The Busy Life Of Bees

Bees, Bee Keeping & Honey Making

Bee vocabulary• Cell• Worker bee• Queen bee• Drone bee• Nectar• Beehive• Honey• Wax• Honey comb

Types of Honey bees

Worker bee

During the first two days of its life, a worker bee cleans its cell.

When they are three days old they feed the drones and larvae.

Workers have glands that produce wax. They shape the wax into the comb. During their last days in the hive they guard the entrance.

When the worker bee leaves the hive, during its travels it collects water, nectar, and pollen. A worker bee has ultraviolet vision which allows it to see patterns on flower petals which attract the workers to them.

Types of Honey bees:

Queen Bee

A queen lays all the eggs. For a queen to be born, the workers must feed

the larva royal jelly. If a new queen is born, the old queen will kill it or leave with half of the hive colony. That is a bee swarm.

She lays her own weight in eggs every day in summer, from 1,500 2,400 eggs per day.

In her lifetime, she can lay over 600,000 eggs. Queen bees can live more up to six years, but her usual lifespan in a hive is two years.

The queen is fed by the worker bees, and eats up to 80 times her weight daily.

Types of Honey bees

Drone Bee

They are the male species. The drones have big, strong wings. Their only purpose in life is to mate with the

female. They have no stinger. They make up 10% of the hive colony. They use their strong wings for the mating flight.

After the mating flight, the workers take care of the drones.

Before winter, the workers bite the wings off the drones, and kick them out of the hive since they are of no more use. They are left to die.

Communication The principle form of communication among honey

bees is through chemicals called pheromones. They also communicate by vibration

(BUZZZZZzzzz) Bees are deaf to most sounds, and they are mute. Worker bees alert other bees to nectar and pollen

sources by doing a "waggle" dance, which explains direction and distance.

If the source is within 100 meters of the hive, the bees dance is in a circular shape. If it is further away than 100 meters, they dance a figure 8.

Honey Production

The worker bees collect nectar (a sweet liquid found in flowers) from a variety of flowers. They must visit between 100 & 150 flowers in order to fill their stomachs

Honey Production

They use their long tube like tongue to suck the nectar from the flower.

Honey ProductionThe nectar then enters their “honey stomach” which is separate from their digestive stomach

Honey ProductionWhen the nectar enters the stomach the sugar from the nectar reacts with enzymes to form two simple sugars. This is an important process in the making of honey

Honey Production

The nectar is stored in the stomach until they return to the hive.

Honey ProductionWhen the bees get to the hive, they regurgitate the nectar into the cells or they pass it to other bees who put it into the cells

Honey ProductionThe next stage in the process of making honey:

all the bees fan the nectar with their wings, which creates a draft and helps the excess water to evaporate. The nectar thus becomes thicker, and the high sugar concentration prevents fermentation. The honey at this stage is called ripe honey, and if removed from the hive and properly sealed, can have a long shelf life.

Honey Production

They continue with this process until the cells are full and then they put a wax cap over the cells

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jpcpn5NX62cHow bees

make honey

Why do bees need honey?

• Bees store the honey in the hive and use it for energy

• They store it through the winter months to keep warm:– During the winter, workers and

the queen form a tight cluster and metabolize the honey to generate heat.  This keeps the bees warm and protects them from the cold.  The temperature of the winter cluster typically stays around 29 °C.  However, the colony will die if the honey supply runs short and the bees are unable to produce enough heat

Beekeeping

• A person who breeds bees for the production of honey is called a Beekeeper

• Beekeepers must wear a hooded suit with a veil to protect themselves from the bees

Harvesting honey

• Beekeepers create homemade hives to gather the honey comb

Harvesting honey

• They allow the bees to make the honey and when it’s the right time of year, the beekeepers collect the honey combs.

How do the beekeepers stay safe?

• The beekeepers wear protective clothing

• They also spray some smoke onto the hive before they collect it.

• This makes the bees eat some honey and it calms them so they are less likely to sting

Collecting the honey

• Some bee keepers check on the honey production and then place a “bee escape” over the hive. This allows the bees to leave but does not allow them to re-enter.

• After a few days the beekeeper returns to collect the honey combs and there are very few bees

Collecting the honey

• The beekeeper brings the honey comb inside

• They use a special heated knife to take off the wax honey comb

• They sometimes use a machine that spins the honey and puts it through a filter

Final Stage

• The last and final stage is to bottle the honey and eat it!

Learn how to harvest honey:

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1XRHveGgYjQ

Health Benefits• Anti-bacterial• Anti-inflammatory• burns• Leg ulcers• Stomach ulcers• Diarrhea and upset stomach• Prevents cancer and heart disease• Good for skin• Helps a sore throat• Helps with blood formation• ****babies younger than 1 year should not eat

honey!!

Bee Jokes Who is the bees favorite pop band?

-The Bee Gees

What did the bee say to the flower?-Hello honey!!

What is the favorite fairytale in the hive?-Beauty and the bees

Why did the bee go to the dermatologist?-because he had bad hives

Why did the bee cross the road?– Just bee-cause!