess honey for human care and protection.

saturnx311 on February 21, 2016:

I love bees. The only question I have is that, considering that a bee will only produce a 1/2 teaspoon of honey in its lifetime, what right do we humans have to then take the honey away?? What is our rationale for this?

Thank you!

monawar on July 26, 2014:

thanks for information

bhvgfyf on May 29, 2014:

why do bees lay honey

Beelicious. on April 11, 2014:

Wow. My mom LOVES bees, and I probably seem to her really "whatever" about them, but they are actually interesting. When I was little I learned to like bees and hate wasps. Wasps just keep on stinging, and living, while the sweet bee who flutters around on her little wings dies as soon as she stings. I have a huge end of 8th grade essay to prepare for and I have now chosen bees! Thank you!

Hygtfrtyhhffr on December 11, 2013:

Honey bees are interesting so I can do my spelling homework

sticky fingers on April 19, 2013:

beeee god

whonunuwho from United States on March 27, 2013: