Thursday Thirteen : Odd, and interesting facts about honeybees
In honor of earth and arbor day, I decided to share some odd bee facts on Twitter. My friends on Plurk asked if I would share them on Plurk.
How could I not share them with you?!? I tried to pick facts that I haven’t shared before. I’ve expanded the facts for the blog.
Thursday Thirteen : Odd, and interesting facts about honeybees
1. In the US, native tribes called honeybees ‘the white man’s fly’ as bees would arrive 5-10 miles ahead of a wagon train.
Beehives were considered as essential as water or food. Not only did they predict the weather (bees won’t fly if it’s due to rain), the honey and propilis provide effect antibacterial properties. Pollen collected by bees is an excellent protein source and honey is a sticky sweet carbohydrate. Wagon train folks weren’t stupid!
2. A honeybee must visit at least 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey (the standard unit for honey).
Honey is generated from nectar taken from flowers. The worker honeybee ingests the nectar. Once at the hive entrance, the bee passes the nectar to another bee. This bee then passes the nectar at least one more time. It’s the enzymes in a bees stomach that turn nectar into honey.
3. In the last 100 years, there have been 4 recorded bee plagues: 1916, 1960s, 1970s, and now.
In 1916, 90% of Europe’s honeybees were destroyed by a traceal mite. (The mite wasn’t discovered in the US until 1984. It exists now only in moist regions.) European bees were saved by a noble Capuchin monk called Brother Adam at Buckfast Abby. He traveled over 100,000 miles collecting the survivor hives then breed them until he created the Buckfast bee. (He’s a hero of mine.) The 1970s saw the rise of the varroa mite. This is a particularly nasty mite that destroys hives over winter. Further, an infected hive becomes sensitive to viruses and disease.
4. The first thing a hive does every morning is flying back and forth in the direction of the sun. This is called a beeline.
Imagine, if you will. You wake up in the morning, cup of coffee in hand, and wander out to the bee yard. What you will see is seemingly frantic bees fly up toward the sun and back to the hive. Over and over again they fly. Once they have it, off they go. Because bees navigate using the sun, they must know where their hive is in relation to the sun.
5. Beekeeping was well established in Egypt by 2400 BC as depicted on 5th dynasty temple reliefs.
The Egyptians used honey in embalming bodies because they believed that bees were the ‘zootype of the Soul.’ Thus bees were the messengers of the dead and speaking with them akin to speaking with the spirits of the dead. This the English tradition of telling a hive when someone has died in the house stems. (Ancient Egyptians – the Light of the World by Gerald Massey) Recently, a 3000 year old man made Honeybee hive was discovered in northern Israel at an archaeological dig in the huge earthen mound called Tel Rehov.
6. Honeybees recognize individual’s faces.
For a beekeeper, this can be an awesome thing or a horrible thing. I’ve pissed off a few bees who definitely recognized me later. That said, my bees tend to be calm, happy and hardworking. They let me sit right by their entrance and never investigate. I’ve taken hives to other locations where other people attended them. Those bees became anxious and hostile, like the people who attended them. Once home? They calmed right down. Go figure.
7. The oldest honeybee specimen is over 100 million years old. 
For reference, human beings are believed to have evolved 3 million years ago. Crocodiles evolved 80 million years ago. Honeybees are believed to have evolved form carnivorous wasps.
8. Through pollination, honeybees are responsible for the creation of every flowering plant on earth.
Prior to honeybees, the earth was covered with coniferous trees.
9. Bees are mentioned in both the Bible and the Qur’an.
Bible:
- Deut.1 [44] And the Amorites, which dwelt in that mountain, came out against you, and chased you, as bees do, and destroyed you in Seir, even unto Hormah.
- Josh.21 [27] And unto the children of Gershon, of the families of the Levites, out of the other half tribe of Manasseh they gave Golan in Bashan with her suburbs, to be a city of refuge for the slayer; and Beesh-terah with her suburbs; two cities.
- Judg.14 [8] And after a time he returned to take her, and he turned aside to see the carcase of the lion: and, behold, there was a swarm of bees and honey in the carcase of the lion.
- Pss.118 [12] They compassed me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
Qur’an:
- 16:68-69: ’And thy Lord taught the bee to build its cells in hills, on trees and in (men’s) habitations….. there issues from within their bodies a drink of varying colours, wherein is healing for mankind. Verily in this is a Sign for those who give thought’.
- ‘Honey is a remedy for every illness and the Qur’an is a remedy for all illness of the mind, therefore I recommend to you both remedies, the Qur’an and honey.’ (Mohammed)
10. The ‘Killer Bee’ (also called the ‘Africanized Honeybee’) was created by the USDA. Go team!
The idea was to create the ’superbee’ by crossing the gentle Italian honeybee with the more aggressive, but hardworking African honeybee. The hope was to create a gentle and hardworking. They created a very aggressive, high swarming, low honey creating bee. Of course, a queen bee got loose in the Brazilians jungle and the rest is history. Africanized honeybees were seen in So. Utah this year. I’ve seen them in So. Colorado. These bees offer are a legitimate threat to the American (meaning entire continent) honeybee population. As they spread north, they breed with more winter tolerant bees. Once they can tolerate the cold, world domination will be next. Or something like that.
11. Honeybees will always stop what they are doing to take care of baby bees.
When we collect a swarm of bees, we often add a frame of baby bees. The swarming hive will alway stay to care for the baby bees. In fact, a honeybee will give another bee water and food even if it’s not from the same hive. Moreover, if a bee from another hive ends up inside a hive when night comes, they will stay to become part of that colony.
12. Honey is the only food source that does not spoil.
Honey changes form – from liquid to crystal – but it does not degrade. Honey found in Tutankamen’s tomb, or the site in Israel, is as good, and good for you, as honey taken from a modern hive.
13. Colony Collapse Disorder is a big freakin’ deal.
Originally described in 1896 as ‘Disappearing Disorder’. In the 1960s, disappearing disorder caused wholesale havic causing many beekeepers to go out of business. It’s back, and it’s worse. Why is this a big deal?
- This is a world wide problem. This round of the syndrome was first sited in the 1990s in Europe.
- Honeybees are not the only pollinators effected. In the United States, there has been a wholesale die off of all pollinating species including bats.
- 36% of US beehives and 15% of UK beehives have been lost.
- No one has any idea what’s going on. There’s a million theories. But there’s always been a million theories. No one knows why this is happening. If someone tells you they do? Just smile and walk away. No one knows. (Best guess? Some kind of bee stressor.)
Read more Thurday 13s by going here.
Read more of my fascinating Thursday Thirteens by clicking here.
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These were some interesting tidbits. It never occurred to me that honey doesn’t spoil. Now that I think about it, I’ve never heard anyone say that if they didn’t use up some honey soon, they’d have to toss it out.
Fascinating post. And #13 is very alarming.
now that is more about bees than I ever thought I needed to know … Humans could learn from #11!
fun topic!
I never knew you were a bee lady! Very kewl list.
Happy Earth Day!
Imnot a fan of honey or Bee’s but I know we cant live without them:) Great stuff..Happy TT.
Fascinating! I love the monk who saved the bees. I think there should be more reverence for bees. Honey is sweet medicine.
Carnivorous wasps? Now THAT’S a scary thought. Great list, Claudia!
Wow, what amazing facts, Claudia! Thanks for sharing them! Love that they recognize faces!
Ok, first… let me just say that I got hung up on the phrase “carnivorous wasps” for a few seconds just because of the sheer terror of it. Wasps are scary enough without me imagining it gnawing on me.
This is such a cool post – a few of these things I knew from reading various things here & there, but a lot of it I didn’t know. Being a big fan of honey, flowers & beeswax, I’m always interested in what’s happening with those bees.
Have a good Thursday!
I have a radically different image of the covered wagon now.
I like all these bee tidbits! I never knew any of these hadn’t you listed it out. The beeline is very interesting!
Fascinating and so informative. I am especially amazed that honey never spoils… I’ve wondered about that but can’t keep any around long enough to be sure.
A lot of interesting facts there I didn’t know. Excellent post.
What an excellent TT. I learned a lot and found this fascinating!
Poor Honey Bees! I want to find them all and take care of them now! I am also picturing the covered wagons and smiling now. Thanks for the thoughts!
Happy TT
The fact that honey doesn’t degrade is really quite fascinating. (as well as all the other facts) but especially this one. Hope your hives are doing well.
These are the only bees I’m not allergic to, and not afraid of! My granddad used to keep bee houses of honey bees. Sadly, they’re long gone now.
What a great post. I love learning new things. Thanks.
I love these facts. I was amazed yesterday when you posted the one about bees recognizing faces, I think that is so cool!
Wow… I didn’t really know much of these at all. I love learning new things–thanks!
Hope you get a chance to stop by my TT. Happy TT!
Thanks so much for taking the time to put together this really informative t-13 for us. I really enjoyed it, and although bees had been in the back of my mind from articles and such, this was a great reminder. Who will save the bees now???!
That’s fantastic. I really like bees, but I didn’t know a lot of this stuff.
Very interesting facts! We love honey around here – especially drizzed over warm buttered biscuits or rolls!
Fascinating facts … certainly food for thought … timely 13 for Earth Day!
Hugs and blessings,
I learned so much more about honeybees today. I did not know that there is a plaque going on right now. How are your girls doing? I hope they’re ok
)
Yep, now that the flowers are starting to bloom, it’d be time to remember to appreciate these fragile hard workers!
That was a complete education about bees! Very cool and Happy TT.
1. 4 & 12 were so interesting to me
Wow that is so informative.
Thank you so much for this! I’ve been interested in honey bees for as long as I remember. I keep toying with the idea of volunteering for an urban hive to help the current surviving population expand. I’ve had a fear of nearly all insects and arachnids since I was little so talk about immersion therapy.
Do we know of hive failure solely from kept bees, or do we have numbers on how many have disappeared from the wild as well?
~X
…and many of them are from planet Melissa Majoria.
Sorry, I’m a geek… couldn’t help it.
Wow! Those are fascinating facts! Thanks for sharing!
Thursday 13 – edition 4
My dad was a bee keeper. I love the smells of smoke and wax from collecting the honey. I always think of my father when I see bees loaded down with pollen.
They are amazing. Thank you for sharing all this info!
I am always so interested in your bee posts.
I did have to move the bushes that attracted the bees to the side of the house. But after reading your previous bee posts, I didn’t just dig them up.
Completely fascinating T13, Claudia. I had to laugh at the bees-caring-for-young-and-taking-in-bees-from-other-colonies. For some reason it made me think of Russian society and the it-takes-a-village-to-raise-a-child thing. There’s a Russian film I adore called ‘Night Watch’, and when our main character Anton goes onto a crowded subway, he gets an earful from a woman he’s bumping into. Apparently she feels completely free to tell him off like a scolding mother. And he just shrugs it off. It just made me think of grumbling bees telling the other bees to move over and make room for the straggler. LOL! Strange insight into how my mind works…
Fascinating info about the honeybee. Some of it I knew, but most was new to me. Thanks for the lesson!
we have honey bees flying around the dandelions and flowers.
See? Capuchins are good for something!