Amazing Facts about Honey Bees

During the first 5 minutes of a tour of Bayer CropScience's Bee Care Center, I learned two things:

1. Honey bee biology is complex.
2. Huge numbers of honey bees are required to pollinate crops and produce honey.

The queen honey bee can survive 2-3 years laying 1000-3000 eggs a day. Despite that impressive fertility, she only mates once early in her life cycle. Currently the U.S. almond agribusiness is driving pollination demand. 1.5 million bee hives are needed to pollinate almond crops in California.

Amazing Facts:

• Honey is naturally antimicrobial and never goes bad.
• One worker bee produces 1/12 teaspoon of honey in a lifetime.
• An exclusive diet of royal jelly produces a queen bee.
• Worker bees transition from one specific job to the next during their short 4-6 week life. 
• Varroa Mites are visible on a bee's back, and would be "dinner plate size" on a human.
•  By flying through the air, a bee develops a static charge which attracts pollen.
• Queen bees exude chemicals that guide the hive's behavior.
• Stinging causes the death of a honey bee (this is explained here).

Bayer CropScience's Bee Care Center in the Research Triangle Park near Raleigh and Durham, North Carolina, offers tours of their exhibit hall and pollinator research lab. In season, the handling of live hives is demonstrated. Bayer is an agricultural company producing chemicals and seeds for farmers. Their seed crops depend on honey bee pollination. The company produces products to fight plant diseases as well as treatments to neutralize the Varroa mite. This mite is a vector or carrier of 20 different diseases. The colony is weakened by the mite and is less able to meet other challenges to survival.  If you are local to the Raleigh area, the Bee Care Center is an interesting and educational tour (reservations required-see website here).

Bee Hives at NCSU Arboretum

Honey bees enjoying Crocus flowers

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