Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Facts About Bees That You Should know

By Alan Stables


Some facts about bees can be completely amazing. We have put a list of such facts that will help you discover these insects. You will see that these creatures, who have been serving the needs of mankind for a very long time, have a very unique way of living.

First, you need to know that a bee colony can count up to 60,000 bees during peak periods. The good news is, there is a lot of work to accomplish in the colony, such as honey production. During its lifetime, a single bee can produce approximately 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey. This requires a lot of travel from one flower to another. Bees are made for these short trips and can fly as fast as 15 miles per hour.

The queen bee, which lives for about 3-4years, plays a major role in the colony. To keep her ability to mate, she has to mate within the first 20 days of her life. She can then store a lifetime supply of sperm in her theca, which she uses to fertilize eggs.

The queen bee's single role is to lay eggs. This is why the worker bees are responsible for all her grooming and feeding needs. The queen bee can produce on a daily basis an astounding 1,500 eggs. This means laying out 1 million eggs during her entire life.

Bees use the most complex symbolic language in the animal kingdom. The drone bees have only one purpose that is to provide the sperm to the queen. Drone bee is the only male bee and it dies immediately after mating with the queen. They can mate about a week after emerging from their cells.

When the outside temperature climbs, the worker bees will control the temperature by fanning their wings inside the hive. This prevents the queen from overheating. The fanning also creates the typical humming sound that we hear when close to a hive. If the temperature goes down, the bees will form a tight group with the queen at the center to preserve their temperature. They will control the temperature like this throughout the year to maintain the hive at 93 degrees Fahrenheit.

The young worker bees are responsible for producing beeswax. This is done using special glands on their abdomen. The bee workers then use the beeswax to build the honeycomb.

The worker bee has eight paired glands on the underside of the abdomen which produces wax droplets. These wax droplets harden into flakes when exposed to air. A worker bee visits up to 2000 flowers per day to carry pollen from one flower to another. These are few facts about bees.




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