Fast Facts About Honey Bees
- A colony can contain up to 60,000 bees.
- A worker bee produces about one-twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
- Queen honey bees store a lifetime supply of sperm.
- A queen honey bee can lay over 2,000 eggs a day.
- Honey bees use complex symbolic language.
- Instead of sleeping, honey bees lie motionless at night to conserve energy for the next day’s activities.
- Honey bees beat their wings 200 times per second, creating their trademark “buzz.”
- Bees have been kept for over 4,500 years, going back to ancient times, as seen in cave paintings.
- In ancient Egypt, honey was used as a sweetener for royalty.
- Worker bees are all female and are the only members of the colony to have stingers.
- Honey bees are the only type of bee that dies after stinging.
- There are no sick days for honey bees.
- A hexagonal shape of a honeycomb cell is the most optimal shape for the beehive.
- Only female honey bees can sting.
- Honey bees can fly between 15-20 miles per hour.