Honey bees are seen and known as the pollinators of flowers. They are among God’s most astonishing creations because of the sweet fluid they carry inside their stomachs, which is later concentrated and turned into something extremely beneficial for the health of consumers.
Honey bees are a fantastic creation. They are cute, they’re fast, and they create their entire nest or home, whatever you might want to call in one of the most miracle-like ways. So, for those of you who are intrigued by everything these little honey carrying bags can do, this article is worth reading till the very end. We are enlisting down ten significant and astonishing facts about honey bees, read it till the end to know exactly what we are talking about.
Table of Contents
1. A Single Hive Contains More Than 50,000 Honey Bees
Ever wondered how many bees can live in a single colony? Let us answer that. The number is more than what you could’ve imagined. According to various researchers, more than 50,000 honey bees can live in a single hive. It takes a lot of effort to create those small hives, and only 40,000 or more honey bees can do it. There are different chores that bees perform and we are enlisting some of them down below.
- There is always a queen honey bee in the hive, and its servants bathe her and feed her regularly.
- Honey bees faction also consist of nurse that takes care of the younger bees
- The security of the hive is the responsibility of the guard honey bees that stand at the entrance always
- The beeswax foundation is constructed by the workers where the queen honey bees lay down and store eggs.
Astonishing, isn’t it? It looks like the hive of bees’ functions just as our homes do.
2. A Honey Bee Flies Between 15-20 Miles per Hour
Did you know that honey bees are not the fastest fliers in the world? They fly at a speed of 15-20 miles per hour. Honey bees carry a lot of fluid inside their stomachs, and they are not meant to fly long-distances. The only distance that they are capable of covering is from flower to flower. Their tiny wings have to flutter 15000-20000 per minute so that they can get to their hive after making a trip to the nearest flower.
3. Queen Honey bees Are Capable of Storing a Lifetime Supply of Sperms
A queen bee can live for more than 5-years, but her ability to procreate doesn’t last that long. Once a queen bee is born, she has to fly within a week of her emergence to mate because if she doesn’t, she will never be able to reproduce, and she will lose her ability.
But once she has a mate, she will never need to again because she stores enough supply of sperm in her spermatheca that will last for a lifetime. She can later use these sperms to fertilize here eggs and continue to reproduce whenever she wants.
4. A Honey Bee Can Lay More Than 1500 Eggs per Day
Once she has made, within 48 hours, the queen bee can lay down more than 1500 eggs. Throughout her lifetime, a queen bee lays more than 1-million eggs because, as you can see, the only that she has got to do while she lives in the hive is to rest and procreate. The workers do all the other chores, feed her, and take care of her while she reproduces generations to come.
5. Male Honey Bees
Male honey bees, also known as drones, die immediately once they have mated. Their sole purpose of existing in the world is to mate. Once that’s done, the queen bee is capable of carrying sperms all her life, so they have got no other reason to survive whatsoever. The drones can mate one week after they have emerged, just like the queen bee.
6. The Hive Maintains a Constant Temperature of 93-Degree Fahrenheit All Year Round
During the winters, once the temperature has fallen, the bees inside a hive form a tight group to keep it warm. All the workers cluster around the queen to keep her safe from all the cold bumming outside.
However, even during the summers, the workers can’t rest. As the temperature rises, they need to protect the queen from overheating, so they flutter their wings to create an air that helps as a result. Any person sitting a few feet away from the hive can hear the buzzing sound that comes from within the colony.
7. Honey Bees Help Other Plants Grow
As mentioned above, they are the super pollinators of different flowers, vegetables, and fruits available in your garden. In simple and concise words, honey bees help different vegetables and flowers grow. Different bees transfer pollen from female and male parts that allow the vegetables, fruits, and flowers to pollinate and eventually produce.
8. All the Worker Honey Bees Are Females
We don’t know you if you might have guessed it from a previous point or not, but all the worker honey bees are females as male bees do not even know how to feed themselves. The only reason male honey bees exist is that they need to help queen bees procreate. Once they do that, they die, as we have mentioned earlier. So, all the worker honey bees in the hive are females. The males also do not have a stinger, so they are kicked out of the colony once the fall begins because they are of no use.
9. Honey Bees Are Extremely Clean Species
We want to say that they sort of have OCD in this matter. The hive that bees create themselves; they want to keep it squeaky clean. It not only has to be perfect in size and shape, but it also needs to be clean enough so the queen can reside in there with all the comfort and ease.
If something ends up dirtying their hive, they will help immediately clean the mess and kick whoever made the mess out instantly. The only bee that is allowed to use the bathroom inside the hive is queen bee because she never leaves the hive.
As soon as she excretes, her workers will get the mess out instantly. Bees also make sure that when it is about time, and they’re going to die, they die outside of the hive, so it doesn’t create any mess inside.
10. Honey Is Produced Only by Honey Bees
One of the biggest reasons why we need to protect bees at all costs. Even though bumblebee produces honey as well, but it isn’t anything like the honey we have to know and love. Honey bees also produce this honey in a minimal amount per hive. They make the amount available in a surplus so that beekeepers can only take a precise and specific amount of honey from them and not starve them in the process.
11. (Bonus) Is It Honey Bee or Honeybee?
The word bee is a noun. The adjective that describes the type of bee goes before it e.g. honey bee, sweat bee, carpenter bee. Honey bees are true bees. When you go to the grocery store, it’s not the grocerystore. The same can be said for a butterfly is not a fly and butter does not describe it. You can add an adjective like the word blue to describe it and that would work.
What Do You Think?
So, these are the most astonishing and significant facts about honey bees. Some of these facts were quite surprising to us as well. We were thrilled to see how so many bees can reside under a small hive, but they are God’s creation, so they have to miraculous. We hope this article was able to shed some light on the matter, and now you know a lot more about honey bees as compared to what you knew before.
Which honey bee fact was amazing to you? Have any cool bee facts? Comment below and let us know!
