Every year on 20 May, we celebrate World Bee Day. This year we want to celebrate bees by highlighting a few interesting facts. Did you know this about bees?
- In the hive there are three kinds of honeybees: the queen, the workers and the drones.
- The queen lays 600 to 800 eggs per day during her three- to four-year lifespan – you do the math.
- The worker bees (females) can fly at a speed of 24km/h and they usually travel up to 5km from the hive.
- The honeybee has five eyes, of which three small ones are on top of the head and two big ones in front, consisting of 7,000 lenses each.
- They also have hair on their eyes … weird?
- Honneybees are characterised by the iconic black abdomen with yellow stripes.
- Honey consists of 80% sugars and 20% water.
- To make 500g of honey, the honeybees have to visit two million flowers, and this will take 768 bees their lifetime to complete this mission.
- A single bee would only be able to produce a 12th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
- Each bee visits about 50 to 100 flowers in one trip out of the hive.
- A standard beehive will be able to produce 180kg of honey per year.
- Best of all? Honey never spoils.
