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Fun facts about honeybees
Honeybees don’t just provide humans with delicious honey, they also pollinate and help produce many of the foods we enjoy, such as apples, cherries, pears, avocados, almonds, and more. In fact, honeybees pollinate nearly 80% of the foods we eat. Thus, without these hard workers, we would not have access to many of our favorite foods.
Here are some more fun facts about honeybee lifespan and honey production:
Worker bees live an average of six to eight weeks, drones live an average of eight weeks (but the select few who get the opportunity to mate will die immediately afterward), and queen bees have a lifespan of 2-3 years.
Each worker bee produces around 1/12 teaspoon of honey, and an entire colony can produce 30 to 50 kiloss of honey per year.
Honeybees fly at a rate of 18 miles per hour and, on average, visit 50 to 100 flowers during one collection flight.
A colony’s bees must fly an average of 88,500 miles to produce a single pound of honey.
Honey is food for bees, and small colonies require around 16 kilograms of honey to survive a winter (larger colonies require more).
Honeybees do not hibernate: they cluster together and shiver in the hive to try to keep the queen and the temperature at the center of the cluster at around 35°C. The average cluster temperature is 27°C.
Healthy bees do not poop in the hive (ever!), even in the winter. They can hold it for weeks! Once the air temperature goes above 7°C, they will take short cleansing flights to relieve themselves, then quickly return to the hive. If their body temperature falls too low, they can become paralyzed and die.
Threats to the honeybee population and how you can help
“Save the bees!” I’ve seen and heard this war cry many times, in addition to hearing that the bee population has been dwindling for years, but it never quite clicked with me before now.
The bee population is suffering great losses as a result of Varroa destructor mites, Nosema gut parasites, pesticide poisoning, poor nutrition, and deforestation as well as other habitat changes. Beekeepers across the nation have faced this issue head-on by improving hive conditions. Testing and treating for mites and parasites, as well as feeding nutritional supplements, can give a colony a better chance at survival. Changes like these led to a 3% increase in honeybee colonies from 2022 to 2025. This shows that we can tip the scales and help the honeybee population in our own, individual ways. Are you convinced yet that honeybees are not just small stinging machines, but valuable hard-working producers? Are you curious enough to learn more about how you can help by becoming a beekeeper?
There is a lot more to learn, but, personally, I’ve always been ready to take on the challenge.
I hope you’ll join me each month as I recall the ups and downs along my journey as a beginner beekeeper.
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