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Honey Bee Facts

  • A honey bee is an insect that collects nectar from flowers and turns it into honey
  • There are three types of honey bees in a colony: a queen bee, female worker bees, and male drones
  • The worker bee and the queen are both female bees but only the queen reproduces/lays eggs.
  • The drones are male bees. Their only job is to mate with the queen
  • The queen's job is to lay eggs and ensure the hive's social structure (how the bees get along) is maintained by pheromones (scent that the queen releases)
  • The worker bees have many jobs including cleaning, collecting honey, pollen, water and propolis, building new comb, taking care of baby bees (called larvae), and defending the hive
  • Bees have a marvellous brain the size of a pin head. A bee can recognise land marks and retain information on nectar and pollen sources for more than a week
  • The honey bee has three basic body parts - head, abdomen and thorax
  • On the head, the honey bee has eyes, a pair of antennae, a tongue and jaws called mandibles
  • Bees use their tongue to suck water, nectar and honey
  • They use mandibles for moving pollen and shaping beeswax
  • The thorax is a middle portion of the honey bee and it contains muscles
  • The honey bee has two pairs of wings and three pairs of legs
  • On the rear legs of a honey bee are special structures and hairs that help the bee clean itself and carry pollen
  • The abdomen is the longest part of a honey bee and has most of the important organs
  • The abdomen is covered with hard segments that protect the honey bee and also help keep it from drying up
  • The honey bee sting (found only in female bees) is on the tip of the abdomen
  • A worker bee's maximum flight range is about five kilometres but most collect nectar and pollen within 800 metres of the hive
  • A honey bee flies at approximately 24 kilometers per hour
  • Insects have an exoskeleton (on the outside), while we humans have bones on the inside
  • A bee heart is a long thin tube consisting of eight chambers; five of which are very distinct. Each chamber takes in haemolymph from a small opening which closes when the abdomen pulses, which pumps the blood forward
  • A bee doesn't have blood vessels like a human; the haemolymph circulates through the whole of its body. Air is taken into the body through spiricles (little holes) along the sides of its abdomen
  • The average life of a worker bee is six weeks in summer and four to six months in winter
  • Bees use their antennae to smell. They can detect nectar two kilometres away
  • Apart from flying, bees use their wings to: evaporate surplus moisture from the nectar, ventilate the hive of stale air, cool the hive by introducing cool air and discharging warm air
  • Bees also have the ability to disconnect their wings from their flight muscles and use them to generate heat
  • Bees see in a slightly different colour range to humans
  • Many flowers have coloured ultra-violet streaks we call "nectar guides" to guide the bee to the nectar in the base of the flower
  • A female worker bee weighs about one tenth of a gram.
  • She can bring back half her weight, i.e. 0.05g, though sometimes she brings back only 0.02g.
  • To bring in a kilogramme of nectar, it is necessary for the bee to make 50,000 trips or 50,000 bees to make one trip.
  • A bee can make twenty trips a day of one kilometre return, bringing in 0.4g nectar.
  • The harvest of 1 kg of nectar thus represents more than 40,000 kilometres, i.e. more than the circumference of the Earth.
  • A bee's egg is 1.4mm long and 0.4mm wide. The egg shell (chorion) does not crack open like a hen's egg but dissolves and flakes away from the body of newly hatched larvae
  • Bees build a six sided hexagonal cell up to 5.35mm wide and 15mm long on a upward angle of 9 to 14 degrees
  • About one third of our food comes as a direct result of honey bee pollination
  • Honey bees have been around for millions of years.
  • Honey bees are the only insects that produce food that is eaten by man.
  • Honey is the only food to include all the substance necessary to sustain life.
  • Honey bees have 6 legs, 2 compound eyes (one on each side of the head, made up of thousands of tiny lenses), 3 simple eyes (on the top of the head), 2 pairs of wings, a nectar pouch and a stomach.
  • The honey bees wings stroke about 200 beats per second giving it it's destinctive buzz.
  • It takes about 30 grams of honey to fuel a bees flight around the world.
  • Bees can detect changes in air pressure.
  • If it is going to rain and air pressure drops, they stay in their hives.
  • Bees do not go out to fly if the temperature is below about 10 degrees Celsius.
  • When it is cold, they cluster in their hive to stay warm.
  • They use the honey that they make for food during the cold months when nectar is scarce.
  • Around 9,000 to 12,000 tonnes of honey are produced annually in New Zealand
  • Around $81 million worth of honey is exported each year
  • As at August 2013 there are 4242 New Zealanders that keep bees and there are 459,129 registered beehives in New Zealand
  • $5 billion of New Zealand's economy is attributable to pollination by honey bees, domestic honey sales and exports, beeswax and exported honey bees
  • There are around 9000 Bees per kilogram

Stinging Facts/Fears

We all have memories of being stung by an insect and usually think it was a bee and it is not a fond memory. As a result a lot of people are afraid of being stung again. However most people who think they have been stung by a bee will actually have been sting by a wasp. There are a lot of myths and unfounded fears surrounding bee stings. Only the female worker bees have stingers. Most bees will not attack if left alone so it is best not to swat at the bee. If a bee does sting it will sting only once, where as a wasp will sting many times.

What to do if you do get stung:

  • If you do get stung scrape the sting out as quickly as possible (use a fingernail credit card or other object).
  • Do not pull or squeeze out the sting as it may release more venom.
  • Clean with soap and water.
  • Lemon slice and Rubbing Alcohol: gently rub on sting and apply lemon slice. Pain should die down within 10min after applying lemon, deep breathing helps distract you from the sting.

To reduce the pain, itch and swelling try the following:

  • Ice - Ice lessons swelling by constricting vessels and reduces the flow of venom in the blood. The numbing effect soothes pain and itching.
  • Baking Soda - Make a baking soda paste with water and apply to the sting. The alkaline nature of the baking soda helps neutralize the acidity in the venom.
  • Vinegar - Vinegar is best for a wasp sting.
  • Toothpaste - Believe it or not, this a great remedy which works on the same alkaline/acidity premise as baking soda.

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