Bees and Beekeeping

Yes, honey is considered a natural resource as it is a product of nature produced by bees using nectar from flowers. Honey is harvested and utilized by humans for various purposes, including food and medicinal uses.

Yes, bees can have spots. The spotted nomad bee (Nomada maculata) numbers among the 700 worldwide species of nomad bees, whose presence in North America adds up to 300 species thus far. The two-spotted bumblebee (Bombus bimaculatus) serves as another example, with two yellow abdominal spots.

Stages in queen bee's life cycle:

* Open cell:

+ Egg: 3 days

+ Larva (4moults): 5 days

*Sealed cell:

+ Larva / Pro-pupa (1 moult): 2 days

+ Pupa(1 moult): 6 days

* From egg to emergence: 16 days

* After emergence:

+ Summer bee: c. 3 years

+ Winter bee: ditto

Functions of the queen:

* Day 1: On hatching, may kill sealed queens (may swarm).

* Day 3 - 5: Orientation flights.

* Week 1 - 3: Mating flights.

* Year 3 - 5:

+ Start laying 2 - 4 days after mating.

+ Produce pheromones (chemical messengers) that inform the colony of her presence and inhibits queen raising.

+ If the queen dies (or is removed) or is old, the workers can produce queen from fertilized eggs.

+ Queens are produced when the colony swarms.

If the foraging range of the honeybees is "spontaneous vegetation" (so no agricultural crops) then the bees will be collecting organic nectar. This is generally agreed to be approx 3KM/1.8miles. Also, the pest and diseases present in the beehives must be controlled with compounds that are accepted as organic, not by synthetic chemicals. The beehive can not be fed sugar as a substitute for a honey diet. The honey must not be heated at all during processing.

For more in depth information visit the blog at related links where organic honey is explained.

This is a long and amazing "work-journey" of Honey-bees (which are the only type of bees making honey).

Honey-bees get nectar by the flowers, and once their stomach is full (after visiting up to 150 flowers); this bee (called worker-bee) turns back to the nest or hive. While getting back to nest, an enzyme (produced by bees) is added to the nectar in order to break the complex plant sugar down into glucose and fructose (easily digested by the bees). When the bees are already in the nest or hive; the nectar will be delivered through their mouths and stored in the honeycomb cells; where the evaporation of moisture will start (bees will fan the nectar with their wings to speed up the drying process). After the nectar will be dried up, each worker bee will seal the upper part of each cell with a thin beeswax cap (which is the place where the honey is stored until we get it to eat).

Bees make bee cells by secreting beeswax from glands on their abdomens. They then chew and manipulate the wax using their mouths and legs to create the hexagonal shape of the cells. These cells are used to store pollen, honey, and as compartments for eggs and larvae within the hive.

Honey bees gather nectar by visiting flowers and consuming it using their proboscis. Once their honey stomach is filled, they carry the nectar back to the hive in a special pouch located inside their bodies called the honey stomach or crop.

The temperature of a bee's blood is typically around 95-97 degrees Fahrenheit (35-36 degrees Celsius). This temperature is regulated by the bee to help maintain its metabolic functions and overall health.

No, honey bees are insects that produce honey as a food source. Honey bees collect nectar from flowers and use it to make honey, which they store in their hives as a source of energy. Honey bees are not made out of honey.

Yes, honey bees can collect nectar from lilac flowers. Lilacs produce nectar and are attractive to bees due to their sweet scent and abundant pollen. Honey bees play a vital role in pollinating lilac plants while also collecting nectar to make honey.

Honey bees are not known to directly cause the death of humans. However, in rare cases, people who are allergic to bee stings can experience a severe allergic reaction called anaphylaxis, which can be life-threatening if not treated promptly.

Bumblebees eat nectar and pollen made by flowers. The sugary nectar provides the bees with energy while the pollen provides them with protein, according to The Bumblebee Conservation Trust. They make honey by chewing the pollen and mixing it with their saliva, according to Animal Diversity Web (ADW).

It is a Herbivore. It eats pollen and nectar.

During winter, honey bees form a cluster inside the hive to keep warm. They vibrate their wing muscles to generate heat and protect the queen at the center. They rely on stored honey and pollen for food during the winter when there are fewer flowers available.

Worker bees typically live for several weeks during the busy summer season when they are foraging and working diligently. However, their lifespan can increase to several months during the winter months when they are less active.

A honeybee can typically carry up to around 30% of its body weight in pollen back to the hive. This translates to roughly 15-20 milligrams of pollen per foraging trip.

There are several factors contributing to the decline of honey bee populations, including habitat loss, pesticide use, climate change, parasites, and diseases. Efforts to protect honey bees include promoting sustainable agriculture practices, reducing pesticide use, preserving bee-friendly habitats, and implementing bee health monitoring programs.

The drink- and food-processing components from the frontal exterior opening in the head, through internal parts in the middle and rear sections respectively called thorax and abdomen, to the back exterior opening known as the rectum comprise the digestive system of a honeybee. Digestion jumpstarts with the tube-like proboscis that extends outward to sip floral nectars and proceeds through the mouth to the esophagus, the honey sac, and the large and small intestines. The rectum lets out as waste products what cannot be processed or regurgitated.

Bees like honey and nectar even though they need nectar in order to produce honey. Floral nectar is rich in the sucrose that gives bees energy to fly from flower to flower and transport nectar and pollen loads back to the hive or nest. Back at the hive or nest, the bee uses the enzyme invertase to transform nectar into dextrose- and laevulose-rich solutions that we know as carbohydrate-rich honey.

Yes, honeysuckle plants are known to attract bees due to their sweet nectar. Bees are drawn to the fragrant flowers of honeysuckle and play a crucial role in their pollination process.

Amino acids, carbohydrates, enzymes, fats, minerals, nitrogen compounds, organic acids, proteins and vitamins are the nutrients that honeybees seek and sustain. Amino acids, fats, minerals and vitamins come from pollen. The bee enzyme invertase will convert sucrose-rich floral nectars into dextrose- and laevulose-rich solutions that become carbohydrate-rich honey.

Firstly, both the queen and the workers are female. Only the drones are male.

The queen is larger than the workers. She has been fertilized and is carrying sperm in order to fertilize eggs as she lays them (up to 2,000 eggs a day).

Workers, although female, cannot lay eggs if there is a queen in the hive. Should the queen die, workers can start to lay eggs, but as they have not been fertilized these eggs can only develop into drones, so unless there is a developing queen cell the colony will eventually die out when there are insufficient workers to maintain the hive.

A queen never leaves the hive other than to mate, or in a swarm, so she does not collect food. In fact, the workers have to feed her and take care of all her needs.

They are both fed as grubs by the nurse bees tending the brood. There is no concept of first or second.

Bees in a hive have specific roles and a social structure that allows them to work together efficiently. The queen bee lays eggs, worker bees collect food, care for the young, and defend the hive, while male bees mate with the queen. Bees communicate through pheromones and dances to coordinate their behavior and maintain harmony within the hive. Additionally, bees build combs in specific hexagonal shapes to maximize space utilization.

One of the weirdest honey bee problems is "zombees," where honey bees are infected by a parasitic fly that manipulates their behavior, causing them to leave their hives at night and die. This phenomenon is known as "Zombee Syndrome."