Bee Behavior And Characteristics

Bees play a very important role in our ecosystem. They are responsible for the production of the food we eat. Bees help in pollinating seeds and they account for one-third of the total food production. Many people are scared of bees and they want to get rid of these amazing creatures. You can understand the common bee behavior and characteristics if you can get close to them.

Characteristics

·        Honey bees are known to live in well-organized colonies. The bees are producers of honey, which they produce and store in their nest created of wax. This wax is secreted by the worker bees and they constantly keep on making their hive bigger in size.

·        Honey bees are most active in the spring season because there are flowers and greeneries everywhere. The temperature is also neither too hot nor too cold and is optimal for them.

·        These social creatures prefer living in colonies, which generally consists of a large number of bees anywhere from 5000 to 80000. The average size of the beehive can easily hold 50000 bees.

·        There are three types of bees in a bee colony. They are workers, drones and queen. Bees do not hibernate and can adapt well to the environment. They collect their food in advance for a difficult time and a colony can easily live for years on its food reserves.

Behavior

Bees are also known for their aggression. While some bees are less aggressive, others can be very dangerous and can cause severe damage while in a group. But they do not attack without a reason. A bee starts behaving defensively when there is an intruder near the hive or is when scared. They have stinger attached to their stomach and a bee can only attack once as their stinger gets detached after it attacks a victim. Bees die soon after transferring its venom. However, it also secretes a pheromone, which stimulates other bees of the colony to attack the victim. This way, a bee sacrifices its life while protecting the colony.

Bees abscond their hive if the hive is unable to hold the population or if they feel a major threat. They abscond at the order of queen bee and start looking for a perfect place to build their hive.

Some Key Points

·        Bees are insects with six legs

·        They have 5 eyes and they can fly at 20 miles an hour

·        Only worker bees can attack

·        Workers are female bees and they are responsible for maintaining the hive and collecting food.

·        Male bees in a hive are called a drone and there are only a few hundred drones in a colony

·        Fertilized bee eggs become a worker or rarely a queen while unfertilized eggs form drones

·        They use chemicals called pheromones for communication

·        Bees have to collect nectar from 2 million flowers to make just one pound of honey

·        An average worker bee makes a half teaspoon of honey in its entire life

·        Bees die after losing stinger

·        Only queen bees can lay eggs and her only task is to grow the colony

·        Male bees or drones are just for mating with the queen

If you are planning for a beekeeping profession, then keep the above mentioned points in mind to characterized them.