About Honey Bees

• Bees have 5 eyes

• Bees fly about 20 mph

• Bees are insects, so they have 6 legs

• Male bees in the hive are called drones

• Female bees in the hive (except the queen) are called worker bees

• Losing its stinger will cause a bee to die

• Bees are 30 million years old!

• Bees carry pollen on their hind legs called a pollen basket or corbicula

• An average beehive can hold around 50,000 bees

• Foragers must collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey.

• The average forager makes about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.

• Average per capita honey consumption in the US is 1.3 pounds.

• Bees have 2 pairs of wings.

• The principal form of communication among honey bees is through the release of a chemical called pheromones.

• Bees are important because they pollinate approximately 130 agricultural crops in the US including fruit, fiber, nut, and vegetable crops. Bee pollination adds approximately 14 billion dollars annually to improved crop yield and quality.