Bee Smart!

  • Bees have 5 eyes.
  • Bees fly about 20 mph.
  • Bees are insects, so they have 6 legs.
  • Male bees in the hive are called drones.
  • There is only one queen bee in a hive.
  • Female bees in the hive (except the queen) are called worker bees.
  • Only female bees sting.
  • Drones don't do any work. Their only job it to try to mate with the queen bee. Once they mate, they die.
     
  • When a bee stings, it will lose its stinger and die.
  • Bees have been here around 30 million years!
  • Bees carry pollen on their hind legs called a pollen basket or corbicula.
  • An average beehive can hold around 50,000 bees.
  • Bees called foragers must collect nectar from about 2 million flowers to make 1 pound of honey.
  • The average forager makes about 1/12 th of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime.
  • Bees have 2 pairs of wings.
  • Bees and wasps are in the same family. Bees are fuzzy, wasps are not.
  • Bees are important because they pollinate approximately 130 agricultural crops in the US including fruit, fiber, nut, and vegetable crops!