Don’t Step on a Bee Day 2020: Types of honey-making insects in hive, bee facts you must know

Honey bees are often known as insects that collect pollen and nectar as food for the entire colony, and as they do, they pollinate plants. Do you know there’s a special day to preserve and protect these insects? Don’t Step on a Bee Day is observed on July 10 annually. The day has been marked as a reminder that with bee amounts in certain nations getting cut in half within the last decade without any apparent cause, people must be certain to maintain bee populations, pollination, and honey production.

Types of honey bees in a hive:

There are generally three types of bees in a hive- worker, queen, and drone.

Queen Bee:

This female member is responsible for the production. Egg-laying begins in early spring, initiated when the first fresh pollen is brought home by the workers. the queen could lay as many as 2000 eggs each day. A queen bee can live for up to five years, but her period of usefulness rarely exceeds two or three years. Younger queens produce many more eggs, and older ones may produce excessive drones.

Worker Bee:

All workers are female, and normally incapable of reproduction. They are unable to mate however, workers may begin to lay unfertilized eggs, which develop into drones. These bees defend the hive against intruders and maintain optimal conditions by heating, cooling, and ventilating the hive.

Drone Bee:

The male honey bees possess large distinctive eyes that meet on the top of their heads, and have antennae slightly longer than the workers or queen. Their day is typically divided between periods of eating and resting, and patrolling mating sites known as drone congregation areas.

Facts about honey bees:

• Bees have to fly over 55,000 miles to make 1 lb. of honey.
• Honey bees never sleep! No wonder worker bees have such a short lifespan!
• To make one pound of honey it would take 556 workers and 2 million flowers. 50-100 flowers are pollinated during one collection trip.
• If the queen bee dies, workers will create a new queen by selecting a young larva (the newly hatched baby insects) and feeding it a special food called “royal jelly“.
• The average worker bee lives for just five to six weeks. During this time, she’ll produce around a twelfth of a teaspoon of honey.
• Honey bees are also brilliant boogiers! To share information about the best food sources, they perform their ‘waggle dance’.