Bees

Took a walk around the neighborhood this evening, and someone has a flowering crabapple tree in their yard that was FULL of bees, and it makes me happy to see them.

I think I need one of these trees in my yard! They get bigger than I thought, so maybe in front of my office window; far enough away from the house to let it grow, but close enough to provide shade in the summer.

There are bees in the backyard as well, loving the dandelions. Makes me sad to have to mow them down, but the grass is getting WAY too high… 

I got curious about how long it takes bees to make honey and did a little online research. Here’s what I found:

            On average, it takes one worker bee to produces 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey.

            So it takes 12 bees to produce one teaspoon of honey. In order to produce one

            tablespoon of honey it takes 36 bees. In order to produce a gallon of honey, it

            takes 9,216 bees! Taking that further, to produce ½ pound of honey it takes

            about 30,000 bees traveling 27,500 miles and visiting more than a million flowers

            to gather the nectar required.

WOW! No wonder they are called “busy bees”!

There are **15** types of bees in Montana! 

Bumblebees: Scientifically, Bumblebees should not be able to fly. Their body mass and weight are greater than their wing size and wingspan. They are theoretically to heavy to fly. Thankfully, the bees don’t know how to read. Even though “bumbles” do not produce honey, they are essential pollinators for fruit and vegetable crops, feeding on nectar of the flowers, and collecting pollen to feed their young. They can sting more than once because they don’t lose their stingers, but are typically very docile and will only sting if they feel threatened.

European (western) Honey Bees:- these are the only group of bees that produce honey!  In each hive there is only one breeding female (the queen), whose sole purpose is to lay eggs. The drones are males whose job it to fertilize the queen’s eggs. The worker bees are all females who do not mate, but build and maintain the nest and feed all of the young. The worker bees also gather pollen, so all of the bees you see around your garden and fruit trees are female!