What Are Honey Bees?

Honeybees (Apis mellifera) are social insects that vary in colour, usually from a yellow-brown to a dark brown, depending on the type. They are about 12.5 mm long with a hairy body. Honeybees feed on flower nectar and also collect pollen to feed their larvae.

Fun Fact

• Bees are classified as insects and they have six legs.
• Bees have five eyes - two compound eyes and three tiny ocelli eyes.
• Bees go through four stages of development: Egg, Larvae, Pupae and Adult Bee.
• There are three types of bee in a honey bee hive…The Queen (1), the Worker (Female) and Drone (Male).
• Females do all the work in the hive, and make up 95% of total population.
• Drones cannot sting. Workers (Females) perish after a sting.
• Bees are the only insect in the world that make food that humans can eat.
• That a 1 pound jar of honey requires 1200 bees to fly almost 200,000km to visit 4.5million flowers!
• A single beehive can make more than 100 pounds (45 kg) of extra honey. The beekeeper only harvests the extra honey made by the bees
• Honey has natural preservatives and bacteria can't grow in it.
• Honey was found in the tombs in Egypt and it was still edible! Bees have been here around 30 million years.
• A honeybee can fly 24 km in an hour. Its wings beat 200 times per second or 12,000 beats per minute.
• Honey comes in different colours and flavours and its the flower where the nectar was gathered from that determines the flavour and colour of the honey.
Read More