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The first thing you should
know about honey bees (apis mellifera) is that
they're usually gentle, non-aggressive insects that only
sting as a last resort. The notoriously aggressive
Africanized Honey Bee has not yet invaded Oregon, and
northern Oregon is a hostile environment for this
maligned strain of bee, due to its poor ability to
regulate colony temperature in cold winter climates.
You should
also know that pollinating insects are responsible for
more than 30% of our food supply, and that honey bees
shoulder 78% of that burden. Supporting US beekeepers by
buying domestic honey benefits not only your health, but
the future of our agricultural industry and domestic
food supply.
Be aware of
the source of the honey you purchase in major grocery
outlets. Foreign sources may be able to produce and
export honey cheaply (don't ask how, you don't wanna
know), but we cannot import pollinators to meet a
growing demand. U.S. commercial beekeepers need the
revenue from honey sales AND pollination contracts to
stay in business, and to ensure that our farmers can
produce your food.
Honey bees
have had the deck stacked against them in recent years,
with heavy backyard and agricultural
pesticide and
herbicide use,
parasitic mites and other issues
decimating feral populations and dramatically affecting
managed colonies. We're proud to be a part of the
solution by breeding for natural resistance, and in
providing products and services that enhance our
environment, health and well-being.
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At left, a diagram
depicting the components of the typical honey
bee hive. The lower boxes are reserved for
brood, while upper boxes, called "supers",
contain nectar or honey.
This image doesn't show frames, which are
individual structures on which bees draw out
comb.
Frames are usually made of wood, with
plastic or wax sheets of imprinted
foundation that acts as a guide for the
bees' comb patterns.
While there are
always exceptions, a hive usually contains one
colony--a community of bees consisting of one
laying
queen, 30-60 thousand
worker bees of varying ages, and a few
hundred drones.
Drones are male bees. |
Honey bees visit about 2
million flowers to make one pound of honey.
Bees from the same hive visit about 225,000 flowers per
day. One single bee usually visits between 50-1000
flowers a day, but can visit up to several thousand.
Queens will lay almost 2000 eggs a day at a rate of 5 or
6 a minute. Between 175,000-200,000 eggs are laid per
year.
The average hive temperature is 93.5 degrees.
Beeswax production in most hives is about 1 1/2% to 2%
of the total honey yield.
About 8 pounds of honey is eaten by bees to produce 1
pound of beeswax.
Honeybees are the only insects that produce food for
humans.
During honey production periods, a bee's life span is
about 6 weeks.
Honey bees visit about 2 million flowers to make one
pound of honey.
A bee travels an average of 1600 round trips in order to
produce one ounce of honey; up to 6 miles per trip. To
produce 2 pounds of honey, bees travel a distance equal
to 4 times around the earth.
Bees fly an average of 13-15 mph.
The chances of the
average US citizen dying from the sting/bite of a
hornet, wasp or bee: 1 in 4,406,818.
The chance of the
average US citizen being killed from falling out of bed,
or off a chair or couch: 1 in 347,076 -- National Safety
Council
So get off your butt
and get some bees!
To learn more about the
art of beekeeping, please visit our
Resources page, or our
Reading List.
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