Honey Bees

Honey bees help pollinate some of our foods. The overall bee population health has been declining in recent years. Without honey bees we will not be able to grow many crops.

Some people have devoted a whole section of their gardens for honey bees to feed by planting lavender, sunflowers, goldenrod, thyme, and marigolds.

Beehives house 10,000 to 100,000 honey bees at a time. I would go poking a bee's nest unless I wanted to get sting. That is alot of bees in one place. getting stung that many times, even if you are not allergic is deadly.

80% of crops are pollinated by honey bees. While butterflies, hummingbirds, and moths account for the other 20%. Honey bees play an important role in the food chain. Without them, humans and animals would have hard time surviving.

Here are a few Honey bee facts :

1. Honeybees are known to produce honey.
2. A queen honey  bee can produce up to 2,000 eggs a day.
3. Larvae are fed pollen and honey for three weeks before they reach adulthood.
4. Drone honey bees (males) serve only to mate with the queen. Shortly, afterwards dies.
5. It takes a swarm to locate a new nesting site in 24 hours.
6. Honey bees are found world wide.
7. Worker honey bees lives last six weeks. Where they forage for food till their death.
8. A queen honeybee will live anywhere from two - five years. Average is three.
9. Honey bees get mistaken for wasps alot. However they are not wasp nor in the wasp family.
10. Honeybees are not native to the USA. They were imported with the early settlers of North America, with European origin.

My grandmother was allergic to honey bees. My older sister is allergic to honey bees. Both has to avoid honey bees at all cost and make sure to have a kit in case either one were stung. As one sting could kill them, if they are not treated quickly. My sister is also allergic to the pollen the honey bees collect. Pollen is the food the honey bees collect to eat.

Do you know someone who is allergic to honey bees?

Note : Click on photos to enlarge them.

Photos from Pixabay.com a free use photo website.