Bee Facts

Did you know that there are three types of bees in a hive?

Queen Bees

• Only one queen per hive
• will lay ~ 1,500 eggs per day
• The queen bee communicates with her hive via pheromones

Worker Bees

• All workers are female bees
• House bees do the cleaning, feed the baby bees, take care of the queen, store pollen and nectar, build and repair the honeycomb, cool the hive and guard the hive
• Field bees will gather nectar and pollen from flowers, collect water and a sticky substance called propolis

Drone Bees

• All drones are male bees
• Their sole purpose is to find a queen to mate with
• Do not have a stinger

Neat Facts About Bees

• Honey has natural preservatives so bacteria can't grow in it
• Bees have straw-like tongues so they can suck up liquids
• A beehive in summer can have as many as 50,000 to 80,000 bees
• Bees must collect nectar from ~2 million flowers and fly more than once around the world to make 1 lb of honey
• Honey bees visit between 50 – 100 flowers during one collection trip
• Bees communicate the location of nectar by doing a “wiggle/waggle dance”
• The average worker bee makes about 1/12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
• Every 3rd mouthful of food has been pollinated by bees.
• Without bees there would not be very many fruits or vegetables to eat, it is estimated 80% our food is pollinated by bees
• The average lifespan of a honey bee during the working season is about three to six weeks.
  

Here is what you can plant to help feed and attract bees through spring to fall.

Annuals:

Asters, Calliopsis, Marigolds, Poppies, Sunflowers, and Zinnias

Perennials:

Buttercups, Clematis, Cosmos, Crocuses, Dahlias, Echinacea, English Ivy, Foxglove, Geraniums, Germander, Globe Thistle, Hollyhocks, Hyacinth, Rock Cress, Roses, Sedum, Snowdrops, Squills, Tansy, and Yellow Hyssop

Fruits and Vegetables:

Blackberry, Blueberry, Cantaloupe, Cranberry, Cucumbers, Currants, Gooseberry, Gourds, Peppers, Pumpkins, Radishes, Raspberries, Squash, Strawberries, Watermelons, and Wild Garlic

Herbs:

Bee Balm, Borage, Catnip, Coriander/Cilantro, Fennel, Lavender, Mints, Rosemary, Sage, and Thyme

Shrubs:

Butterfly Bush, Button Bush, Honeysuckle, Indigo, Privet, and Sumac

Trees:

Alder, Basswood, Black Gum, Black Locust, Buckeyes, Eastern Redbud, Fruit Trees, Golden Rain Tree, Hawthorns, Hazels, Linden, Magnolia, Maples, Mountain Ash, Sycamore, Tulip, Poplar, and Willows

Wildflowers / Weeds / Crops:

Alfalfa, Buckwheat, Canola, Clover, Dandelion, Goldenrod, Milkweed, Mustard, Wild Cucumber, Japanese Knot Weed, and Purple Loosestrife