Bee Facts

 
A question from someone in the community is answered: "What would you tell people who think that as soon as they see a bee, it's automatically going to sting them?" Here you go Courtney!
What is this "nectar flow" I keep referring to? Watch this video as I explain.
 

Where are the ladies getting this orange pollen? Give us your best guess here

 
 

Bees are like people, the bigger you look, the quicker you get your point across.

 

Swarming behavior is a really natural way for bees to spread out over an area when their home becomes too confined.  

 

"Drone bees live with one purpose in mind: mating with a queen. When they’re lucky enough to achieve it, it only lasts a few seconds, and they die immediately afterward, because their penis and abdominal tissues are violently ripped from the body as part of the process." ~www.smithsonianmagazine.com

Terminology

  • Brood - the term used for all immature stages of bees: eggs, larvae and pupae
  • Capped Brood - pupae whose cells have been sealed as a cover during their nonfeeding pupal period.
  • Carnolian - dark-colored race of bees from Europe, which are very gentle
  • Colony - a group of bees and developing brood living together including the hive they are in.
  • Drone - the male honey bee.
  • Drone comb - comb measuring about four cells per inch (2.5 com) in which the queen lays unfertilized eggs that become drones.
  • Guard Bees - after bees have been house bees, but before they become foragers, many spend time as guard bees: stationed at the front door or other entrance, checking incoming bees to make sure they belong to their hive.
  • Hive - a man-made home for bees
  • Hive Tool - a metal tool used to open hives, pry frames apart, and remove was and propolis.
  • Marked Queen - Some queen producers sell queens that they mark with a spot of paint on the top surface of the thorax (the middle of three chief divisions of an insect's body).  This makes the queen much easier to find, and indicates whether the queen you have found is the one you introduced or a new queen.
  • Nuc or Nucleus (plural, nuclei) - a small, two- to five-frame hive used primarily for starting new colonies.
  • Package Bees - screened shipping cage containing three pounds of bees, usually a queen, and food.
  • Pheromone - a chemical secreted by one bee that stimulates behavior in another bee.  The best known bee pheromone is queen substance secreted by queens that regulate many behaviors in the hive.
  • Pollen - the male reproductive cells produced by flowers, used by honey bees as their source of protein.
  • Queen Cell - a special elongated cell, in which the queen is reared. Usually an inch (2.5 cm) or more long, has an inside diameter of about 1/3 inch (0.8 cm), and hangs down from the comb in a vertical position, either between frames or from the bottom of a frame.
  • Supersedure - a natural or emergency replacement of an established queen by a daughter in the same hive.