that the first honey bees (apis mellifera) came to Australia on the convict ship Isabella in 1822? that it takes 500 bees one month to make one kilogram of honey? So while a healthy hive can be home for 40000 to 50000 bees, 25+ kilograms of honey (one full honey box or super) can be produced in a week in favourable conditions in every colony there are three castes of bees? There are thousands of workers (females), hundreds of drones (males) and one queen. that a queen can lay up to 1500 eggs a day? bees have two different types of eyes? They have two large compound eyes made up of thousands of tiny eyes. Bees also have three very small simple eyes at the front of their head. that bees can only see in 3D when they are flying? bees communicate through dances? When bees leave the hive to forage they are not making random flights. Each morning a group of forager (adult) bees called scouts leave the hive to search for nectar and pollen. On returning to the hive, the scouts dance to advise the colony where the food sources are located. At least two dances have been identified, the round dance and the waggle dance. Bees also communicate using chemicals called pheromones and by vibrations. that there is such a thing as a bee space? This is the critical space (9mm) where bees won’t build burr comb/wax (if it’s larger than 10mm) or make propolis to fill the gap (if it’s less than 6mm). This discovery was made by Reverend Lorenzo Langstroth in the United States in 1851. All beehives used in Australia today are designed using his measurements. nearly all flowering plants need to be pollinated to develop properly? bees are important pollinators of at least one third of all the food we eat? honey found in the ancient Egyptian pyramids could still be eaten after 2000 years?
Acknowledgements Much but not all of the information recorded here has been taken from: Honey: The story of producing honey in Australia the Workboot Series (Catriona Nicholls);A Dictionary of Scientific and Practical Beekeeping (Robert B. Gulliford); Landline ABC TV May 1 2005 (Joanne Shoebridge);Bees, Beekeepers, Honey, Pollination – Queensland Beekeepers Association (Marion Weatherhead)
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