Beekeeping Fun Facts & Trivia!

We found some of these facts from our very favorite (though becoming dated) beekeeping book: The Beekeeper's Handbook, by Diana Sammataro and Alphonse Avitabile.

• The honey bee is the state insect for a number of states:

  1973: Arkansas, North Carolina	1980: Mississippi
  1974: New Jersey ("state bug")	1983: Utah
  1975: Georgia, Maine, Nebraska	1985: Missouri
  1976: Kansas	1990: Tennessee "official agricultural insect"
  1977: Louisiana, Vermont, Wisconsin	1992: Oklahoma
  1978: South Dakota	2002: West Virginia
• Forage range: 2-mile radius (8000 acres) - maximum 5-8 mile radius
• Average worker bee lifetime flight mileage: 500 miles
• Number of flowers visited per bee per load of pollen: 50 to 350
• Number of pollen grains on a pollinating bee: 250,000 to 6,000,000 (flower dependent)
• Lethal dose of venom: approximately 10 bee stings per pound of body weight
• Amount of honey produced per hive per year: up to 400 pounds
  Amount of honey in excess that a beekeeper can claim per hive per year: 0 to 200 pounds (averaging 50-80 pounds). The rest is for the bees.
• Pounds of honey per gallon: 12
• Honey bee development times (in days) from Wikipedia's Honey Bee Brood article:

  	Days in state
  Type	Egg	Larva	Cell capped	Pupa	Developmental Period Total	Start of Fertility
  Queen	3 (fert.)	5.5	7.5	the last 8	16 total	approx. 23rd day
  Worker	3 (fert.)	6	9	the last 12	21 total	n/a
  Drone	3 (unfert.)	6.5	10	the last 14.5	24 total	approx. 38rd day

• Worker's first flight: 10-14 days old
• Queen's mating flight: 7-10 days old
• Consumption of honey per pound of beeswax produced: 17-20 pounds (though I have heard 8lbs from another source)
• Eggs laid per queen per day: up to 2000 at the height of summer
• Maximum flight speed of a worker bee: 15 mph
• Wing frequency of a flying honey bee: approx. 250hz (roughly a B ironically)
• Honey produced per worker in its lifetime: 1/12th of a teaspoon
• One pound of honey: 2 million flowers, and 55,000 miles of flight
• Two very important imports introduced by the Jamestown colony: honey bees and earthworms

The honey seeking Man of Bicorp,
Arafla Cave at Bicorp
near Valencia, Bodyin.
6000BCE to 10,000BCE.
• Number of eyes on a honey bee: 5 (3 are primitive light-sensors only)
• Visible color band that bees cannot see: red
  Color that red looks like to a bee: shades of black
• Colors that particularly stimulate aggressive behavior in a honey bee: brown and black (and therefore, red)
• Number times a single honey bee can sting you: once and then she dies
• Number times a single wasp can sting you: numerous (it does not die in the process)
• Commercial value of the US crops dependent upon honey bees: $14.6 billion (as of 2000). (NOTE: we believe this number only applies to direct food costs, not seed or indirect food costs, like cattle).
• Mankind has been collecting honey for at least 10,000 years and probably his entire existence, and has been keeping or managing honey bees for at least 6500 years (around the time the Egyptian pyramids first began to be built.
• Honey contains: sugars, vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and antioxidants
• Shelf life of honey: no expiration. Honey never spoils if stored away from moisture.
• Our favorite honey varietals: Tulip Poplar and Sourwood
• Number of beekeepers in the US: appr. 200,000 (roughly 95% to 98% are hobbyists)
• Honey bee eusocial evolution may have experienced more selective pressure at the colony level than at the individual level: article
• Methods of communication:
  • pheromones (gladular scents and smells) - the predominant communication methodology in and outside of the hive
  • vibration (wing buzzing)
  • taste (by sharing nectar and pollen)
  • dance - honey bees are one of the few animals that can communicate using a symbolic language. More information: part 1, part 2