Fun Facts
Does honey spoil?
No, it never spoils. Honey found in the ancient Egyptian tombs is still edible.
What is the oldest profession
Beekeeping! A 8,000 year old cave painting in Spain depicts a person removing honey from a hive! In Turkey, 9,000 year old pottery was discovered waterproofed with beeswax!
How much honey will 1 bee produce from its lifetime of work?
1/12 of a teaspoon!
What is the “buzzing“ noise that bees make?
That is the sound of their wings which flap 190 times a second (that’s 11,400 times a minute!).
How do bees survive the cold winter?
They huddle together in a cluster to stay warm.
What did Cleopatra put on her face daily to enhance her beauty?
Honey! Honey attracts and retains moisture.
Is honey known to make you smarter?
Yes! Honey is he only food that has pinocembrin, an antioxidant associated with improved brain function.
What is mead?
Mead is the name of a wine fermented with honey.
How many different types of enzymes does honey have?
Over 5,000!
What did Albert Einstein supposedly say about honey bees?
If the bee disappeared of the face of the Earth, man would only have four years to live.
How do bees bring pollen back to the hive?
They bring it back in the pollen baskets found on their hind legs.
What color are bees not able to see?
RED! Bees see red as pitch black.
How long have bees existed?
Bees have existed for 130 million years!
At what temperature does beeswax melt?
148 DegreesHow big is a bee's brain?
The size of a sesame seed!
What are the only insects that produce food eaten by humans?
Honey bees!
What is royal jelly?
Royal jelly is a white creamy substance fed to a future queen bee!
What substances are in honey?
Sugars, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants.
How many queen bees are in a hive and what do they do?
There is only one queen in the colony, and the hive’s world revolves around her. If the queen is excellent, it will reflect throughout the colony and a poor queen results in a weak hive. If a hive is irritable and overly defensive, guess who’s at fault? The queen! A beekeeper can simply remove the queen and introduce a more temperate one to the hive to solve the problem. Each colony will only have one queen bee, since they will not share their dominion with another.
What is a drone and what do they do for the hive?
Drones are the only males in the colony. They are easily recognizable since they are much bigger than the workers and have large eyes. The Drones do not do any work… at all! (Bee boys are lazy bums!) They will mate a virgin queen if they happen to find one, but other than that, they simply eat the hive’s honey and lounge around. (That is, until the workers kick the drones out of hive before winter!)
Are worker bees boys or girls and what do they do for the hive?
The vast majority of bees in a hive are worker bees. Workers are all female and have an incredible work ethic! As a young bee grows, its roles change. The youngest bees begin with hive cleaning duties, graduating to brood nursing assignments as they grow older. Senior bees perform guard duty and are lastly granted the honor of foraging. The bees that you see on flowers are the oldest and most seasoned bees.