OneEarWillie Honey

• A healthy  hive can contain over 70,000 honey bees​.

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• Most honey bees are female worker bees.   They are responsible for all of the work for the entire hive.  Including:

  • nursing newly hatched young developing bees (larvae)

  • tending to the queen

  • building comb made from wax secreted from their bodies

  • cleaning and preparing the comb for honey storage​ or egg laying

  • storing, preparing, and preserving honey (made from plant nectar)

  • maintaining temperature (a steady 92°F year-round) by:

    • fanning with their wings (to cool)

    • vibrating their bodies (to warm)

  • foraging for food, such as nectar and pollen

  • guarding and defending the hive from invasion by other bees or hungry predators

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• Whenever a worker bee stings... she DIES.

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• A worker bee can live for about  5 to 6 weeks and she NEVER sleeps.

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• Each hive has only ONE queen, whose only job is to lay eggs... up to 2000 a day!

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• A queen bee can live for up to 5 years.  Beekeepers typically replace queens after 3 years.

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• In a hive there are never more than a few male bees... called drones.  A drone's only responsibility is mating with queens from OTHER hives.

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• Only strong hives produce drones... and in the winter (when resources are scarce), the workers push the drones  out of the hive... where they eventually die.

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